Deuteronomy 14; Deuteronomy 15; Deuteronomy 16

1 "You are the people of the Lord your God. So when you mourn for the dead, don't gash yourselves or shave the front of your head, as other people do.

2 You belong to the Lord your God; he has chosen you to be his own people from among all the peoples who live on earth.

3 "Do not eat anything that the Lord has declared unclean.

4 You may eat these animals: cattle, sheep, goats,

5 deer, wild sheep, wild goats, or antelopes -

6 any animals that have divided hoofs and that also chew the cud.

7 But no animals may be eaten unless they have divided hoofs and also chew the cud. You may not eat camels, rabbits, or rock badgers. They must be considered unclean; they chew the cud but do not have divided hoofs.

8 Do not eat pigs. They must be considered unclean; they have divided hoofs but do not chew the cud. Do not eat any of these animals or even touch their dead bodies.

9 "You may eat any kind of fish that has fins and scales,

10 but anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales may not be eaten; it must be considered unclean.

11 "You may eat any clean bird.

12 But these are the kinds of birds you are not to eat: eagles, owls, hawks, falcons; buzzards, vultures, crows; ostriches; seagulls, storks, herons, pelicans, cormorants; hoopoes; and bats.

19 "All winged insects are unclean; do not eat them.

20 You may eat any clean insect.

21 "Do not eat any animal that dies a natural death. You may let the foreigners who live among you eat it, or you may sell it to other foreigners. But you belong to the Lord your God; you are his people. "Do not cook a young sheep or goat in its mother's milk.

22 "Set aside a tithe - a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.

23 Then go to the one place where the Lord your God has chosen to be worshiped; and there in his presence eat the tithes of your grain, wine, and olive oil, and the first-born of your cattle and sheep. Do this so that you may learn to honor the Lord your God always.

24 If the place of worship is too far from your home for you to carry there the tithe of the produce that the Lord has blessed you with, then do this:

25 Sell your produce and take the money with you to the one place of worship.

26 Spend it on whatever you want - beef, lamb, wine, beer - and there, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families are to eat and enjoy yourselves.

27 "Do not neglect the Levites who live in your towns; they have no property of their own.

28 At the end of every third year bring the tithe of all your crops and store it in your towns.

29 This food is for the Levites, since they own no property, and for the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns. They are to come and get all they need. Do this, and the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

1 "At the end of every seventh year you are to cancel the debts of those who owe you money.

2 This is how it is to be done. Each of you who has lent money to any Israelite is to cancel the debt; you must not try to collect the money; the Lord himself has declared the debt canceled.

3 You may collect what a foreigner owes you, but you must not collect what any of your own people owe you.

4 "The Lord your God will bless you in the land that he is giving you. Not one of your people will be poor

5 if you obey him and carefully observe everything that I command you today.

6 The Lord will bless you, as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations, but you will not have to borrow from any; you will have control over many nations, but no nation will have control over you.

7 "If in any of the towns in the land that the Lord your God is giving you there are Israelites in need, then do not be selfish and refuse to help them.

8 Instead, be generous and lend them as much as they need.

9 Do not refuse to lend them something, just because the year when debts are canceled is near. Do not let such an evil thought enter your mind. If you refuse to make the loan, they will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be held guilty.

10 Give to them freely and unselfishly, and the Lord will bless you in everything you do.

11 There will always be some Israelites who are poor and in need, and so I command you to be generous to them.

12 "If any Israelites, male or female, sell themselves to you as slaves, you are to release them after they have served you for six years. When the seventh year comes, you must let them go free.

13 When you set them free, do not send them away empty-handed.

14 Give to them generously from what the Lord has blessed you with - sheep, grain, and wine.

15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God set you free; that is why I am now giving you this command.

16 "But your slave may not want to leave; he may love you and your family and be content to stay.

17 Then take him to the door of your house and there pierce his ear; he will then be your slave for life. Treat your female slave in the same way.

18 Do not be resentful when you set slaves free; after all, they have served you for six years at half the cost of hired servants. Do this, and the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

19 "Set aside for the Lord your God all the first-born males of your cattle and sheep; don't use any of these cattle for work and don't shear any of these sheep.

20 Each year you and your family are to eat them in the Lord's presence at the one place of worship.

21 But if there is anything wrong with the animals, if they are crippled or blind or have any other serious defect, you must not sacrifice them to the Lord your God.

22 You may eat such animals at home. All of you, whether ritually clean or unclean, may eat them, just as you eat deer or antelope.

23 But do not use their blood for food; instead, you must pour it out on the ground like water.

1 "Honor the Lord your God by celebrating Passover in the month of Abib; it was on a night in that month that he rescued you from Egypt.

2 Go to the one place of worship and slaughter there one of your sheep or cattle for the Passover meal to honor the Lord your God.

3 When you eat this meal, do not eat bread prepared with yeast. For seven days you are to eat bread prepared without yeast, as you did when you had to leave Egypt in such a hurry. Eat this bread - it will be called the bread of suffering - so that as long as you live you will remember the day you came out of Egypt, that place of suffering.

4 For seven days no one in your land is to have any yeast in the house; and the meat of the animal killed on the evening of the first day must be eaten that same night.

5 "Slaughter the Passover animals at the one place of worship - and nowhere else in the land that the Lord your God will give you. Do it at sunset, the time of day when you left Egypt.

7 Boil the meat and eat it at the one place of worship; and the next morning return home.

8 For the next six days you are to eat bread prepared without yeast, and on the seventh day assemble to worship the Lord your God, and do no work on that day.

9 "Count seven weeks from the time that you begin to harvest the grain,

10 and then celebrate the Harvest Festival, to honor the Lord your God, by bringing him a freewill offering in proportion to the blessing he has given you.

11 Be joyful in the Lord's presence, together with your children, your servants, and the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns. Do this at the one place of worship.

12 Be sure that you obey these commands; do not forget that you were slaves in Egypt.

13 "After you have threshed all your grain and pressed all your grapes, celebrate the Festival of Shelters for seven days.

14 Enjoy it with your children, your servants, and the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns.

15 Honor the Lord your God by celebrating this festival for seven days at the one place of worship. Be joyful, because the Lord has blessed your harvest and your work.

16 "All the men of your nation are to come to worship the Lord three times a year at the one place of worship: at Passover, Harvest Festival, and the Festival of Shelters. Each man is to bring a gift

17 as he is able, in proportion to the blessings that the Lord your God has given him.

18 "Appoint judges and other officials in every town that the Lord your God gives you. These men are to judge the people impartially.

19 They are not to be unjust or show partiality in their judgments; and they are not to accept bribes, for gifts blind the eyes even of wise and honest men, and cause them to give wrong decisions.

20 Always be fair and just, so that you will occupy the land that the Lord your God is giving you and so that you will continue to live there.

21 "When you make an altar for the Lord your God, do not put beside it a wooden symbol of the goddess Asherah.

22 And do not set up any stone pillar for idol worship; the Lord hates them.