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.

Firstfruits and Tithes

26 When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, ² take some of the firstfruits^(A) of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name^{(B) 3} and say to the priest in office at the time, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the land the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.” ⁴ The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. ⁵ Then you shall declare before the Lord your God: “My father was a wandering^(C) Aramean,^(D) and he went down into Egypt with a few people^(E) and lived there and became a great nation,^(F) powerful and numerous. ⁶ But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer,^(G) subjecting us to harsh labor.^{(H) 7} Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice^(I) and saw^(J) our misery,^(K) toil and oppression.^{(L) 8} So the Lord brought us out of Egypt^(M) with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm,^(N) with great terror and with signs and wonders.^{(O) 9} He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey;^{(P) 10} and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, Lord, have given me.^(Q)” Place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down before him. ¹¹ Then you and the Levites^(R) and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice^(S) in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household.

¹² When you have finished setting aside a tenth^(T) of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe,^(U) you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. ¹³ Then say to the Lord your God: “I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them.^{(V) 14} I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean,^(W) nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done everything you commanded me. ¹⁵ Look down from heaven,^(X) your holy dwelling place, and bless^(Y) your people Israel and the land you have given us as you promised on oath to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.”

Follow the Lord’s Commands

¹⁶ The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.^{(Z) 17} You have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws—that you will listen to him.^{(AA) 18} And the Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession^(AB) as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. ¹⁹ He has declared that he will set you in praise,^(AC) fame and honor high above all the nations^(AD) he has made and that you will be a people holy^(AE) to the Lord your God, as he promised.