Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Add parallel Print Page Options
Close LSB

Deuteronomy 14
Legacy Standard Bible

Clean and Unclean Animals

14 “You are (A)the sons of Yahweh your God; (B)you shall not gash yourselves nor [a]shave your forehead for the sake of the dead. 2 For you are (C)a holy people to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a (D)people for His [b]treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

3 “(E)You shall not eat any abominable thing. 4 (F)These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5 [c]the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. 6 And any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof split in [d]two and [e]chews the cud, among the animals, that one you may eat. 7 Nevertheless, you are not to eat of these among those which [f]chew the cud or among those that divide the hoof in [g]two: the camel and the [h]rabbit and the [i]shaphan, for though they [j]chew the cud, they do not divide the hoof; they are unclean for you. 8 And the pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, it is unclean for you. You shall not eat any of their flesh nor touch their carcasses.

9 “These you may eat of all that are in water: anything that has fins and scales you may eat, 10 but anything that does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

11 “You may eat any clean bird. 12 But (G)these are the ones which you shall not eat: the [k]eagle and the vulture and the [l]buzzard, 13 and the red kite, the falcon, and the kite in their kinds, 14 and every raven in its kind, 15 and the ostrich, the owl, the gull, and the hawk in their kinds, 16 the little owl, the [m]great owl, the white owl, 17 the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant, 18 the stork, and the heron in their kinds, and the hoopoe and the bat. 19 And all the [n]teeming life with wings are unclean to you; they shall not be eaten. 20 You may eat any clean bird.

21 “(H)You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the sojourner who is within your gates, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are (I)a holy people to Yahweh your God. (J)You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

22 “You (K)shall surely tithe all the produce from [o]what you sow, which comes out of the field every year. 23 And you shall eat in the presence of Yahweh your God, (L)at the place where He chooses for His name to dwell, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may (M)learn to fear Yahweh your God all your days. 24 And if the [p]distance is so great for you that you are not able to [q]bring the tithe, since the place where Yahweh your God chooses (N)to set His name is too far away from you when Yahweh your God blesses you, 25 then you shall [r]exchange it for money and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which Yahweh your God chooses. 26 And you may spend the money for whatever your [s]heart desires: for oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink or whatever your [t]heart [u]desires; and (O)there you shall eat in the presence of Yahweh your God and be glad, you and your household. 27 Also you shall not forsake (P)the Levite who is within your gates, (Q)for he has no portion or inheritance among you.

28 “(R)At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year and shall deposit it within your gates. 29 And the Levite, (S)because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and (T)the sojourner, the [v]orphan, and the widow who are within your gates, shall come and (U)eat and be satisfied, in order that (V)Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 14:1 Lit make a baldness between your eyes
  2. Deuteronomy 14:2 Or special treasure
  3. Deuteronomy 14:5 Exact identification of these animals is uncertain
  4. Deuteronomy 14:6 Lit two hoofs
  5. Deuteronomy 14:6 Lit brings up
  6. Deuteronomy 14:7 Lit brings up
  7. Deuteronomy 14:7 Lit a cleaving
  8. Deuteronomy 14:7 Or hare
  9. Deuteronomy 14:7 A small, shy, furry animal (Hyrax syriacus) found in the peninsula of the Sinai, northern Israel, and the region round the Dead Sea; KJV coney, orig NASB rock badger
  10. Deuteronomy 14:7 Lit brings up
  11. Deuteronomy 14:12 Or vulture
  12. Deuteronomy 14:12 Or black vulture
  13. Deuteronomy 14:16 Or great horned owl
  14. Deuteronomy 14:19 Flying insects
  15. Deuteronomy 14:22 Lit your seed
  16. Deuteronomy 14:24 Lit way
  17. Deuteronomy 14:24 Lit carry it
  18. Deuteronomy 14:25 Lit give in money
  19. Deuteronomy 14:26 Lit soul
  20. Deuteronomy 14:26 Lit soul
  21. Deuteronomy 14:26 Lit asks of you
  22. Deuteronomy 14:29 Or fatherless
Close NET

Deuteronomy 14
New English Translation

The Holy and the Profane

14 You are children[a] of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald[b] for the sake of the dead. 2 For you are a people holy[c] to the Lord your God. He[d] has chosen you to be his people, prized[e] above all others on the face of the earth.

