Deuteronomy

¹You are the children of the LORD your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead,

²for you are a holy people belonging to the LORD your God. The LORD has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

³Do not eat anything detestable.

⁴These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

⁵the deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, and mountain sheep.

⁶You may eat any animal that has divided hooves — both hooves split — and that also chews the cud.

⁷However, among those that chew the cud or have divided hooves, you may not eat the camel, rabbit, or hyrax. Although they chew the cud, they do not have divided hooves, so they are unclean for you.

⁸The pig is also unclean for you. Although it has divided hooves, it does not chew the cud. You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses.

⁹Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales.

¹⁰But you must not eat anything that does not have fins and scales — it is unclean for you.

¹¹You may eat any clean bird.

¹²But these you must not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey,

¹³the red kite, the black kite, any kind of falcon,

¹⁴any kind of raven,

¹⁵the horned owl, the screech owl, the seagull, any kind of hawk,

¹⁶the little owl, the great owl, the barn owl,

¹⁷the pelican, the Egyptian vulture, the cormorant,

¹⁸the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.

¹⁹All winged insects are unclean for you — do not eat them.

²⁰But you may eat any clean winged creature.

²¹Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to the foreigner residing in any of your towns, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. But you are a holy people belonging to the LORD your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

²²Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.

²³Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine, 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, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.

²⁴But if the distance is too great and you cannot carry your tithe — because the place the LORD your God has chosen to put his name is too far away and the LORD has blessed you —

²⁵then exchange your tithe for silver and take the silver with you to the place the LORD your God will choose.

²⁶Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine, beer, or whatever you desire. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice.

²⁷And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no portion or inheritance among you.

²⁸At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns,

²⁹so that the Levites — who have no portion or inheritance among you — and the foreigners, the fatherless, and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied. Then the LORD your God will bless you in all the work of your hands.