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Deuteronomy 14-16
English Standard Version
Deuteronomy 14-16
English Standard Version
Clean and Unclean Food
14 “You are (A)the sons of the Lord your God. (B)You shall not cut yourselves or make any (C)baldness on your foreheads for the dead. 2 For (D)you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
3 (E)“You shall not eat any abomination. 4 (F)These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5 the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex,[a] the antelope, and the mountain sheep. 6 Every animal that parts the hoof and has the hoof cloven in two and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. 7 Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the (G)rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, are unclean for you. 8 And the pig, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and (H)their carcasses you shall not touch.
9 “Of all that are in the waters you may eat these: whatever has fins and scales you may eat. 10 And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.
11 “You may eat all clean birds. 12 But these are the ones that you shall not eat: the eagle,[b] the bearded vulture, the black vulture, 13 the kite, the falcon of any kind; 14 every raven of any kind; 15 the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind; 16 the little owl and the short-eared owl, the barn owl 17 and the tawny owl, the carrion vulture and the cormorant, 18 the stork, the heron of any kind; the hoopoe and the bat. 19 And all winged insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten. 20 All clean winged things you may eat.
21 (I)“You shall not eat anything that has died naturally. You may give it to the sojourner who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For (J)you are a people holy to the Lord your God.
(K)“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
Tithes
22 (L)“You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. 23 And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, (M)you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, (N)and the firstborn of your herd and flock, (O)that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. 24 And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because (P)the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there, 25 then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses 26 and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And (Q)you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. 27 And you shall not neglect (R)the Levite who is within your towns, for (S)he has no portion or inheritance with you.
28 (T)“At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. 29 And the Levite, because (U)he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that (V)the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.
The Sabbatical Year
15 “At the end of (W)every seven years you shall grant a release. 2 And this is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not exact it of his neighbor, his brother, because the Lord's release has been proclaimed. 3 (X)Of a foreigner you may exact it, but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand shall release. 4 (Y)But there will be no poor among you; (Z)for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess— 5 (AA)if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you, (AB)as he promised you, and (AC)you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow, and (AD)you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
7 “If among you, one of your brothers should become poor, in any of your towns within your land that the Lord your God is giving you, (AE)you shall not harden your heart or shut your hand against your poor brother, 8 but (AF)you shall open your hand to him and lend him sufficient for his need, whatever it may be. 9 Take care lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and you say, ‘The seventh year, the year of release is near,’ and your (AG)eye look grudgingly[c] on your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he (AH)cry to the Lord against you, and (AI)you be guilty of sin. 10 You shall give to him freely, and (AJ)your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because (AK)for this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake. 11 For (AL)there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, (AM)‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
12 (AN)“If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold[d] to you, he shall serve you six years, and in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you. 13 And when you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty-handed. 14 You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. (AO)As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 (AP)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 today. 16 But (AQ)if he says to you, ‘I will not go out from you,’ because he loves you and your household, since he is well-off with you, 17 then you shall take an awl, and put it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave[e] forever. And to your female slave[f] you shall do the same. 18 It shall not seem hard to you when you let him go free from you, for at half the cost of a hired worker he has served you six years. So the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.
19 (AR)“All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the Lord your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. 20 (AS)You shall eat it, you and your household, before the Lord your God year by year at the place that the Lord will choose. 21 (AT)But if it has any blemish, if it is lame or blind or has any serious blemish whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22 You shall eat it within your towns. (AU)The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer. 23 (AV)Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.
Passover
16 “Observe the (AW)month of Abib and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for (AX)in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock or (AY)the herd, (AZ)at the place that the Lord will choose, to make his name dwell there. 3 You shall eat no leavened bread with it. (BA)Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt (BB)in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt. 4 (BC)No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, (BD)nor shall any of the flesh that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain all night until morning. 5 You may not offer the Passover sacrifice within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, 6 but at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the Passover sacrifice, in the evening at sunset, at the time you came out of Egypt. 7 And you shall cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose. And in the morning you shall turn and go to your tents. 8 For (BE)six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be (BF)a solemn assembly to the Lord your God. You shall do no work on it.
The Feast of Weeks
9 (BG)“You shall count seven weeks. Begin to count the seven weeks from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain. 10 Then you shall keep (BH)the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with (BI)the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand, which you shall give (BJ)as the Lord your God blesses you. 11 And (BK)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there. 12 (BL)You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt; and you shall be careful to observe these statutes.
The Feast of Booths
13 (BM)“You shall keep the Feast of Booths seven days, when you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress. 14 (BN)You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your towns. 15 For (BO)seven days you shall keep the feast to the Lord your God at the place that the Lord will choose, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.
16 (BP)“Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. (BQ)They shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. 17 Every man (BR)shall give as he is able, (BS)according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.
Justice
18 “You shall appoint (BT)judges and officers in all your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 (BU)You shall not pervert justice. (BV)You shall not show partiality, (BW)and you shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous. 20 Justice, and only justice, you shall follow, that you may live and inherit the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
Forbidden Forms of Worship
21 “You shall not plant any tree as (BX)an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God that you shall make. 22 And you shall not set up a pillar, which the Lord your God hates.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 14:5 Or addax
- Deuteronomy 14:12 The identity of many of these birds is uncertain
- Deuteronomy 15:9 Or be evil; also verse 10
- Deuteronomy 15:12 Or sells himself
- Deuteronomy 15:17 Or servant; the Hebrew term ‘ebed designates a range of social and economic roles (see Preface)
- Deuteronomy 15:17 Or servant
Deuteronomy 14-16
New International Version
Deuteronomy 14-16
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, 2 for 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)
3 Do not eat any detestable thing.(F) 4 These are the animals you may eat:(G) the ox, the sheep, the goat,(H) 5 the deer,(I) the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat,(J) the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.[a] 6 You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud. 7 However, 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. 8 The 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)
9 Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales. 10 But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; for you it is unclean.
