Deuteronomy 14

₁Moses said: ‘You are the children of the Lord your God. You may not cut yourselves or shave the hair from the front of your heads when you are mourning for someone who has died, ₂because you are the holy people of the Lord your God. The Lord has chosen you from all the other nations on earth to belong to Him and to be his people.’

₃‘You may not eat food that God said is impure. ₄You may eat the meat of only these animals: cattle, sheep, goats, ₅deer, gazelles, grey deer, wild goats, antelope and mountain sheep. ₆You may eat the meat of any animal that has divided hooves and chews its food twice. ₇But you may not eat the meat of animals that chew their food twice but do not have divided hooves, or the meat of animals that have divided hooves but do not chew their food twice. Camels and rabbits and rock-rabbits chew their food twice but they do not have divided hooves. They are impure. ₈Pigs have divided hooves but they do not chew their food twice. They are impure. You may not eat the meat of these animals and you may not touch their dead bodies.

₉You may eat all the fish and animals in the water that have fins and scales, ₁₀but you may not eat anything that does not have fins and scales. They are impure.

₁₁You may eat the meat of any pure bird. _12-18The birds that you may not eat are: eagles, vultures, fish eagles, hawks, ravens, ostriches, seagulls, owls, pelicans, ospreys, cormorants, storks, herons, hoopoes and bats. ₁₉All insects that have wings are impure. You may not eat them. ₂₀You may eat only birds that are pure.

₂₁You may not eat the meat of any animal that has died by itself, but you may give it to the strangers who live among you. They may eat it. Or you may sell that meat to people who are not Israelites. Some of you will ask: “Why can't we eat impure meat?” It is because you are the holy people of the Lord your God.

You may not cook a goat lamb in its mother's milk.’

₂₂‘Every year you must take one 10th of everything that you have planted which grows in the ground and put it away in a special place. ₂₃Then you must eat it at the place where the Lord your God will choose, where He will live, and where He will be. You must eat and drink the 10th of your wheat, wine and olive oil there and also the meat of your firstborn calves and lambs, so that you learn always to honour the Lord your God.

₂₄If you are too far from the place where the Lord your God chooses to live and you can not carry the 10ths of everything that the Lord your God has given you and blessed you with to that place, ₂₅then you may sell your 10ths and take the money to the place that the Lord your God chooses. ₂₆There you may buy anything that you want: cattle, sheep, goats, wine, beer or anything you want. And then you and your family must rejoice there before the Lord your God. ₂₇Do not forget to invite the Levites who live among you to come and rejoice with you, because they did not receive land as you did.

₂₈Every 3 years you must keep all the 10ths of everything that you have received in that year. Keep it in your homes. ₂₉The Levites did not receive land as you did and they may come and eat your 10ths until they have had enough. The strangers, the orphans and the widows who live among you may also come and eat. Then the Lord your God will be with you in everything you do.’