14:1 You are the ·children [sons] of the Lord your God. When someone dies, do not ·cut [lacerate; gash] yourselves or ·shave your heads [L set baldness between your eyes; C to show sadness; mourning customs of the pagan Canaanites].
14:2 You are holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. He has chosen you from all the people on earth ·to be his very own [as his special treasure; Ex. 19:5–6].
14:3 Do not eat anything ·the Lord hates [L detestable; abominable; cf. Lev. 11].
14:4 These are the animals you may eat: oxen, sheep, goats,
14:6 You may eat any animal that has a split hoof and chews the cud [C considered a normal land animal],
14:7 but you may not eat camels, rabbits, or rock badgers. These animals chew the cud, but they do not have split hoofs, so they are unclean [C in a ritual sense] for you.
14:8 Pigs are also unclean for you; they have split hoofs, but they do not chew the cud. Do not eat their meat or touch their dead bodies.
14:9 There are many things that live in the water. You may eat anything that has fins and scales [C considered a normal aquatic creature],
14:10 but do not eat anything that does not have fins and scales. It is unclean [C in a ritual sense] for you.
14:11 You may eat any clean [C in a ritual sense] bird.
14:12 But do not eat these birds: eagles, vultures, black vultures,
14:18 storks, any kind of heron, the hoopoes, or bats [C the exact identification of many of these birds is disputed, but they all eat prey or dead matter and/or live in desolate places].
14:19 All insects with wings are unclean [C in a ritual sense] for you; do not eat them.
14:20 Other things with wings are clean, and you may eat them.
14:21 Do not eat anything you find that is already dead. You may give it to a ·foreigner living in your town [resident alien living within your gates], and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. But you are holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Do not cook a baby goat in its mother’s milk [C probably a pagan ritual; Ex. 23:19].
14:22 Be sure to ·save [set aside/apart] ·one-tenth [T a tithe] of all ·your crops [L the produce/yield of your seed of the field] each year.
14:23 Eat it in the presence of the Lord your God in the place where he chooses to ·be worshiped [L cause his name to dwell; C Zion; 12:4–7]. Eat the ·tenth [tithe] of your grain, new wine, and oil, and eat the animals born first to your herds and flocks. Do this so that you will learn to ·respect [fear] the Lord your God ·always [L every day].
14:24 But if the place the Lord will choose to ·be worshiped [L set his name there] is too far away and he has blessed you so much you cannot carry a ·tenth [T tithe],
14:25 exchange your ·one-tenth [T tithe] for silver. Then ·take [L grasp in your hand] the silver with you to the place the Lord your God shall choose.
14:26 ·Use [Spend; L Give] the silver to buy anything you wish—cattle, sheep, wine, ·beer [T strong drink; C an alcoholic beverage made from grain], or anything you wish. Then you and your ·family [L house] will eat and celebrate there before the Lord your God.
14:27 Do not ·forget [L abandon; forsake] the Levites in your ·town [L gates], because they have no land of their own among you.
14:28 At the end of every third year, everyone should bring ·one-tenth [T a tithe] of that year’s crop and store it in your ·towns [L gates].
14:29 This is for the Levites so they may eat and be full. (They have no ·land of their own [L allotment or inheritance] among you.) It is also for ·strangers [foreigners; resident aliens], orphans, and widows who live in your ·towns [L gates] so that all of them may eat and be full. Then the Lord your God will bless you and all the work ·you do [L of your hands that you do].
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