Deuteronomy 14:1-21

Clean and Unclean Animals

1 "You are ¹the sons of the LORD your God; ²you shall not cut yourselves nor shave * your forehead * for the sake of the dead.

2 "For you are ³a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a ⁴people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

3 "⁵You shall not eat any detestable thing.

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

5 the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.

6 "Any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof split in two and chews the cud, among the animals, that you may eat.

7 "Nevertheless, you are not to eat of these among those which chew the cud, or among those that divide the hoof in two: the camel and the rabbit and the shaphan, for though they chew the cud, they do not divide the hoof; they are unclean for you.

8 "The pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, it is unclean for you. You shall not eat any of their flesh nor touch their carcasses.

9 "These you may eat of all that are in water: anything that has fins and scales you may eat,

10 but anything that does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

11 "You may eat any clean bird.

12 "But ⁷these are the ones which you shall not eat: the eagle and the vulture and the buzzard,

13 and the red kite, the falcon, and the kite in their kinds,

14 and every raven in its kind,

15 and the ostrich, the owl, the sea gull, and the hawk in their kinds,

16 the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,

17 the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant,

18 the stork, and the heron in their kinds, and the hoopoe and the bat.

19 "And all the teeming life with wings are unclean to you; they shall not be eaten.

20 "You may eat any clean bird.

21 "⁸You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the alien who is in your town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are ⁹a holy people to the LORD your God. ¹⁰You 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. Romans 8:16; Romans 9:8, 26; Galatians 3:26; 1 John 3:1
• 2. Leviticus 19:28; Leviticus 21:5; Jeremiah 16:6; Jeremiah 41:5
• 3. Leviticus 20:26; Deuteronomy 7:6; Romans 12:1
• 4. Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 4:20; Deuteronomy 26:18; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 2:9
• 5. Ezekiel 4:14
• 6. Leviticus 11:2-45; Acts 10:14
• 7. Leviticus 11:13
• 8. Leviticus 17:15; Leviticus 22:8; Ezekiel 4:14; Ezekiel 44:31
• 9. Deuteronomy 14:2
• 10. Exodus 23:19; Exodus 34:26

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "make a baldness between your eyes"
• [b]. Or "special treasure"
• [c]. Exact identification of these animals is uncertain
• [d]. Lit "two hoofs"
• [e]. Lit "brings up"
• [f]. Lit "brings up"
• [g]. Lit "a cleaving"
• [h]. Or "hare"
• [i]. A small, shy, furry animal "(Hyrax syriacus)" found in the peninsula of the Sinai, northern Israel, and the region round the Dead Sea; KJV "coney," orig NASB "rock-badger"
• [j]. Lit "brings up"
• [k]. Or "vulture"
• [l]. Or "black vulture"
• [m]. Or "great horned owl"
• [n]. I.e. flying insects
• [o]. Lit "gates"