Deuteronomy 14:1-10

1 "You [are] children of Yahweh your God; [therefore] you must not gash yourself, and {you must not make your forehead bald} for [the] dead.

2 For you [are] a people holy to Yahweh your God, and you Yahweh has chosen to be a treasured possession from [among] all [of] the peoples that are on the surface of the earth.

3 You shall not eat any detestable thing.

4 These are the animals you may eat: ox, {sheep, goats},

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

6 And any animal having a split hoof and [so] {a dividing of the hoof into two parts} {and that chews the cud} among the animals--that [animal] you may eat.

7 Only these you may not eat from {those chewing the cud} and from {those having a division of the hoof}: the camel and the hare and the coney, because {they chew the cud}, but they [do] not divide the hoof; they are [therefore] unclean for you.

8 And [also] the pig {because it has a division of the hoof} {but does not chew the cud}; it [is] unclean for you; from their meat you shall not eat, and you shall not touch their {carcasses}.

9 "This [is what] you shall eat from all that [is] in the water: {everything} {that has fins and scales} you may eat.

10 But {anything that does not have} fins and scales, you may not eat, [for] it [is] unclean for you.

Deuteronomy 14:1-10 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 "sons"
• [b]. Or "cut"
• [c]. Literally "you shall not make/place baldness between your eyes"
• [d]. Or "face"
• [e]. Literally "small livestock of the sheep and a small livestock of the goats"
• [f]. Or "divides the hoof"
• [g]. Literally "a dividing cleft [creating] two hoofs"
• [h]. Literally "and that brings up the cud"
• [i]. Hebrew "animal"
• [j]. Literally "bringing up the cud"
• [k]. Literally "those having a division of the hoof divided"
• [l]. Literally "they bringing up of the cud"
• [m]. Literally "because a division of the hoof"
• [n]. Literally "but not a [chewing] cud"
• [o]. Literally "dead body"
• [p]. Literally "all [of] that"
• [q]. Literally "for it [is] fins and scales," showing possession of these features
• [r]. Literally "all [of] that there is not for it," showing lack of possession of these features