Deuteronomy 14:1-21

Clean and Unclean Food

1 "You are ¹the sons of the LORD your God. ²You shall not cut yourselves or make any ³baldness on your foreheads for the dead.

2 For ⁴you are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

3 ⁵"You shall not eat any abomination.

4 ⁶These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

5 the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex,^[a] the antelope, and the mountain sheep.

6 Every animal that parts the hoof and has the hoof cloven in two and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat.

7 Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the ⁷rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, are unclean for you.

8 And the pig, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and ⁸their carcasses you shall not touch.

9 "Of all that are in the waters you may eat these: whatever has fins and scales you may eat.

10 And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

11 "You may eat all clean birds.

12 But these are the ones that you shall not eat: the eagle,^[b] the bearded vulture, the black vulture,

13 the kite, the falcon of any kind;

14 every raven of any kind;

15 the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind;

16 the little owl and the short-eared owl, the barn owl

17 and the tawny owl, the carrion vulture and the cormorant,

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

19 And all winged insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten.

20 All clean winged things you may eat.

21 ⁹"You shall not eat anything that has died naturally. You may give it to the sojourner who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For ¹⁰you are a people holy to the LORD your God. ¹¹"You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

Deuteronomy 14:1-21 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.

Cross References

• 1. [Isaiah 1:2; Hosea 1:10; John 1:12; Romans 9:8, 26; Galatians 3:26]
• 2. See Leviticus 19:28
• 3. [Isaiah 15:2; Isaiah 22:12; Ezekiel 7:18; Amos 8:10]
• 4. See Deuteronomy 7:6
• 5. Ezekiel 4:14; [Acts 10:13, 14]
• 6. For ver. 4-20, see Leviticus 11:2-23
• 7. Leviticus 11:5; [Psalms 104:18; Proverbs 30:26]
• 8. [Leviticus 11:26]
• 9. See Leviticus 7:24
• 10. See Deuteronomy 7:6
• 11. See Exodus 23:19

Footnotes

• [a]. Or addax
• [b]. The identity of many of these birds is uncertain