Deuteronomy 14-16
Lexham English Bible
14 “You are children[a] of Yahweh your God; therefore you must not gash[b] yourself, and you must not make your forehead bald[c] 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[d] of the earth.
3 You shall not eat any detestable thing. 4 These are the animals you may eat: ox, sheep, goats,[e] 5 deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, and mountain sheep. 6 And any animal having a split hoof[f] and so a dividing of the hoof into two parts[g] and that chews the cud[h] among the animals[i]—that animal you may eat. 7 Only these you may not eat from those chewing the cud[j] and from those having a division of the hoof:[k] the camel and the hare and the coney, because they chew the cud,[l] 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[m] but does not chew the cud;[n] it is unclean for you; from their meat you shall not eat, and you shall not touch their carcasses.[o]
9 “This is what you shall eat from all that is in the water: everything[p] that has fins and scales[q] you may eat. 10 But anything that does not have[r] fins and scales, you may not eat, for it is unclean for you.
11 “All of the birds that are clean you may eat. 12 Now these are the ones you shall not eat any of them:[s] the eagle and the vulture and the short-toed eagle,[t] 13 and the red kite[u] and the black kite or any kind of falcon,[v] 14 and any kind of crow[w] according to its kind, 15 and the ostrich[x] and the short-eared owl and the seagull[y] and the hawk according to its kind, 16 the little owl and the great owl and the barn owl,[z] 17 and the desert owl[aa] and the carrion vulture[ab] and the cormorant,[ac] 18 and the stork and the heron according to its kind and the hoopoe and the bat. 19 And also all of the winged insects;[ad] they are unclean for you; you shall not eat them. 20 You may eat any clean bird.
21 “You shall not eat any carcass;[ae] you may give it to the alien who is in your towns,[af] and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people for Yahweh your God; you may not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
22 “Certainly you must give a tithe of all the yield of your seed, which comes forth from your field year after year.[ag] 23 And you shall eat before[ah] Yahweh your God in the place that he will choose to make to dwell his name there the tithe of your grain, your wine and your olive oil and the firstling of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to revere Yahweh your God always.[ai] 24 But if the distance is too great for you,[aj] so that you are not able to transport[ak] it, because the place that Yahweh your God will choose to set his name there, it is too far from you, when Yahweh your God will bless you, 25 then in that case you may exchange for money,[al] and you shall take[am] the money to your hand and go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose. 26 You may spend the money for anything that you desire,[an] for oxen or for sheep or for wine or for strong drink or for anything that you desire,[ao] and you shall eat it there before[ap] Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. 27 And as to the Levite who is in your towns,[aq] you shall not neglect him, because there is not a plot of ground for him and an inheritance along with you.
28 “At the end of three years you shall bring out all of the tithe of your yield for that year, and you shall store it in your towns.[ar] 29 And so the Levite may come, because there is no plot of ground for him or an inheritance with you, and the alien also may come and the orphan and the widow that are in your towns,[as] and they may eat their fill,[at] so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all of the work of your hand that you undertake.”
15 “At the end of seven years you shall grant a remission of debt. 2 And this is the manner of the remission of debt: every creditor[au] shall remit his claim that he holds against his neighbor, and he shall not exact payment from his brother because there[av] a remission of debt has been proclaimed unto[aw] Yahweh. 3 With respect to the foreigner you may exact payment, but you must remit[ax] what shall be owed to you with respect to your brother. 4 Nevertheless, there[ay] shall not be among you a poor person, because Yahweh will certainly bless you in the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance, to take possession of it. 5 If only you listen well to the voice of Yahweh your God by observing diligently[az] all of these commandments[ba] that I am commanding you today.[bb] 6 When Yahweh your God has blessed you, just as he promised[bc] to you, then you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow from them, and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you. 7 If there is a poor person among you from among one of your brothers in one of your towns[bd] that Yahweh your God is giving to you, you shall not harden your heart, and you shall not shut your hand toward your brother who is poor.[be] 8 But you shall certainly open your hand for him, and you shall willingly lend[bf] to him enough to meet his need, whatever it is.[bg] 9 Take care[bh] so that there[bi] will not be a thought of wickedness[bj] in your heart, saying,[bk] ‘The seventh year, the year of the remission of debt is near,’ and you view your needy neighbor with hostility,[bl] and so you do not give to him, and he might cry out against you to Yahweh, and you would incur guilt against yourself.[bm] 10 By all means you must give to him, and you must not be discontented[bn] at your giving to him, because on account of this very thing, Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you undertake.[bo] 11 For the poor[bp] will not cease to be among you[bq] in the land; therefore I am commanding you, saying,[br] ‘You shall willingly open your hand to your brother, to your needy and to your poor that are in your land.’
