¹ “You are children¹ of Yahweh your God; therefore you must not gash² yourself, and ⌞you must not make your forehead bald⌟³ for the dead.

1. Or “sons”
2. Or “cut”
3. Literally “you shall not make/place baldness between your eyes”

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 surface¹ of the earth.

1. Or “face”

³ You shall not eat any detestable thing.

⁴ These are the animals you may eat: ox, ⌞sheep, goats⌟,¹

1. Literally “small livestock of the sheep and a small livestock of the goats”

⁵ deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, and mountain sheep.

⁶ And any animal having a split hoof¹ and so ⌞a dividing of the hoof into two parts⌟² ⌞and that chews the cud⌟³ among the animals⁴—that animal you may eat.

1. Or “divides the hoof”
2. Literally “a dividing cleft creating two hoofs”
3. Literally “and that brings up the cud”
4. Hebrew “animal”

⁷ Only these you may not eat from ⌞those chewing the cud⌟¹ and from ⌞those having a division of the hoof⌟:² the camel and the hare and the coney, because ⌞they chew the cud⌟,³ but they do not divide the hoof; they are therefore unclean for you.

1. Literally “bringing up the cud”
2. Literally “those having a division of the hoof divided”
3. Literally “they bringing up of the cud”

⁸ And also the pig ⌞because it has a division of the hoof⌟¹ ⌞but does not chew the cud⌟;² it is unclean for you; from their meat you shall not eat, and you shall not touch their ⌞carcasses⌟.³

1. Literally “because a division of the hoof”
2. Literally “but not a chewing cud”
3. Literally “dead body”

⁹ “This is what you shall eat from all that is in the water: ⌞everything⌟¹ ⌞that has fins and scales⌟² you may eat.

1. Literally “all of that”
2. Literally “for it is fins and scales,” showing possession of these features

¹⁰ But ⌞anything that does not have⌟¹ fins and scales, you may not eat, for it is unclean for you.

1. Literally “all of that there is not for it,” showing lack of possession of these features

¹¹ “All of the birds that are clean you may eat.

¹² Now these are the ones you shall not eat ⌞any of them⌟:¹ the eagle and the vulture and the short-toed eagle,²

1. Literally “from them”
2. 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)

¹³ and the red kite¹ and the black kite or ⌞any kind of falcon⌟,²

1. Various options are available: large bird, kite, red kite, glede, buzzard
2. Literally “or the falcon according to its kind”; other options for falcon: bird, falcon, kite (others as carrion-bird), vulture, crow or raven, buzzard

¹⁴ and any kind of crow¹ according to its kind,

1. Or others translate as “raven”

¹⁵ and the ⌞ostrich⌟¹ and the short-eared owl and the seagull² and the hawk according to its kind,

1. Literally “daughter of the ostrich”; others “desert owl”
2. Or “long-eared owl”

¹⁶ the little owl and the great owl and the barn owl,¹

1. Or “white owl”

¹⁷ and the desert owl¹ and the carrion vulture² and the cormorant,³

1. Or “large bird” or “horned-owl”
2. Or “large bird”
3. Or “large bird,” or “fisher-owl”

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⌟;¹ they are unclean for you; you shall not eat them.

1. Literally “the swarmers of the flyers” or “all the swarms of things that fly”

²⁰ You may eat any clean bird.

²¹ “You shall not eat any carcass;¹ you may give it to the alien who is in your ⌞towns⌟,² 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.

1. Or “corpse”
2. Literally “gates”

²² “Certainly you must give a tithe of all the yield of your seed, ⌞which comes forth from your field year after year⌟.¹

1. Literally “the going forth of the field year by year”

²³ And you shall eat ⌞before⌟¹ 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⌟.²

1. Literally “before the faces of”
2. Literally “all of the days”

²⁴ But if ⌞the distance is too great for you⌟,¹ so that you are not able to transport² 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,

1. Literally “it is great from you the journey that”
2. Or “carry”

²⁵ then in that case ⌞you may exchange for money⌟,¹ and you shall take² the money to your hand and go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose.

1. Literally “you may give it in for the money/silver”
2. Or “bind”

²⁶ You may spend the money for anything ⌞that you desire⌟,¹ for oxen or for sheep or for wine or for strong drink or for anything ⌞that you desire⌟,² and you shall eat it there ⌞before⌟³ Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.

1. Literally “that your soul/inner self desires”
2. Literally “that your soul/inner self desires”
3. Literally “to the face of”

²⁷ And as to the Levite who is in your ⌞towns⌟,¹ you shall not neglect him, because there is not a plot of ground for him and an inheritance along with you.

1. Literally “gates”

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⌟.¹

1. Literally “gates”

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⌟,¹ and ⌞they may eat their fill⌟,² so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all of the work of your hand that you undertake.”

1. Literally “gates”
2. Literally “they may eat and they may be satisfied”