3 Don’t eat anything that Yahweh detests. 4 These are the animals that you all can eat: cattle, sheep, goats, 5 all kinds of deer, gazelles, wild goats, and mountain sheep, 6 i.e., you can eat any of the animals that have split hooves and that also chew the cud. 7 But there are other animals that chew the cud that you mustn’t eat: camels, rabbits and hares, and rock badgers. They chew the cud, but don’t have split hooves so they are unacceptable for you to eat. 8 Don’t eat pigs—they’re unacceptable for you to eat. They have split hooves, but they don’t chew the cud. Don’t eat the meat of those animals and don’t even touch their dead bodies.

9 You all can eat anything that lives in water that has both fins and scales, 10 but anything in the water that doesn’t have both is unacceptable for you to eat.

11 You all can eat any clean bird, 12 but not these: eagles, vultures, ospreys, 13 buzzards, kites, falcons, 14 any kind of ravens or crows, 15 ostriches, owls, seagulls, any kind of hawk, 16 any kinds of owls, 17 pelicans, carrion vultures, cormorants, 18 storks, any kind of heron, hoopoes, or bats. 19 You mustn’t eat any insect with wings and which swarm—they’re unacceptable to Yahweh for you to eat, 20 but other insects with wings are acceptable to eat.

21 Don’t eat any creature that’s died naturally. You may allow foreigners who live among you to eat those things. You may also sell them to other foreigners. But you are a people group that belongs to your god Yahweh.

You mustn’t cook a young sheep or goat in its mother’s milk.[ref]

22 Make sure you set aside a tenth of all the crops that you harvest from your fields.[ref] 23 You must eat it in the presence of your god Yahweh, in the place that he’ll choose and attach his name to. That’s where you must eat the tenth of your grain, wine, olive oil, and the firstborn male animals from your herd and your flock, so that you’ll learn to always honour your god Yahweh. 24 When he blesses you with produce, if the place he chooses to attach his name to is too far for you to be able to carry it to, 25 then you can give the equivalent in cash, and carefully take the cash with you all the way to the place that he chooses. 26 When you get there, use the money to purchase any kinds of meat or drink that you want, and consume it there in front of your god Yahweh, and celebrate along with your household.

27 Be sure not to neglect any Levites that live in your town, because they weren’t given ancestral land for agriculture like you were. 28 At the end of every third year, bring the tenth of all your produce for that year and store it in your town 29 for the Levites (because they didn’t get land), and for any foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns. They can come and get what they need so that your god Yahweh can bless you in everything that you do.

11 Then Yahweh told Mosheh and Aharon:

2 Tell the Israelis that the following creatures on the earth are the ones that you all can eat: 3 You all can eat any animal that has hooves which are completely split in two and that also chew the cud. 4 However you mustn’t eat those without both traits, for example camels chew the cud but don’t have divided hooves, so they are ‘unclean’ for you. 5 The rock badger likewise, because although it chews the cud, it too doesn’t have divided hooves, 6 and the rabbit is ‘unclean’ for you all because although it chews the cud, it doesn’t have divided hooves. 7 Pigs have divided hooves that are split completely, but don’t chew the cud, so they’re ‘unclean’ for you all—8 you mustn’t eat their meat or touch their carcasses because they’re ‘unclean’ for you all.

9 You all can eat everything that lives in the water, whether the oceans or rivers, as long as it has both fins and scales. 10 In contrast, anything in the oceans or rivers without both fins and scales, whether they’re swarming creatures or otherwise, they’ll all be detestable for you all. 11 So anything that’s detestable to you all, you mustn’t eat their meat and you must detest their carcasses. 12 Anything in the water that doesn’t have both fins and scales will be detestable for you all.

13 From the birds, the ones that you’ll all detest and avoid eating will include: the eagle and any kind of vulture, 14 the kite and any kind of falcon, 15 any kind of crow, 16 any kind of owl, gull, or hawk, 17 the cormorant, 18 the osprey, 19 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and bats. 20 Everything that swarms with wings and walks on four legs must be detestable for you all. 21 However, you all can eat anything that swarms with wings and walks on four legs that has its legs above its feet for hopping on the ground. 22 You all can eat any kind of locust or cricket or grasshopper, 23 but anything that swarms with wings and walks on four legs must be detestable for you all.

24 The following will make you ‘unclean’—anyone who touches their carcasses will become ‘unclean’ until the evening, 25 plus anyone who carries their carcass must wash their clothes and will be ‘unclean’ until the evening: 26 Any animal with a divided hoof but not completely split in two or that doesn’t chew the cud will be ‘unclean’ for you all—anyone who touches them will become ‘unclean’. 27 Also, any four-footed animal that walks on its paws is ‘unclean’ for you—anyone who touches their carcass will become ‘unclean’ until the evening, 28 plus anyone who carries their carcass must wash their clothes and will be ‘unclean’ until the evening because they’re ‘unclean’ for you all.

29 These are the ‘unclean’ creatures from the ones that swarm on the ground: rats, mice, lizards 30 of any kind, geckos, skinks, and chameleons. 31 Out of all the swarming things, those are ‘unclean’ for you—anyone who touches them when they’ve died will be ‘unclean’ until the evening. 32 Also, anything that their dead bodies fall on will become ‘unclean’, whether it’s a wooden. cloth, leader, or sackcloth object, or any container used for work, so then it must be immersed in water and it will be ‘unclean’ until the evening when it will become ‘clean’ again. 33 If one of those creatures falls into a clay container, everything in it will become ‘unclean’ and you must break that container. 34 If water from that container got onto any food, it will become ‘unclean’, and any drink take from that container will be ‘unclean’. 35 Anything that the dead body of one of those creatures falls onto will become ‘unclean’—any oven or stove must be smashed. They have become ‘unclean’ and would always remain so. 36 However a spring or a cistern for collecting water will be ‘clean’, but anyone touching that dead body will be ‘unclean’. 37 If the dead body fell on some seeds that will be planted, that seed is still ‘clean’, 38 but if the seeds are wet when the dead body falls on it, then it’s ‘unclean’ for you.

39 If any animal that you all can eat dies, then any person touches its carcass will be ‘unclean’ until the evening. 40 Anyone who eats any part of that dead body, and anyone who moves it, must wash their clothes and will be ‘unclean’ until the evening.

41 Every creature that swarms along the ground is detestable—it mustn’t be eaten. 42 Everything that moves on its belly, and any swarming thing that moves along the ground on four or more feet mustn’t be eaten because they’re detestable. 43 Don’t make yourselves detestable with any of those swarming creatures, and don’t make yourselves ‘unclean’ by touching or eating them, 44 because I am your god Yahweh. You all must keep yourselves holy, and you’re a holy people because I’m holy. So don’t make yourselves ‘unclean’ with any swarming creatures that creep across the ground[ref] 45 because I am Yahweh, the one who brought you all out of Egypt to be your god, and you must be holy because I am holy.

46 The above are the regulations about livestock, birds, creatures that move in the water, and creatures that swarm across the ground, 47 to distinguish between the ‘unclean’ and the ‘clean’, i.e., those that can be eaten and those that must not be eaten.