12 If your relative[bs] who is a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman is sold to you, and he or she has served you six years, then in the seventh year you shall send that person out free.[bt] 13 And when you send him out free from you, you shall not send him away empty-handed. 14 You shall generously supply him from among your flocks and from your threshing floor and from your press; according to that with which Yahweh your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. 15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God redeemed you; therefore I am commanding you thus today.[bu] 16 And then if it will happen that he says to you, ‘I do not want to go out[bv] from you,’ because he loves you and your family, because it is good for him to be with you; 17 then you shall take an awl, and you shall thrust it through his earlobe and into the door, and he shall be to you a slave forever;[bw] and you shall also do likewise for your slave woman. 18 It shall not be hard in your eyes when you send him forth free,[bx] because for six years he has served you worth twice the wage of a hired worker; and Yahweh your God will bless you in whatever you will do.[by]
19 “Every firstling male that is born of your herd and of your flock you shall consecrate to Yahweh your God; you shall not do work with the firstling of your ox, and you shall not shear the firstling of your flock. 20 Rather before Yahweh[bz] your God you shall eat it year by year at the place Yahweh will choose, you and your household. 21 But if there is a physical defect in it, such as lameness or blindness, any serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to Yahweh your God. 22 In your towns[ca] you shall eat it, the unclean and the clean together may eat it, just as they eat the gazelle and as they eat the deer. 23 But you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it on the ground like water.”
16 “Observe the month of Abib, and you shall keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out from Egypt by night. 2 And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to Yahweh your God from among your flock and herd at the place that Yahweh will choose, to let his name dwell there. 3 You shall not eat with it[cb] anything leavened; seven days you shall eat with it[cc] unleavened bread of affliction, because in haste you went out from the land of Egypt, so that you will remember the day of your going out from the land of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 And leaven shall not be seen with[cd] you in any of your territory[ce] for seven days, and none of the meat that you will slaughter on the evening on the first day shall remain overnight until morning. 5 You are not allowed to offer the Passover sacrifice in one of your towns[cf] that Yahweh your God is giving to you, 6 but only at the place that Yahweh your God will choose, to let his name dwell there; you shall offer the Passover sacrifice in the evening at sunset,[cg] at the designated time[ch] of your going out from Egypt. 7 And you shall cook, and you shall eat it at the place that Yahweh your God will choose; and you may turn in the morning and go to your tents. 8 Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be an assembly for Yahweh your God; you shall not do work.
9 “You shall count off seven weeks for you; from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain[ci] you shall begin to count seven weeks. 10 And then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks for Yahweh your God with the measure of the freewill offering of your hand that you shall give just as Yahweh your God has blessed you. 11 And you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God, you and your son and your daughter and your slave and your slave woman and the Levite that is in your towns[cj] and the alien and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst in the place that Yahweh your God will choose to let his name dwell there. 12 And you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and so you shall diligently observe[ck] these rules.
