Deuteronomy 14–16

14Ye are ^athe children of the Lord your God: ^bye shall not cut yourselves, nor ^cmake any baldness between your eyes for the dead. ^2dFor thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be ^ea peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.

^3fThou shalt not eat any abominable thing. ^4gThese are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, ^5hThe hart, and ^hthe roebuck, and ^hthe fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the ^||pygarg, and ⁱthe wild ox, and the chamois. ⁶And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat. ⁷Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you. ⁸And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, ^jnor touch their dead carcase.

⁹These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat: ¹⁰And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you.

¹¹Of all clean birds ye shall eat. ¹²But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray, ¹³And ^kthe glede, and the kite, and ^lthe vulture after his kind, ¹⁴And every raven after his kind, ¹⁵And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, ¹⁶The little owl, and the great owl, and the swan, ¹⁷And the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the cormorant, ¹⁸And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat. ¹⁹And ^levery creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: ^mthey shall not be eaten. ²⁰But of all clean fowls ye may eat.

²¹ⁿYe shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: ^ofor thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. ^pThou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk. ^22qThou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year. ^23rAnd thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and ^sthe firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always. ²⁴And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or ^tif the place be too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee: ²⁵Then shalt thou turn it into money, and ^ubind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose: ²⁶And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul ^†desireth: and ^wthou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household, ²⁷And ^xthe Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for ^yhe hath no part nor inheritance with thee. ^28zAt the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year, and shalt lay it up within thy gates: ^29zAnd the Levite, (because ^yhe hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that ^athe Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.

15At the end of ^aevery seven years thou shalt make a release. ²And this is the manner of the release: Every ^†creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it; he shall not exact it of his neighbour, or of his brother; because it is called the Lord’s release. ^3bOf a foreigner thou mayest exact it again: but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release; ^4||Save when there shall be no poor among you; ^cfor the Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it: ⁵Only ^dif thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day. ⁶For the Lord thy God blesseth thee, as he promised thee: and ^ethou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and ^fthou shalt reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over thee. ⁷If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not ^gharden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: ^8hBut thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. ⁹Beware that there be not a ^†thought in thy ^†wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine ⁱeye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and ^khe cry unto the Lord against thee, and ^lit be sin unto thee. ¹⁰Thou shalt surely give him, and ^mthine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him: because that ⁿfor this thing the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all thy works, and in all ^othat thou puttest thine hand unto. ¹¹For ^pthe poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, ^qThou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.

¹²And ^rif thy brother, an Hebrew man, or an Hebrew woman, be sold unto thee, and serve thee six years; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. ¹³And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: ¹⁴Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the Lord thy God hath ^sblessed thee thou shalt give unto him. ¹⁵And ^tthou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day. ¹⁶And it shall be, ^uif he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee; because he loveth thee and thine house, because he is well with thee; ¹⁷Then thou shalt take an aul, and thrust it through his ear unto the door, and he shall be thy servant for ever. And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise. ¹⁸It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a double ^whired servant to thee, in serving thee six years: and the Lord thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.

^19xAll the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the Lord thy God: ^ythou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep. ^20zThou shalt eat it before the Lord thy God year by year in the place which the Lord shall choose, thou and thy household. ^21aAnd if there be any blemish therein, as if it be lame, or blind, or have any ill blemish, thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the Lord thy God. ²²Thou shalt eat it within thy gates: ^bthe unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike, as the roebuck, and as the hart. ^23cOnly thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.

16Observe the ^amonth of Abib, and keep the passover unto the Lord thy God: for ^bin the month of Abib the Lord thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night. ²Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the Lord thy God, of the flock and ^cthe herd, ^din the place which the Lord shall choose to place his name there. ³Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in ^ehaste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life. ^4fAnd there shall be no leavened bread seen with thee in all thy coast seven days; neither shall there any thing of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, ^gremain all night until the morning. ⁵Thou mayest not ^||sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee: ⁶But at the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover ^hat even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt. ⁷And thou shalt ⁱroast and eat it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose: and thou shalt turn in the morning, and go unto thy tents. ^8kSix days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and ^lon the seventh day shall be a ^†solemn assembly to the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work therein.

^9mSeven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to ⁿthe corn. ¹⁰And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with ^||a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, ^oaccording as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee: ¹¹And ^pthou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to place his name there. ^12qAnd thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.

^13rThou shalt observe the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in thy ^†corn and thy wine: ¹⁴And ^sthou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates. ^15tSeven days shalt thou keep a…