Deuteronomy 14-15

New King James Version

Improper Mourning

14 “You are ^(A)the children of the Lord your God; ^(B)you shall not cut yourselves nor ^[a]shave the front of your head for the dead. ^2 (C)For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Clean and Unclean Meat^(D)

^3 (E)“You shall not eat any ^[b]detestable thing. ^4 (F)These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, ⁵ the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ^[c]mountain goat, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. ⁶ And you may eat every animal with cloven hooves, having the hoof split into two parts, and that chews the cud, among the animals. ⁷ Nevertheless, of those that chew the cud or have cloven hooves, you shall not eat, such as these: the camel, the hare, and the rock hyrax; for they chew the cud but do not have cloven hooves; they are unclean for you. ⁸ Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh ^(G)or touch their dead carcasses.

^9 (H)“These you may eat of all that are in the waters: you may eat all that have fins and scales. ¹⁰ And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

¹¹ “All clean birds you may eat. ^12 (I)But these you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard, ¹³ the red kite, the falcon, and the kite after their kinds; ¹⁴ every raven after its kind; ¹⁵ the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the sea gull, and the hawk after their kinds; ¹⁶ the little owl, the screech owl, the white owl, ¹⁷ the jackdaw, the carrion vulture, the fisher owl, ¹⁸ the stork, the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe and the bat.

¹⁹ “Also ^(J)every ^[d]creeping thing that flies is unclean for you; ^(K)they shall not be eaten.

²⁰ “You may eat all clean birds.

^21 (L)“You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the alien who is within your gates, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; ^(M)for you are a holy people to the Lord your God.

“^(N)You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Tithing Principles

^22 (O)“You shall truly tithe all the increase of your grain that the field produces year by year. ^23 (P)And you shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place where He chooses to make His name abide, the tithe of your grain and your new wine and your oil, of ^(Q)the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. ²⁴ But if the journey is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, or ^(R)if the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, when the Lord your God has blessed you, ²⁵ then you shall exchange it for money, take the money in your hand, and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. ²⁶ And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine or similar drink, for whatever your heart desires; you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall ^(S)rejoice, you and your household. ²⁷ You shall not ^[e]forsake the ^(T)Levite who is within your gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with you.

^28 (U)“At the end of every third year you shall bring out the ^(V)tithe of your produce of that year and store it up within your gates. ²⁹ And the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Debts Canceled Every Seven Years^(W)

15 “At the end of ^(X)every seven years you shall grant a ^[f]release of debts. ² And this is the form of the release: Every creditor who has lent anything to his neighbor shall ^[g]release it; he shall not ^[h]require it of his neighbor or his brother, because it is called the Lord’s release. ³ Of a foreigner you may require it; but you shall give up your claim to what is owed by your brother, ⁴ except when there may be no poor among you; for the Lord will greatly ^(Y)bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance— ⁵ only if you carefully obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe with care all these commandments which I command you today. ⁶ For the Lord your God will bless you just as He promised you; ^(Z)you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.

Generosity to the Poor

⁷ “If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the ^[i]gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, ^(AA)you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, ⁸ but ^(AB)you shall ^[j]open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs. ⁹ Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,’ and your ^(AC)eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and ^(AD)he cry out to the Lord against you, and ^(AE)it become sin among you. ¹⁰ You shall surely give to him, and ^(AF)your heart should not be grieved when you give to him, because ^(AG)for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand. ¹¹ For ^(AH)the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, ‘You shall ^[k]open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.’

The Law Concerning Bondservants

^12 (AI)“If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is ^(AJ)sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. ¹³ And when you ^[l]send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; ¹⁴ you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord your God has ^(AK)blessed you with, you shall give to him. ^15 (AL)You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this thing today. ¹⁶ And ^(AM)if it happens that he says to you, ‘I will not go away from you,’ because he loves you and your house, since he prospers with you, ¹⁷ then you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise. ¹⁸ It shall not seem hard to you when you send him away free from you; for he has been worth ^(AN)a double hired servant in serving you six years. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

The Law Concerning Firstborn Animals

^19 (AO)“All the firstborn males that come from your herd and your flock you shall ^[m]sanctify to the Lord your God; you shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. ^20 (AP)You and your household shall eat it before the Lord your God year by year in the place which the Lord chooses. ^21 (AQ)But if there is a defect in it, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. ²² You may eat it within your gates; ^(AR)the unclean and the clean person alike may eat it, as if it were a gazelle or a deer. ²³ Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water.