3 You must not eat any forbidden thing.[f] 4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5 the ibex,[g] the gazelle,[h] the deer,[i] the wild goat, the antelope,[j] the wild oryx,[k] and the mountain sheep.[l] 6 You may eat any animal that has hooves divided into two parts and that chews the cud.[m] 7 However, you may not eat the following animals among those that chew the cud or those that have divided hooves: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger.[n] (Although they chew the cud, they do not have divided hooves and are therefore ritually impure to you.) 8 Also, the pig is ritually impure to you; though it has divided hooves,[o] it does not chew the cud. You may not eat their meat or even touch their remains.

9 These you may eat from among water creatures: anything with fins and scales you may eat, 10 but whatever does not have fins and scales you may not eat; it is ritually impure to you.

11 All ritually clean birds[p] you may eat. 12 These are the ones you may not eat: the eagle,[q] the vulture,[r] the black vulture,[s] 13 the kite, the black kite, the dayyah[t] after its species, 14 every raven after its species, 15 the ostrich,[u] the owl,[v] the seagull, the falcon[w] after its species, 16 the little owl, the long-eared owl, the white owl,[x] 17 the jackdaw,[y] the carrion vulture, the cormorant, 18 the stork, the heron after its species, the hoopoe, and the bat.

19 And any swarming winged thing[z] is impure[aa] to you—they may not be eaten.[ab] 20 You may eat any winged creature that is clean. 21 You may not eat any corpse, though you may give it to the resident foreigner who is living in your villages[ac] and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. You are a people holy to the Lord your God. Do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.[ad]

