Deuteronomy 14:3-21

Clean and Unclean Foods

3 "You must not eat any detestable thing.
4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,
5 the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.
6 You may eat any animal that has hooves divided in two and chews the cud.
7 But among the ones that chew the cud or have divided hooves, you are not to eat these: the camel, the hare, and the hyrax, though they chew the cud, they do not have hooves- they are unclean for you;
8 and the pig, though it has hooves, it does not [chew] the cud- it is unclean for you. You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses.[a]
9 "You may eat everything from the water that has fins and scales,
10 but you may not eat anything that does not have fins and scales-it is unclean for you.[b]
11 "You may eat every clean bird,
12 but these are the ones you may not eat: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,
13 the kite, the various kinds of falcon,[c]
14 every kind of raven,
15 the ostrich, the short-eared owl, the gull, the various kinds of hawk,
16 the little owl, the long-eared owl, the white owl,
17 the desert owl, the osprey, the cormorant,
18 the stork, the various kinds of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.[d] [e]
19 All winged insects are unclean for you; they may not be eaten.
20 But you may eat every clean flying creature.[f]
21 "You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to a resident alien within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. You must not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

Deuteronomy 14:3-21 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.

Footnotes 6

  • [a]. Lv 11:1-8
  • [b]. Lv 11:9-12
  • [c]. Some Hb mss, Sam, LXX; other Hb mss, Vg read the falcon, the various kinds of kite
  • [d]. The identification of some of these birds or animals is uncertain.
  • [e]. Lv 11:13-19
  • [f]. Lv 11:20-23
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