Moral Fidelity to the Lord
Deuteronomy 14 – 15
Deuteronomy 14 – 15
CHAPTER 14
1 Ye are sons of Jehovah your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for a dead person. 2 For thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God, and thee hath Jehovah chosen for a people of possession unto himself, out of all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth. 3 Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. 4 These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat; 5 the hart, and the gazelle, and the stag, and the wild goat, and the dishon and the oryx, and the wild sheep. 6 And every beast that hath cloven hoofs, and the feet quite split open into double hoofs, and which cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that ye shall eat. 7 Only these ye shall not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those with hoofs cloven and split open: the camel, and the hare, and the rock-badger; for they chew the cud, but have not cloven hoofs — they shall be unclean unto you; 8 and the swine, for it hath cloven hoofs, yet cheweth not the cud — it shall be unclean unto you. Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch. 9 These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales shall ye eat; 10 but whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye shall not eat: it shall be unclean unto you. 11 All clean birds shall ye eat. 12 But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the sea-eagle, 13 and the falcon, and the kite, and the black kite after its kind; 14 and every raven after its kind; 15 and the female ostrich, and the male ostrich, and the sea-gull, and the hawk after its kind; 16 the owl, and the ibis and the swan, 17 and the pelican, and the carrion vulture, and the gannet, 18 and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat. 19 And every winged crawling thing shall be unclean unto you; they shall not be eaten. 20 All clean fowls shall ye eat. 21 Ye shall eat of no carcase; thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is within thy gates, that he may eat it, or sell it unto a foreigner; for thou art a holy people to Jehovah thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother’s milk. 22 Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, the produce of the field, year by year. 23 And thou shalt eat before Jehovah thy God, in the place which he will choose to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy new wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear Jehovah thy God continually. 24 And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, because the place is too far from thee, which Jehovah thy God will choose to set his name there, when Jehovah thy God blesseth thee; 25 then shalt thou give it for money, and bind the money together in thy hand, and go to the place which Jehovah thy God will choose, 26 and thou shalt give the money for whatever thy soul desireth, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever thy soul asketh of thee; and thou shalt eat there before Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thy house. 27 And thou shalt not forsake the Levite that is within thy gates; for he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee. 28 At 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; 29 and the Levite — for he hath no portion nor inheritance with thee — and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that Jehovah thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hand which thou doest.
CHAPTER 15
1 At the end of seven years thou shalt make a release, 2 and this is the manner of the release: Every creditor shall relax his hand from the loan which he hath lent unto his neighbour; he shall not demand it of his neighbour, or of his brother; for a release to Jehovah hath been proclaimed. 3 Of the foreigner thou mayest demand it; but what is thine with thy brother thy hand shall release; 4 save when there shall be no one in need among you; for Jehovah will greatly bless thee in the land that Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, 5 if thou only diligently hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to take heed to do all this commandment which I command thee this day. 6 For Jehovah thy God will bless thee, as he promised thee; and thou shalt lend on pledge to many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over thee. 7 If there be amongst you a poor man, any one of thy brethren in one of thy gates, in thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy brother in need; 8 but thou shalt open thy hand bountifully unto him, and shalt certainly lend him on pledge what is sufficient for his need, in that which he lacketh. 9 Beware that there be not a wicked thought in thy heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry against thee to Jehovah, and it be sin in thee. 10 Thou shalt bountifully give unto him, and thy heart shall not be evil-disposed when thou givest unto him; because for this thing Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all thy works, and in all the business of thy hand. 11 For the needy shall never cease from within the land; therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thy hand bountifully unto thy brother, to thy poor and to thy needy, in thy land. 12 If thy brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, have been sold unto thee, he shall serve thee six years, and in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee. 13 And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty; 14 thou shalt certainly furnish him from thy sheep, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of what Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee with shalt thou give unto him. 15 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and that Jehovah thy God redeemed thee; therefore I command thee this thing to-day. 16 And it shall be, if he say unto thee, I will not go away from thee, — because he loveth thee and thy house, because he is well with thee, — 17 then thou shalt take an awl, and thrust it through his ear and into the door; and he shall be thy bondman for ever. And also unto thy handmaid thou shalt do likewise. 18 Let it not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for double the worth of a hired servant hath he been to thee, in serving thee six years; and Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all that thou doest. 19 Every firstling that is born among thy kine and among thy sheep that is a male, thou shalt hallow to Jehovah thy God: thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy kine, nor shear the firstling of thy sheep. 20 Thou shalt eat it before Jehovah thy God, year by year, in the place which Jehovah will choose, thou and thy household. 21 But if there be a defect therein, if it be lame, or blind, or have any evil defect, thou shalt not sacrifice it to Jehovah thy God. 22 In thy gates shalt thou eat it; the unclean and the clean shall eat it alike, as the gazelle and as the hart. 23 Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof: thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water.