Don't Mourn like Other Nations
Moses said:
1 People of Israel, you are the Lord's children, so when you mourn for the dead, you must not cut yourselves or shave your forehead. 2 Out of all the nations on this earth, the Lord your God chose you to be his own. You belong to the Lord, so don't behave like those who worship other gods.
Animals That Can Be Eaten
(Leviticus 11.1-47)
3 Don't eat any disgusting animals.
4-5 You may eat the meat of cattle, sheep, and goats; wild sheep and goats; and gazelles, antelopes, and all kinds of deer. 6 It is all right to eat meat from any animals that have divided hoofs and also chew the cud.
7 But don't eat camels, rabbits, and rock badgers. These animals chew the cud but do not have divided hoofs. You must treat them as unclean. 8 And don't eat pork, since pigs have divided hoofs, but they do not chew their cud. Don't even touch a dead pig!
9 You can eat any fish that has fins and scales. But there are other creatures that live in the water, 10 and if they do not have fins and scales, you must not eat them. Treat them as unclean.
11 You can eat any clean bird. 12-18 But don't eat the meat of any of the following birds: eagles, vultures, falcons, kites, ravens, ostriches, owls, sea gulls, hawks, pelicans, ospreys, cormorants, storks, herons, and hoopoes. You must not eat bats. 19 Swarming insects are unclean, so don't eat them. 20 However, you are allowed to eat certain kinds of winged insects.
21 You belong to the Lord your God, so if you happen to find a dead animal, don't eat its meat. You may give it to foreigners who live in your town or sell it to foreigners who are visiting your town.
Don't boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
Give the Lord Ten Percent of Your Harvest
Moses said:
22 People of Israel, every year you must set aside ten percent of your grain harvest. 23 Also set aside ten percent of your wine and olive oil, and the first-born of every cow, sheep, and goat. Take these to the place where the Lord chooses to be worshiped, and eat them there. This will teach you to always respect the Lord your God.
24 But suppose you can't carry that ten percent of your harvest to the place where the Lord chooses to be worshiped. If you live too far away, or if the Lord gives you a big harvest, 25 then sell this part and take the money there instead. 26 When you and your family arrive, spend the money on food for a big celebration. Buy cattle, sheep, goats, wine, beer, and if there are any other kinds of food that you want, buy those too. 27 And since people of the Levi tribe won't own any land for growing crops, remember to ask the Levites to celebrate with you.
28 Every third year, instead of using the ten percent of your harvest for a big celebration, bring it into town and put it in a community storehouse. 29 The Levites have no land of their own, so you must give them food from the storehouse. You must also give food to the poor who live in your town, including orphans, widows, and foreigners. If they have enough to eat, then the Lord your God will be pleased and make you successful in everything you do.
1 Ye are the children of the Lord your God. Ye shall not cut yourselues, nor make you any baldnesse betweene your eyes for the dead. 2 For thou art an holy people vnto ye Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a precious people vnto himselfe, aboue all the people that are vpon the earth. 3 Thou shalt eate no maner of abomination. 4 These are the beastes, which ye shall eate, the beefe, the sheepe, and the goate, 5 The hart, and the roe buck, and the bugle, and the wilde goate, and the vnicorne, and the wilde oxe, and the chamois. 6 And euery beast that parteth ye hoofe, and cleaueth the clift into two clawes, and is of the beasts that cheweth the cudde, that shall ye eate. 7 But these ye shall not eate, of them that chew the cud, and of them that deuide and cleaue the hoofe onely: ye camell, nor the hare, nor the cony: for they chewe the cudde, but deuide not ye hoofe: therefore they shall be vncleane vnto you: 8 Also the swine, because he deuideth the hoofe, and cheweth not the cud, shalbe vncleane vnto you: ye shall not eate of their flesh, nor touch their dead carkeises. 9 These ye shall eate, of all that are in the waters: all that haue finnes and scales shall ye eate. 10 And whatsoeuer hath no finnes nor scales, ye shall not eate: it shall be vncleane vnto you. 11 Of all cleane birdes ye shall eate: 12 But these are they, whereof ye shall not eate: the eagle, nor the goshawke, nor the osprey, 13 Nor the glead nor the kite, nor the vulture, after their kind, 14 Nor all kinde of rauens, 15 Nor the ostrich, nor the nightcrow, nor the semeaw, nor the hawke after her kinde, 16 Neither the litle owle, nor the great owle, nor the redshanke, 17 Nor the pellicane, nor the swanne, nor the cormorant: 18 The storke also, and the heron in his kinde, nor the lapwing, nor the backe. 19 And euery creeping thing that flieth, shall be vncleane vnto you: it shall not be eaten. 20 But of all cleane foules ye may eate. 21 Ye shall eate of nothing that dieth alone, but thou shalt giue it vnto the stranger that is within thy gates, that he may eate it: or thou maiest sell it vnto a stranger: for thou art an holy people vnto the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mothers milke. 22 Thou shalt giue the tithe of all the increase of thy seede, that commeth foorth of the fielde yeere by yeere. 23 And thou shalt eate before the Lord thy God (in the place which he shall chose to cause his Name to dwell there) the tithe of thy corne, of thy wine, and of thine oyle, and the first borne of thy kine and of thy sheepe, that thou maiest learne to feare the Lord thy God alway. 24 And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to cary it, because the place is farre from thee, where the Lord thy God shall chose to set his Name, when the Lord thy God shall blesse thee, 25 Then shalt thou make it in money, and take the money in thine hand, and goe vnto the place which the Lord thy God shall chose. 26 And thou shalt bestowe the money for whatsoeuer thine heart desireth: whether it be oxe, or sheepe, or wine, or strong drinke, or whatsoeuer thine heart desireth: and shalt eate it there before the Lord thy God, and reioyce, both thou, and thine household. 27 And the Leuite that is within thy gates, shalt thou not forsake: for he hath neither part nor inheritance with thee. 28 At the end of three yeere thou shalt bring foorth all the tithes of thine increase of the same yeere, and lay it vp within thy gates. 29 Then ye Leuite shall come, because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger, and the fatherlesse, and the widowe, which are within thy gates, and shall eate, and be filled, that the Lord thy God may blesse thee in al the worke of thine hand which thou doest.