The Offering of Tithes

22 You must be certain to tithe[ae] all the produce of your seed that comes from the field year after year. 23 In the presence of the Lord your God, in the place he chooses to locate his name, you must eat from the tithe of your grain, your new wine,[af] your olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always. 24 When he[ag] blesses you, if the[ah] place where he chooses to locate his name is distant, 25 you may convert the tithe into money, secure the money,[ai] and travel to the place the Lord your God chooses for himself. 26 Then you may spend the money however you wish for cattle, sheep, wine, beer, or whatever you desire. You and your household may eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and enjoy it. 27 As for the Levites in your villages, you must not ignore them, for they have no allotment or inheritance along with you. 28 At the end of every three years you must bring all the tithe of your produce, in that very year, and you must store it up in your villages. 29 Then the Levites (because they have no allotment or inheritance with you), the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows of your villages may come and eat their fill so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work you do.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 14:1 tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); TEV, NLT “people.”
  2. Deuteronomy 14:1 sn Do not cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald. These were pagan practices associated with mourning the dead; they were not to be imitated by God’s people (though they frequently were; cf. 1 Kgs 18:28; Jer 16:6; 41:5; 47:5; Hos 7:14 [LXX]; Mic 5:1). For other warnings against such practices see Lev 21:5; Jer 16:5.
  3. Deuteronomy 14:2 tn Or “set apart.”
  4. Deuteronomy 14:2 tn Heb “The Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
  5. Deuteronomy 14:2 tn Or “treasured.” The Hebrew term סְגֻלָּה (segullah) describes Israel as God’s choice people, those whom he elected and who are most precious to him (cf. Exod 19:4-6; Deut 14:2; 26:18; 1 Chr 29:3; Ps 135:4; Eccl 2:8 Mal 3:17). See E. Carpenter, NIDOTTE 3:224.sn The Hebrew term translated “select” (and the whole verse) is reminiscent of the classic covenant text (Exod 19:4-6) which describes Israel’s entry into covenant relationship with the Lord. Israel must resist paganism and its trappings precisely because she is a holy people elected by the Lord from among the nations to be his instrument of world redemption (cf. Deut 7:6; 26:18; Ps 135:4; Mal 3:17; Titus 2:14; 1 Pet 2:9).
  6. Deuteronomy 14:3 tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (toʿevah, “forbidden; abhorrent”) describes anything detestable to the Lord because of its innate evil or inconsistency with his own nature and character. See note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25. Cf. KJV “abominable”; NIV “detestable”; NRSV “abhorrent.”sn This verse acts as a header for several short lists that describe what may and may not be eaten: land animals (vv. 4-8), water creatures (vv. 9-10), birds and bats (vv. 11-18), other winged creatures (vv. 19-20). Each set refers to clean and unclean animals.
  7. Deuteronomy 14:5 tn The Hebrew term אַיָּל (ʾayyal) may refer to a type of deer (cf. Arabic ʾayyal). Cf. NAB “the red deer.”
  8. Deuteronomy 14:5 tn The Hebrew term צְבִי (tsevi) is sometimes rendered “roebuck” (so KJV).
  9. Deuteronomy 14:5 tn The Hebrew term יַחְמוּר (yakhmur) may refer to a “fallow deer”; cf. Arabic yahmur (“deer”). Cf. NAB, NIV, NCV “roe deer”; NEB, NRSV, NLT “roebuck.”
  10. Deuteronomy 14:5 tn The Hebrew term דִּישֹׁן (dishon) is a hapax legomenon. Its referent is uncertain but the animal is likely a variety of antelope (cf. NEB “white-rumped deer”; NIV, NRSV, NLT “ibex”).
  11. Deuteronomy 14:5 tn The Hebrew term תְּאוֹ (teʾo; a variant is תּוֹא, toʾ) could also refer to another species of antelope. Cf. NEB “long-horned antelope”; NIV, NRSV “antelope.”
  12. Deuteronomy 14:5 tn The Hebrew term זֶמֶר (zemer) is another hapax legomenon with the possible meaning “wild sheep.” Cf. KJV, ASV “chamois”; NEB “rock-goat”; NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “mountain sheep.”
  13. Deuteronomy 14:6 tn The Hebrew text includes “among the animals.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  14. Deuteronomy 14:7 tn The Hebrew term שָׁפָן (shafan) may refer to the “coney” (cf. KJV, NIV) or hyrax (“rock badger,” cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).
  15. Deuteronomy 14:8 tc The MT lacks (probably by haplography) the phrase וְשֹׁסַע שֶׁסַע פַּרְסָה (veshosaʿ shesaʿ parsah, “and is clovenfooted,” i.e., “has parted hooves”), a phrase found in the otherwise exact parallel in Lev 11:7. The LXX and Smr attest the longer reading here. The meaning is, however, clear without it.
  16. Deuteronomy 14:11 tn According to HALOT the Hebrew term צִפּוֹר (tsippor) can to a “bird” or “winged creature” (HALOT 1047 s.v.). In this list it appears to include bats, while insects are put in their own list next. Hebrew terminology seems to have focused on the mode of movement or environment rather than our modern zoological taxonomies.
  17. Deuteronomy 14:12 tn NEB “the griffon-vulture.”