13 “You shall celebrate the Feast of Booths for yourselves[cl] seven days at the gathering in of the produce[cm] from your threshing floor and from your press; 14 and you shall rejoice at your feast, you and your son and your daughter and your slave and your slave woman and the Levite and the orphan and the widow that are in your towns.[cn] 15 Seven days you shall celebrate your feast to Yahweh your God at the place Yahweh will choose, for Yahweh your God shall bless you in all of your produce[co] and in all of the work of your hand, and you shall surely be rejoicing.[cp] 16 Three times in the year all of your males shall appear before [cq] Yahweh your God at the place that he will choose, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread and at the Feast of Weeks and at the Feast of Booths, and they shall not appear before Yahweh[cr] empty-handed. 17 Each person shall give as he is able,[cs] that is, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God that he has given to you.
18 “You shall appoint judges and officials for you in all your towns[ct] that Yahweh your God is giving to you throughout your tribes, and you shall render for the people righteous judgments.[cu] 19 You shall not subvert[cv] justice; you shall not show partiality;[cw] and you shall not take a bribe, for the bribe makes blind the eyes of the wise and misrepresents the words of the righteous. 20 Justice, only justice[cx] you shall pursue, so that you may live, and you shall take possession of the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you. 21 You shall not plant for yourselves[cy] an Asherah pole[cz] beside the altar of Yahweh your God that you make for yourselves.[da] 22 And you shall not set up for yourselves a stone pillar, a thing that Yahweh your God hates.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 14:1 Or “sons”
- Deuteronomy 14:1 Or “cut”
- Deuteronomy 14:1 Literally “you shall not make/place baldness between your eyes”
- Deuteronomy 14:2 Or “face”
- Deuteronomy 14:4 Literally “small livestock of the sheep and a small livestock of the goats”
- Deuteronomy 14:6 Or “divides the hoof”
- Deuteronomy 14:6 Literally “a dividing cleft creating two hoofs”
- Deuteronomy 14:6 Literally “and that brings up the cud”
- Deuteronomy 14:6 Hebrew “animal”
- Deuteronomy 14:7 Literally “bringing up the cud”
- Deuteronomy 14:7 Literally “those having a division of the hoof divided”
- Deuteronomy 14:7 Literally “they bringing up of the cud”
- Deuteronomy 14:8 Literally “because a division of the hoof”
- Deuteronomy 14:8 Literally “but not a chewing cud”
- Deuteronomy 14:8 Literally “dead body”
- Deuteronomy 14:9 Literally “all of that”
- Deuteronomy 14:9 Literally “for it is fins and scales,” showing possession of these features
- Deuteronomy 14:10 Literally “all of that there is not for it,” showing lack of possession of these features
- Deuteronomy 14:12 Literally “from them”
- Deuteronomy 14:12 This list of birds is difficult to translate since the terms are not definitely known: e.g., some translations render the last bird as a “buzzard” (NASV); other translations give different names for all three: griffon vulture, black vulture, bearded vulture (NEB)
- Deuteronomy 14:13 Various options are available: large bird, kite, red kite, glede, buzzard
- Deuteronomy 14:13 Literally “or the falcon according to its kind”; other options for falcon: bird, falcon, kite (others as carrion-bird), vulture, crow or raven, buzzard
- Deuteronomy 14:14 Or others translate as “raven”
- Deuteronomy 14:15 Literally “daughter of the ostrich”; others “desert owl”
- Deuteronomy 14:15 Or “long-eared owl”
- Deuteronomy 14:16 Or “white owl”
- Deuteronomy 14:17 Or “large bird” or “horned-owl”
- Deuteronomy 14:17 Or “large bird”
- Deuteronomy 14:17 Or “large bird,” or “fisher-owl”
- Deuteronomy 14:19 Literally “the swarmers of the flyers” or “all the swarms of things that fly”
- Deuteronomy 14:21 Or “corpse”
- Deuteronomy 14:21 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 14:22 Literally “the going forth of the field year by year”
