Deuteronomy 14: Clean and unclean food, and the tithe

In plain English: You are the children of Yahweh your God. Do not cut yourselves, or shave yourselves bald between your eyes, for the dead.

Good to know: Leviticus 19:28 also forbids cutting the body for the dead. The text does not explain what shaving "between your eyes" means.

In plain English: For you are a people holy to Yahweh your God. Yahweh has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be a people that is his own possession.

The Hebrew word: "His own possession" is segullah, which the dictionary gives as "wealth (as closely shut up)": a treasure kept close.

How it is translated: This Bible says "possession" in 6 of the 8 verses that use segullah, and "treasure" in 2.

Good to know: Yahweh first calls Israel his "own possession" at Mount Sinai in Exodus 19:5, and Moses says nearly the same words in Deuteronomy 7:6. 1 Peter 2:9 uses like words for those it is written to: "a people for God's own possession".

In plain English: Do not eat anything disgusting (this Bible: abominable).

In plain English: These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

Good to know: Leviticus 11:2 to 23 gives this food law in more detail, with the same rule of the split hoof and the cud, and fins and scales. Deuteronomy adds a list of ten land animals that may be eaten (verses 4 and 5). Leviticus also names small creatures of the ground (11:29 and 11:30), which this chapter leaves out.

In plain English: the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the chamois (or: the mountain sheep).

Good to know: Many of the animals and birds in this chapter cannot be named for certain, and this Bible and the dictionary do not always agree. For the last animal in this verse, this Bible says "chamois", and the dictionary gives "a gazelle". For the "rabbit" in verse 7 the dictionary gives "a species of rockrabbit, probably the hyrax", a small animal that lives among rocks.

In plain English: You may eat any animal that has a split hoof, divided in two, and that chews the cud.

In plain English: But of those that chew the cud or have a split hoof, you must not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the rabbit (or: the rock badger). They chew the cud but do not have a split hoof, so they are unclean for you.

In plain English: The pig has a split hoof but does not chew the cud, so it is unclean for you. Do not eat their meat, and do not touch their dead bodies.

In plain English: Of all the creatures that live in the water, you may eat any that have fins and scales.

In plain English: But do not eat anything that does not have fins and scales. It is unclean for you.

In plain English: You may eat any clean bird.

In plain English: But these are the ones you must not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey,

In plain English: the red kite, the falcon, and every kind of kite,

In plain English: every kind of raven,

In plain English: the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, and every kind of hawk,

In plain English: the little owl, the great owl, the horned owl,

In plain English: the pelican, the vulture, the cormorant,

In plain English: the stork, every kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.

In plain English: All winged creeping things (or: winged swarming things) are unclean for you. They are not to be eaten.

In plain English: You may eat any clean bird (or: any clean winged thing).

The Hebrew word: The "bird" in verse 11 is tsippor, which the dictionary gives as "a little bird". The word here is a different one, oph, "a bird (as covered with feathers, or rather as covering with wings)", the same word as "winged" in verse 19.

How it is translated: This Bible says "bird" or a longer form in 66 of the 70 verses that use oph.

What changes: Read as "clean birds", this verse says again what verse 11 said. Read as "clean winged things", it may allow the winged insects that Leviticus 11:21 and 11:22 allow, such as locusts. The text does not say which.

In plain English: Do not eat anything that has died by itself. You may give it to the foreigner living in your towns, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to an outsider (this Bible: a foreigner), because you are a people holy to Yahweh your God. Do not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

Good to know: The same words, "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk", are in Exodus 23:19 and 34:26. The text does not give a reason.

Church tradition: Jewish teaching reads these three verses as the ground for keeping meat and milk apart in cooking and eating. Many Christian churches do not keep these food laws. The text itself names a young goat and its mother's milk.

In plain English: Every year you must set apart a tenth (this Bible: tithe) of all the crops your seed produces in the field.

The Hebrew word: "Tithe" is ma'aser, which the dictionary gives as "a tenth; especially a tithe".

How it is translated: This Bible says "tithe" or a longer form in 24 of the 27 verses that use ma'aser.

Good to know: Numbers 18:21 gives "all the tithe in Israel" to the Levites. Here the family eats the tithe at the chosen place (verse 23), and every third year it is stored in the towns for the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow (verses 28 and 29, and 26:12). The text does not say how these fit together.

Church tradition: Jewish tradition reads these passages as more than one tithe: a first tithe for the Levites, a second tithe eaten at the chosen place, and in the third and sixth years of every seven, a tithe for the poor in its place. Others read them as one tithe described in different ways. Churches differ on whether Christians should give a tenth today: some teach it as a rule, some as a guide, and some teach giving with no set amount. The text does not speak to that question.

In plain English: Eat it before Yahweh your God in the place he will choose to make his name live there: the tithe of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the firstborn of your herds and your flocks. Then you will learn to fear Yahweh your God always.

In plain English: If the journey is too long for you, so that you cannot carry the tithe, because the place Yahweh your God will choose to put his name is too far from you, when Yahweh your God blesses you,

In plain English: then you may turn it into money, tie up the money in your hand, and go to the place Yahweh your God will choose.

In plain English: Spend the money on whatever you want: cattle, sheep, wine, strong drink, or anything you wish for. Eat there before Yahweh your God, and rejoice, you and your household.

In plain English: Do not neglect the Levite who lives in your towns, because he has no share or inheritance with you.

In plain English: At the end of every three years, bring out all the tithe of your crops for that year and store it in your towns.

In plain English: Then the Levite, who has no share or inheritance with you, and the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who live in your towns are to come and eat until they are full, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work you do.