Deuteronomy 14:16-26

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

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

18 and the stork and the heron according to its kind and the hoopoe and the bat.

19 And [also] all [of] {the winged insects}; they [are] unclean for you; you shall not eat [them].

20 You may eat any clean bird.

21 "You shall not eat any carcass; you may give it to the alien who [is] in your {towns}, and he may eat it, or you may sell [it] to a foreigner, for you [are] a holy people for Yahweh your God; you may not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

22 "Certainly you must give a tithe [of] all the yield of your seed, {which comes forth from your field year after year}.

23 And you shall eat {before} Yahweh your God in the place that he will choose to make to dwell his name there the tithe of your grain, your wine and your olive oil and the firstling of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to revere Yahweh your God {always}.

24 But if {the distance is too great for you}, [so] that you are not able to transport it, because the place that Yahweh your God will choose to set his name there, it is [too] far from you, when Yahweh your God will bless you,

25 then [in that case] {you may exchange for money}, and you shall take the money to your hand and go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose.

26 You may spend the money for anything {that you desire}, for oxen or for sheep or for wine or for strong drink or for anything {that you desire}, and you shall eat [it] there {before} Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.

Deuteronomy 14:16-26 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

• [a]. Or "white owl"
• [b]. Or "large bird" or "horned-owl"
• [c]. Or "large bird"
• [d]. Or "large bird," or "fisher-owl"
• [e]. Literally "the swarmer[s] of the flyer[s]" or "all the swarms [of things] that fly"
• [f]. Or "corpse"
• [g]. Literally "gates"
• [h]. Literally "the going forth of the field year [by] year"
• [i]. Literally "before the faces of"
• [j]. Literally "all of the days"
• [k]. Literally "[it] is great from you the journey that"
• [l]. Or "carry"
• [m]. Literally "you may give it [in] for the money/silver"
• [n]. Or "bind"
• [o]. Literally "that your soul/inner self desires"
• [p]. Literally "that your soul/inner self desires"
• [q]. Literally "to the face of"