- Deuteronomy 14:23 Literally “before the faces of”
- Deuteronomy 14:23 Literally “all of the days”
- Deuteronomy 14:24 Literally “it is great from you the journey that”
- Deuteronomy 14:24 Or “carry”
- Deuteronomy 14:25 Literally “you may give it in for the money/silver”
- Deuteronomy 14:25 Or “bind”
- Deuteronomy 14:26 Literally “that your soul/inner self desires”
- Deuteronomy 14:26 Literally “that your soul/inner self desires”
- Deuteronomy 14:26 Literally “to the face of”
- Deuteronomy 14:27 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 14:28 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 14:29 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 14:29 Literally “they may eat and they may be satisfied”
- Deuteronomy 15:2 Literally “owner of the loan of his hand”
- Deuteronomy 15:2 Hebrew “it”
- Deuteronomy 15:2 Hebrew “for”
- Deuteronomy 15:3 Literally “your hand shall remit”
- Deuteronomy 15:4 Hebrew “it”
- Deuteronomy 15:5 Literally “to observe so as to do”
- Deuteronomy 15:5 Hebrew “commandment”
- Deuteronomy 15:5 Literally “the day”
- Deuteronomy 15:6 Literally “spoke”
- Deuteronomy 15:7 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 15:7 Literally “from among your brothers, the poor one”
- Deuteronomy 15:8 Literally “lending you shall lend”
- Deuteronomy 15:8 Literally “whatever is lacking for him”
- Deuteronomy 15:9 Literally “Watch for yourself”
- Deuteronomy 15:9 Hebrew “it”
- Deuteronomy 15:9 Literally “a thing in your heart wickedness”
- Deuteronomy 15:9 Literally “to say”
- Deuteronomy 15:9 Literally “is bad your eye against your brother who is needy”
- Deuteronomy 15:9 Literally “it will be against you a sin”
- Deuteronomy 15:10 Literally “and not shall be bad/evil your heart at/when”
- Deuteronomy 15:10 Literally “in all of the sending/putting forth of your hand”
- Deuteronomy 15:11 Or “the needy person”
- Deuteronomy 15:11 Literally “from the midst of “
- Deuteronomy 15:11 Literally “to say”
- Deuteronomy 15:12 Or “brother”
- Deuteronomy 15:12 Literally “free from with you”
- Deuteronomy 15:15 Literally “the day”
- Deuteronomy 15:16 Literally “I will not go out”
- Deuteronomy 15:17 Literally “a slave of eternity”
- Deuteronomy 15:18 Literally “in/at you to send him forth free from being with you”
- Deuteronomy 15:18 Literally “in all of that you will do”
- Deuteronomy 15:20 Literally “in the face of Yahweh”
- Deuteronomy 15:22 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 16:3 Literally “in addition to” or “upon it”
- Deuteronomy 16:3 Literally “in addition to” or “upon it”
- Deuteronomy 16:4 Or “for”
- Deuteronomy 16:4 Or “all of” your territory
- Deuteronomy 16:5 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 16:6 Literally “in the evening as the sun goes/sets”
- Deuteronomy 16:6 The Hebrew word here indicates the specific time that God had chosen to bring Israel out of Egypt
- Deuteronomy 16:9 Literally “from the beginning of the sickle against the standing grain”
- Deuteronomy 16:11 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 16:12 Literally “you shall observe and do”
- Deuteronomy 16:13 Hebrew “for you”
- Deuteronomy 16:13 Literally “at your gathering of the produce”
- Deuteronomy 16:14 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 16:15 Or “increase”
- Deuteronomy 16:15 Or “joyful”
- Deuteronomy 16:16 Literally “with the face of”
- Deuteronomy 16:16 Literally “with the face of Yahweh”
- Deuteronomy 16:17 Literally “according to the gift of his hand”
- Deuteronomy 16:18 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 16:18 Literally “a judgment based on righteousness”
- Deuteronomy 16:19 Or “distort/pervert”
- Deuteronomy 16:19 Literally “recognize faces”
- Deuteronomy 16:20 Literally “justice justice”
- Deuteronomy 16:21 Hebrew “for/to you” but with collective meaning
- Deuteronomy 16:21 Literally “an Asherah of any wood/tree”
- Deuteronomy 16:21 Hebrew “for/to you” but with collective meaning
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