Deuteronomy 14
The full text of Deuteronomy 14 in the Trinity Bible Version — clear modern English, translated from the original Hebrew. Free to read.
1 You are the children of the LORD your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead,
2 for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured 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 roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.
6 You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof split in two and that chews the cud.
7 However, of those that chew the cud or have a divided hoof you may not eat the camel, the hare, or the rock badger. Although they chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof; they are unclean for you.
8 The pig is also unclean; although it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses.
9 Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales.
10 But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; it is unclean for you.
11 You may eat any clean bird.
12 But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture,
13 the red kite, the black kite, any kind of falcon,
14 any kind of raven,
15 the ostrich, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk,
16 the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,
17 the desert owl, the carrion vulture, the cormorant,
18 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.
19 All flying insects that swarm are unclean for you; do not eat them.
20 But any clean bird you may eat.
21 Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to the foreigner residing in any of your towns, and they may eat it, or you may sell it to an outsider. But you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.
22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.
23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always.
24 But if that place is too far away from you and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away),
25 then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose.
26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice.
27 And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.
28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns,
29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
Translation notes (4)
- Deuteronomy 14:1a These practices—gashing the skin and shaving a bald patch above the forehead for the dead—were mourning rites of the surrounding peoples. They are forbidden to Israel because, as the LORD's children, they belong to a holy people (verse 2).
- Deuteronomy 14:2a The term "Treasured possession" (segullah) refers to a king's private treasure, indicating that Israel is the LORD's own prized possession, set apart from all other peoples (compare Deuteronomy 7:6; 26:18).
- Deuteronomy 14:5a The exact identity of several of these wild ruminants is uncertain; the translations follow the standard modern equivalents for game animals permitted as food.
- Deuteronomy 14:21a The command "Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk" appears three times in the Torah (here; Exodus 23:19; 34:26). Its precise original meaning is uncertain, though it is often understood as a ban on a Canaanite religious ritual or farming practice. The wording is preserved literally in this translation rather than interpreted.
About this translation
The Trinity Bible Version (TBV) is Trinity Bible's own translation of Scripture, made directly from the original Hebrew rather than revised from an older English Bible. Completed in 2026, it is the most modern English Bible translation available, and it is exclusive to Trinity Bible. Reading the TBV here on the web is free — the full study edition, with original-language tools and notes on every verse, lives in the Trinity Bible app.
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