⁶⁷ Now Zachariah his father was filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

⁶⁸ Blessed (praised and extolled and thanked) be the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has come and brought deliverance and redemption to His people!

⁶⁹ And He has raised up a Horn of salvation [a mighty and valiant Helper, the Author of salvation] for us in the house of David His servant—

⁷⁰ This is as He promised by the mouth of His holy prophets from the most ancient times [in the memory of man]—

⁷¹ That we should have deliverance and be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who detest and pursue us with hatred;

⁷² To make true and show the mercy and compassion and kindness [promised] to our forefathers and to remember and carry out His holy covenant [to bless, which is ^[a]all the more sacred because it is made by God Himself],

⁷³ That covenant He sealed by oath to our forefather Abraham:

⁷⁴ To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our foes, might serve Him fearlessly

⁷⁵ In holiness (divine consecration) and righteousness [in accordance with the everlasting principles of right] within His presence all the days of our lives.

⁷⁶ And you, little one, shall be called a prophet of the Most High; for you shall go on before the face of the Lord to make ready His ways,^(A)

⁷⁷ To bring and give the knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness and remission of their sins.

⁷⁸ Because of and through the heart of tender mercy and loving-kindness of our God, a Light from on high will dawn upon us and visit [us]^(B)

⁷⁹ To shine upon and give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to direct and guide our feet in a straight line into the way of peace.^(C)

⁸⁰ And the little boy grew and became strong in spirit; and he was in the deserts (wilderness) until the day of his appearing to Israel [the commencement of his public ministry].

14 You are the sons of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead,

² For you are a holy people [set apart] to the Lord your God; and the Lord has chosen you to be a peculiar people to Himself, above all the nations on the earth.

³ You shall not eat anything that is abominable [to the Lord and so forbidden by Him].

⁴ These are the beasts which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,

⁵ The hart, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.

⁶ And every beast that parts the hoof and has it divided into two and brings up and chews the cud among the beasts you may eat.

⁷ Yet these you shall not eat of those that chew the cud or have the hoof split in two: the camel, the hare, and the coney, because they chew the cud but divide not the hoof; they are unclean for you.

⁸ And the swine, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud; it is unclean to you. You shall not eat of their flesh or touch their dead bodies.

⁹ These you may eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales you may eat,

¹⁰ And whatever has not fins and scales you may not eat; it is unclean for you.

¹¹ Of all clean birds you may eat.

¹² But these are the ones which you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the ospray,

¹³ The buzzard, the kite in its several species,

¹⁴ The raven in all its species,

¹⁵ The ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any variety,

¹⁶ The little owl, the great owl, the horned owl,

¹⁷ The pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant,

¹⁸ The stork, the heron of any variety, the hoopoe, and the bat.

¹⁹ And all flying insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten.

²⁰ But of all clean winged things you may eat.

²¹ You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself. You may give it to the stranger or the foreigner who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to an alien. [They are not under God’s law in this matter] but you are a people holy to the Lord your God. You shall not [even] boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

²² You shall surely tithe all the yield of your seed produced by your field each year.

²³ And you shall eat before the Lord your God in the place in which He will cause His Name [and Presence] to dwell the tithe (tenth) of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstlings of your herd and your flock, that you may learn [reverently] to fear the Lord your God always.

²⁴ And if the distance is too long for you to carry your tithe, or the place where the Lord your God chooses to set His Name [and Presence] is too far away for you, when the Lord your God has blessed you,

²⁵ Then you shall turn it into money, and bind up the money in your hand, and shall go to the place [of worship] which the Lord your God has chosen.

²⁶ And you may spend that money for whatever your appetite craves, for oxen, or sheep, or new wine or strong[er] drink, or whatever you desire; and you shall eat there before the Lord your God and you shall rejoice, you and your household.

²⁷ And you shall not forsake or neglect the Levite [God’s minister] in your towns, for he has been given no share or inheritance with you.

²⁸ At the end of every three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase the same year and lay it up within your towns.

²⁹ And the Levite [because he has no part or inheritance with you] and the stranger or temporary resident, and the fatherless and the widow who are in your towns shall come and eat and be satisfied, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.