  18. Deuteronomy 14:12 tn The Hebrew term פֶּרֶס (peres) describes a large vulture otherwise known as the ossifrage (cf. KJV). This largest of the vultures takes its name from its habit of dropping skeletal remains from a great height so as to break the bones apart.
  19. Deuteronomy 14:12 tn The Hebrew term עָזְנִיָּה (ʿozniyyah) may describe the black vulture (so NIV) or it may refer to the osprey (so NAB, NRSV, NLT), an eagle-like bird subsisting mainly on fish.
  20. Deuteronomy 14:13 tn The Hebrew term is דַּיָּה (dayyah). This, with the previous two terms (רָאָה [raʾah] and אַיָּה [ʾayyah]), is probably a kite of some species but otherwise impossible to specify.
  21. Deuteronomy 14:15 tn Or “owl.” The Hebrew term בַּת הַיַּעֲנָה (bat hayyaʿanah) is sometimes taken as “ostrich” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT), but may refer instead to some species of owl (cf. KJV “owl”; NEB “desert-owl”; NIV “horned owl”).
  22. Deuteronomy 14:15 tn The Hebrew term תַּחְמָס (takhmas) is either a type of owl (cf. NEB “short-eared owl”; NIV “screech owl”) or possibly the nighthawk (so NRSV, NLT).
  23. Deuteronomy 14:15 tn The Hebrew term נֵץ (nets) may refer to the falcon or perhaps the hawk (so NEB, NIV).
  24. Deuteronomy 14:16 tn The Hebrew term תִּנְשֶׁמֶת (tinshemet) may refer to a species of owl (cf. ASV “horned owl”; NASB, NIV, NLT “white owl”) or perhaps even to the swan (so KJV); cf. NRSV “water hen.”
  25. Deuteronomy 14:17 tn The Hebrew term קָאַת (qaʾat) may also refer to a type of owl (NAB, NIV, NRSV “desert owl”) or perhaps the pelican (so KJV, NASB, NLT).
  26. Deuteronomy 14:19 tn The term עוֹף (ʿof) refers to winged creatures more broadly than “birds” and is repeated in v. 20. Here “swarming winged things” (שֶׁרֶץ הָעוֹף, sherets haʿof) most likely refers to “insects.”sn It is debatable whether vv. 11-20 form one list (e.g. NASB) or two (e.g. NIV) as it is taken here. Verses 11 and 20 each say “you may eat any clean X” and refer to flying creatures. The terms עוֹף (ʿof) and צִפּוֹר (tsippor, see v. 11) can both refer to birds, but are not limited to birds. Verse 12 begins and v. 19 ends with a clause saying what may not be eaten, while specific animals or classes of animals are listed in between. This has the appearance of a chiastic structure for one list. On the other hand, the lists of land animals and fish are simply divided into what one may eat and may not eat, suggesting that vv. 11-18 and 19-20 (each including both kinds of statements) are separate lists. Also an issue, the phrase in v. 19 “it is unclean” might refer back to v.12 and the singular זֶה (zeh, “this,” but translated “these in most English versions for stylistic reasons). This would help tie 12-19 together as one list, but the closer referent is “any…winged thing” earlier in v. 19. Verses 19 and 20 are also tied by the use of the term עוֹף.
  27. Deuteronomy 14:19 sn Lev 11:20-23 gives more details about unclean insects allowing locusts and grasshopper to be eaten. Cf. Matt 3:4; Mark 1:6.
  28. Deuteronomy 14:19 tc The Vulgate and fragments from the Cairo Genizah read “it shall not be eaten.” The LXX and Smr read “you shall not eat from them” (cf. 14:12). The MT, reading the Niphal (passive), is less likely to have been harmonized and the harder reading should stand.
  29. Deuteronomy 14:21 tn Heb “gates” (also in vv. 27, 28, 29).
  30. Deuteronomy 14:21 sn Do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. This strange prohibition—one whose rationale is unclear but probably related to pagan ritual—may seem out of place here but actually is not for the following reasons: (1) the passage as a whole opens with a prohibition against heathen mourning rites (i.e., death, vv. 1-2) and closes with what appear to be birth and infancy rites. (2) In the other two places where the stipulation occurs (Exod 23:19 and Exod 34:26) it similarly concludes major sections. (3) Whatever the practice signified it clearly was abhorrent to the Lord and fittingly concludes the topic of various breaches of purity and holiness as represented by the ingestion of unclean animals (vv. 3-21). See C. M. Carmichael, “On Separating Life and Death: An Explanation of Some Biblical Laws,” HTR 69 (1976): 1-7; J. Milgrom, “You Shall Not Boil a Kid In Its Mother’s Milk,” BRev 1 (1985): 48-55; R. J. Ratner and B. Zuckerman, “In Rereading the ‘Kid in Milk’ Inscriptions,” BRev 1 (1985): 56-58; and M. Haran, “Seething a Kid in its Mother’s Milk,” JJS 30 (1979): 23-35.
  31. Deuteronomy 14:22 tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, indicated in the translation by the words “be certain.”
  32. Deuteronomy 14:23 tn This refers to wine in the early stages of fermentation. In its later stages it becomes wine (יַיִן, yayin) in its mature sense.
  33. Deuteronomy 14:24 tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “He” in 14:2.
  34. Deuteronomy 14:24 tn The Hebrew text includes “way is so far from you that you are unable to carry it because the.” These words have not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons, because they are redundant.
  35. Deuteronomy 14:25 tn Heb “bind the silver in your hand.”
Next
Deuteronomy 13
Deuteronomy 15
Next
dropdown
Legacy Standard Bible (LSB)

Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.

New English Translation (NET)

NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.