Deuteronomy 14:1-20

New International Version

Clean and Unclean Food^(A)

14 You are the children^(B) of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, ²for you are a people holy^(C) to the Lord your God.^(D) Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.^(E)

³Do not eat any detestable thing.^(F) ⁴These are the animals you may eat:^(G) the ox, the sheep, the goat,^(H) ⁵the deer,^(I) the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat,^(J) the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.^[a] ⁶You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud. ⁷However, of those that chew the cud or that have a divided hoof you may not eat the camel, the rabbit or the hyrax. Although they chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof; they are ceremonially unclean for you. ⁸The pig is also unclean; although it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses.^(K)

⁹Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales. ¹⁰But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; for you it is unclean.

¹¹You may eat any clean bird. ¹²But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, ¹³the red kite, the black kite, any kind^(L) of falcon,^(M) ¹⁴any kind of raven,^(N) ¹⁵the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, ¹⁶the little owl, the great owl, the white owl, ¹⁷the desert owl,^(O) the osprey, the cormorant, ¹⁸the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.

¹⁹All flying insects are unclean to you; do not eat them. ²⁰But any winged creature that is clean you may eat.^(P)

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Footnotes

Deuteronomy 14:5 The precise identification of some of the birds and animals in this chapter is uncertain.

Luke 8:1-15

New International Version

The Parable of the Sower^(A)

8 After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.^(B) The Twelve were with him, ²and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene)^(C) from whom seven demons had come out; ³Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s^(D) household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

⁴While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: ⁵“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. ⁶Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. ⁸Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”

When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”^(E)

⁹His disciples asked him what this parable meant. ¹⁰He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you,^(F) but to others I speak in parables, so that,

“‘though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand.’^[a]^(G)

¹¹“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.^(H) ¹²Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away.^(I) ¹⁴The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches^(J) and pleasures, and they do not mature. ¹⁵But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.