Deuteronomy 14:3-21

New International Reader's Version

³ Don’t eat anything the Lord hates. ⁴ Here are the only animals you can eat. You can eat oxen, sheep, goats, ⁵ deer, gazelles, roe deer, wild goats, ibexes, antelope and mountain sheep. ⁶ You can eat any animal that has a divided hoof. But it must also chew the cud. ⁷ Some animals only chew the cud. Others only have a divided hoof. The camel, rabbit and rock badger chew the cud, but they don’t have a divided hoof. So you can’t eat them. They are not “clean” for you. ⁸ Pigs aren’t “clean” for you either. They have a divided hoof, but they don’t chew the cud. So don’t eat their meat. And don’t touch their dead bodies.

⁹ Many creatures live in water. You can eat all the ones that have fins and scales. ¹⁰ But don’t eat anything that doesn’t have fins and scales. It isn’t “clean” for you.

¹¹ You can eat any “clean” bird. ¹² But there are many birds you can’t eat. They include eagles, vultures, and black vultures. ¹³ They include red kites, black kites and all kinds of falcons. ¹⁴ They include all kinds of ravens. ¹⁵ They include horned owls, screech owls, gulls and all kinds of hawks. ¹⁶ They include little owls, great owls, white owls ¹⁷ and desert owls. They include ospreys and cormorants. ¹⁸ They include storks and all kinds of herons. They also include hoopoes and bats.

¹⁹ All flying insects are “unclean” for you. So don’t eat them. ²⁰ But you can eat any creature that has wings and is “clean.”

²¹ If you find something that’s already dead, don’t eat it. You can give it to an outsider living in any of your towns. They may eat it. Or you can sell it to someone from another country. But you are a holy nation. The Lord your God has set you apart for himself.

Don’t cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.