1 You are the sons of Jehovah your God. Do not cut yourselves nor shave your forehead for the sake of the dead. 2 You are a holy people to Jehovah your God. Out of all the people on the face of the earth Jehovah has chosen you to be a people for His own possession.
3 Do 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 roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope (chamois) and the mountain sheep.
6 You may eat any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof split in two and chews the cud. 7 Do not eat of these that chew the cud, or among those that divide the hoof in two: the camel and the rabbit and the shaphan. Even though they chew the cud, they do not divide the hoof. They are unclean for you. 8 The pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, it is unclean for you. Do not eat any of their flesh nor touch their carcasses.
9 These you may eat of all that are in water: anything that has fins and scales you may eat. 10 Do not eat anything that does not have fins and scales. It is unclean for you. 11 You may eat any clean bird. 12 These are the ones you should not eat: the eagle and the vulture and the buzzard, 13 and the red kite, the falcon, and the kite in their kinds, 14 and every raven in its kind, 15 and the ostrich, the owl, the sea gull, and the hawk in their kinds, 16 the swan, the great owl, the white owl, 17 the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant, 18 the stork, and the heron in their kinds, and the hoopoe and the bat.
19 And all the teeming life with wings is unclean to you. Do not eat them. 20 You may eat any clean bird.
21 Do not eat anything that dies by itself. You may give it to the alien who is in your town, so that he may eat it. You may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to Jehovah your God. Do not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
22 You shall surely tithe all the produce from what you sow, which comes out of the field every year. 23 You shall eat in the presence of Jehovah your God, at the place where He chooses to establish his name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to respect Jehovah your God always. 24 The place Jehovah your God will choose to put his name may be too far away. He may bless you with so much that you cannot carry the tithe of your income that far. 25 If so, exchange the tenth part of your income for silver. Take the silver with you, and go to the place Jehovah your God will choose. 26 Use the silver to buy whatever you want: cattle, sheep, goats, wine, liquor-whatever you choose. Then you and your family will eat and enjoy yourselves there in the presence of Jehovah your God. 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 Jehovah your God will bless you in everything you do.