11 You may eat any clean bird. 12 But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, 13 the red kite, the black kite, any kind(L) of falcon,(M) 14 any kind of raven,(N) 15 the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, 16 the little owl, the great owl, the white owl, 17 the desert owl,(O) the osprey, the cormorant, 18 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.
19 All flying insects are unclean to you; do not eat them. 20 But any winged creature that is clean you may eat.(P)
21 Do not eat anything you find already dead.(Q) You may give it to the foreigner residing in any of your towns, and they may eat it, or you may sell it to any other foreigner. But you are a people holy to the Lord your God.(R)
Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.(S)
Tithes
22 Be sure to set aside a tenth(T) of all that your fields produce each year. 23 Eat(U) the tithe of your grain, new wine(V) and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name,(W) so that you may learn(X) to revere(Y) the Lord your God always. 24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), 25 then exchange(Z) your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. 26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink,(AA) or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice.(AB) 27 And do not neglect the Levites(AC) living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.(AD)
28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes(AE) of that year’s produce and store it in your towns,(AF) 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment(AG) or inheritance(AH) of their own) and the foreigners,(AI) the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied,(AJ) and so that the Lord your God may bless(AK) you in all the work of your hands.
The Year for Canceling Debts(AL)
15 At the end of every seven years you must cancel debts.(AM) 2 This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel any loan they have made to a fellow Israelite. They shall not require payment from anyone among their own people, because the Lord’s time for canceling debts has been proclaimed. 3 You may require payment from a foreigner,(AN) but you must cancel any debt your fellow Israelite owes you. 4 However, there need be no poor people among you, for in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as your inheritance, he will richly bless(AO) you, 5 if only you fully obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow(AP) all these commands I am giving you today. 6 For the Lord your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you.(AQ)
7 If anyone is poor(AR) among your fellow Israelites in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted(AS) toward them. 8 Rather, be openhanded(AT) and freely lend them whatever they need. 9 Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought: “The seventh year, the year for canceling debts,(AU) is near,” so that you do not show ill will(AV) toward the needy among your fellow Israelites and give them nothing. They may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin.(AW) 10 Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart;(AX) then because of this the Lord your God will bless(AY) you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. 11 There will always be poor people(AZ) in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.(BA)
Freeing Servants(BB)(BC)
12 If any of your people—Hebrew men or women—sell themselves to you and serve you six years, in the seventh year you must let them go free.(BD) 13 And when you release them, do not send them away empty-handed. 14 Supply them liberally from your flock, your threshing floor(BE) and your winepress. Give to them as the Lord your God has blessed you. 15 Remember that you were slaves(BF) in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you.(BG) That is why I give you this command today.
16 But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you,” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, 17 then take an awl and push it through his earlobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your female servant.
18 Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because their service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
The Firstborn Animals
19 Set apart for the Lord(BH) your God every firstborn male(BI) of your herds and flocks.(BJ) Do not put the firstborn of your cows to work, and do not shear the firstborn of your sheep.(BK) 20 Each year you and your family are to eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose.(BL) 21 If an animal has a defect,(BM) is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.(BN) 22 You are to eat it in your own towns. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it, as if it were gazelle or deer.(BO) 23 But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.(BP)
The Passover(BQ)
16 Observe the month of Aviv(BR) and celebrate the Passover(BS) of the Lord your God, because in the month of Aviv he brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 Sacrifice as the Passover to the Lord your God an animal from your flock or herd at the place the Lord will choose as a dwelling for his Name.(BT) 3 Do not eat it with bread made with yeast, but for seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction,(BU) because you left Egypt in haste(BV)—so that all the days of your life you may remember the time of your departure from Egypt.(BW) 4 Let no yeast be found in your possession in all your land for seven days. Do not let any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening(BX) of the first day remain until morning.(BY)
5 You must not sacrifice the Passover in any town the Lord your God gives you 6 except in the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name. There you must sacrifice the Passover in the evening, when the sun goes down, on the anniversary[b](BZ) of your departure from Egypt. 7 Roast(CA) it and eat it at the place the Lord your God will choose. Then in the morning return to your tents. 8 For six days eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day hold an assembly(CB) to the Lord your God and do no work.(CC)
The Festival of Weeks(CD)
9 Count off seven weeks(CE) from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain.(CF) 10 Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. 11 And rejoice(CG) before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name(CH)—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites(CI) in your towns, and the foreigners,(CJ) the fatherless and the widows living among you.(CK) 12 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt,(CL) and follow carefully these decrees.
The Festival of Tabernacles(CM)
13 Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor(CN) and your winepress.(CO) 14 Be joyful(CP) at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns. 15 For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy(CQ) will be complete.
16 Three times a year all your men must appear(CR) before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread,(CS) the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles.(CT) No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed:(CU) 17 Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.
Judges
18 Appoint judges(CV) and officials for each of your tribes in every town the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly.(CW) 19 Do not pervert justice(CX) or show partiality.(CY) Do not accept a bribe,(CZ) for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent. 20 Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Worshiping Other Gods
21 Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole(DA) beside the altar you build to the Lord your God,(DB) 22 and do not erect a sacred stone,(DC) for these the Lord your God hates.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 14:5 The precise identification of some of the birds and animals in this chapter is uncertain.
- Deuteronomy 16:6 Or down, at the time of day
English Standard Version (ESV) 
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New International Version (NIV) 
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