Creatures that were forbidden to be eaten

1“We are people who belong to Yahweh our God. So, when people die, do not show that you are grieving by gashing/cutting yourselves or by shaving the hair on your foreheads like the other people-groups do.

2We belong to Yahweh alone. Yahweh chose us from all the other people-groups on the earth to be his special people.

3“Do not eat anything that Yahweh detests.

4The animals whose meat you are permitted to eat are cattle, sheep, goats,

5deer, gazelles, wild goats, antelopes, and mountain sheep.

6Those are animals that have split hoofs and that also ◄chew their cuds/regurgitate their food from their stomachs to chew it again►.

7But there are other animals that chew their cuds that you must not eat. Those are camels, rabbits, and rock badgers. They chew their cuds, but their hooves are not split. So they are not acceptable for you to eat.

8Do not eat pigs. They are unacceptable for you to eat; their hooves are split, but they do not chew cud. Do not eat the meat of those animals; do not even touch their dead bodies.

9You are permitted to eat any fish that has scales and fins.

10But anything else that lives in the water that does not have scales and fins, you must not eat, because if you eat them, you will become unacceptable to Yahweh.

11“You are permitted to eat the flesh of any bird that is acceptable to Yahweh.

12But eagles, vultures, black vultures,

13buzzards, all kinds of kites,

14all kinds of crows,

15ostriches, seagulls,

16owls, hawks, falcons,

17pelicans, vultures that eat dead animals, cormorants,

18storks, herons, hoopoes, and bats, you must not eat.

19“All insects with wings and which walk on the ground are unacceptable to Yahweh; do not eat them.

20But other insects with wings and which hop along the ground are acceptable to eat.

21“Do not eat any animal that has died naturally, because its blood has not been drained out. You may allow foreigners who live among you to eat those things or you may sell them to other foreigners. But you belong to Yahweh our God; and those who belong to him are not permitted to eat the meat of animals whose blood has not been drained out. “You must not cook a young sheep or goat in its mother’s milk.”

Giving tithes

22“Once each year you must set apart ◄a tithe/10 percent► of all the crops that are produced/harvested in your fields.

23Take those things to the place that Yahweh our God will choose for you to worship him. There eat the tithes of your grain, your wine, your olive oil, and the meat of the firstborn male animals of your cattle and your sheep. Do this in order that you may learn to always revere Yahweh, the one who has blessed you by giving you these things.

24If the place that Yahweh has chosen for you to worship him is very far from your home, with the result that you are not able to take there the tithes of your crops with which Yahweh has blessed you, do this:

25Sell [IDM] the tithes of your crops, wrap the money carefully in a cloth, and take it with you to the place of worship that Yahweh has chosen.

26There, with that money, you may buy whatever you want to—beef or lamb or wine or fermented drinks. And there, in the presence of Yahweh, you and your families should eat and drink those things and be happy.

27But be sure to not neglect/forget to help the descendants of Levi who live in your towns, because they will not own any land.

28“At the end of every three years, bring a tithe of all your crops that have been produced/harvested in that year and store it in your towns.

29That food is for the descendants of Levi, because they do not have their own land, and for foreigners who live among you, and for orphans and widows who live in your towns. They are permitted to come to where the food is stored and take what they need. Do that in order that Yahweh our God will bless you in everything that you do.”