Deuteronomy 14:1-19

1 "You are the children of the Lord your God; you shall not cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead.
2 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
3 "You shall not eat any detestable thing.
4 These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,
5 the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the mountain goat, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.
6 And you may eat every animal with cloven hooves, having the hoof split into two parts, and that chews the cud, among the animals.
7 Nevertheless, of those that chew the cud or have cloven hooves, you shall not eat, such as these: the camel, the hare, and the rock hyrax; for they chew the cud but do not have cloven hooves; they are unclean for you.
8 Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh or touch their dead carcasses.
9 "These you may eat of all that are in the waters: you may eat all that have fins and scales.
10 And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.
11 "All clean birds you may eat.
12 But these you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard,
13 the red kite, the falcon, and the kite after their kinds;
14 every raven after its kind;
15 the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the seagull, and the hawk after their kinds;
16 the little owl, the screech owl, the white owl,
17 the jackdaw, the carrion vulture, the fisher owl,
18 the stork, the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe and the bat.
19 Also every creeping thing that flies is unclean for you; they shall not be eaten.

Deuteronomy 14:1-19 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 14

In this chapter some cautions are given against the use of some rites and ceremonies in mourning for the dead, with the reason thereof, De 14:1,2 and instructions about what are lawful to be eaten, and what not, whether of beasts, fishes, or fowl, De 14:3-21, and concerning eating one sort of tithes both at the place God should choose, and within their own gates, De 14:22-29.

Footnotes 1

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.