God’s Special People

14 You are the ·children [sons] of the Lord your God. When someone dies, do not ·cut [lacerate; gash] yourselves or ·shave your heads [^Lset baldness between your eyes; ^Cto show sadness; mourning customs of the pagan Canaanites]. ² You are holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. He has chosen you from all the people on earth ·to be his very own [as his special treasure; Ex. 19:5–6].

³ Do not eat anything ·the Lord hates [^Ldetestable; abominable; cf. Lev. 11]. ⁴ These are the animals you may eat: oxen, sheep, goats, ⁵ deer, gazelle, roe deer, wild goats, ibex, antelope, and mountain sheep. ⁶ You may eat any animal that has a split hoof and chews the cud [^Cconsidered a normal land animal], ⁷ but you may not eat camels, rabbits, or rock badgers. These animals chew the cud, but they do not have split hoofs, so they are unclean [^Cin a ritual sense] for you. ⁸ Pigs are also unclean for you; they have split hoofs, but they do not chew the cud. Do not eat their meat or touch their dead bodies.

⁹ There are many things that live in the water. You may eat anything that has fins and scales [^Cconsidered a normal aquatic creature], ¹⁰ but do not eat anything that does not have fins and scales. It is unclean [^Cin a ritual sense] for you.

¹¹ You may eat any clean [^Cin a ritual sense] bird. ¹² But do not eat these birds: eagles, vultures, black vultures, ¹³ red kites, falcons, any kind of kite, ¹⁴ any kind of raven, ¹⁵ horned owls, screech owls, sea gulls, any kind of hawk, ¹⁶ little owls, great owls, white owls, ¹⁷ desert owls, ospreys, cormorants, ¹⁸ storks, any kind of heron, the hoopoes, or bats [^Cthe exact identification of many of these birds is disputed, but they all eat prey or dead matter and/or live in desolate places].

¹⁹ All insects with wings are unclean [^Cin a ritual sense] for you; do not eat them. ²⁰ Other things with wings are clean, and you may eat them.

²¹ Do not eat anything you find that is already dead. You may give it to a ·foreigner living in your town [resident alien living within your gates], and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. But you are holy people, who belong to the Lord your God.

Do not cook a baby goat in its mother’s milk [^Cprobably a pagan ritual; Ex. 23:19].

Giving a Tithe

²² Be sure to ·save [set aside/apart] ·one-tenth [^Ta tithe] of all ·your crops [^Lthe produce/yield of your seed of the field] each year. ²³ Eat it in the presence of the Lord your God in the place where he chooses to ·be worshiped [^Lcause his name to dwell; ^CZion; 12:4–7]. Eat the ·tenth [tithe] of your grain, new wine, and oil, and eat the animals born first to your herds and flocks. Do this so that you will learn to ·respect [fear] the Lord your God ·always [^Levery day]. ²⁴ But if the place the Lord will choose to ·be worshiped [^Lset his name there] is too far away and he has blessed you so much you cannot carry a ·tenth [^Ttithe], ²⁵ exchange your ·one-tenth [^Ttithe] for silver. Then ·take [^Lgrasp in your hand] the silver with you to the place the Lord your God shall choose. ²⁶ ·Use [Spend; ^LGive] the silver to buy anything you wish—cattle, sheep, wine, ·beer [^Tstrong drink; ^Can alcoholic beverage made from grain], or anything you wish. Then you and your ·family [^Lhouse] will eat and celebrate there before the Lord your God. ²⁷ Do not ·forget [^Labandon; forsake] the Levites in your ·town [^Lgates], because they have no land of their own among you.

²⁸ At the end of every third year, everyone should bring ·one-tenth [^Ta tithe] of that year’s crop and store it in your ·towns [^Lgates]. ²⁹ This is for the Levites so they may eat and be full. (They have no ·land of their own [^Lallotment or inheritance] among you.) It is also for ·strangers [foreigners; resident aliens], orphans, and widows who live in your ·towns [^Lgates] so that all of them may eat and be full. Then the Lord your God will bless you and all the work ·you do [^Lof your hands that you do].