✝
← Bible
ARCBLIVREKJVVBL

Deuteronomio 14

VBL · Chapter 14/34

1Ustedes son los hijos del Señor su Dios. No se mutilen ni se afeiten la frente como hacen los paganos cuando lloran a los muertos,

2porque ustedes son un pueblo santo que pertenece al Señor su Dios. El Señor los eligió como su pueblo especial entre todas las naciones de la tierra.

3No deberán comer nada repulsivo.

4Estos son los animales que podrás comer: ganado vacuno, ovejas, cabras,

5ciervos, gacelas, cabras salvajes, antílopes y ovejas de monte.

6Puedes comer cualquier animal que tenga la pezuña dividida y que también mastique el bolo alimenticio.

7Pero no puedes comer de aquellos que, o bien mastican el bolo alimenticio, o tienen la pezuña dividida. Esto incluye: camellos, conejos y damanes de las rocas. Aunque mastiquen el bolo alimenticio, no tienen la pezuña dividida. Debes tratarlos como inmundos.

8Lo mismo se aplica al cerdo. Aunque tenga una pezuña dividida, no mastica el bolo alimenticio. Así que debes tratarlo como inmundo. No debes comer su carne ni tocar su cuerpo muerto.

9Cuando se trata de criaturas que viven en el agua, se permite comer cualquier cosa que tenga aletas y escamas.

10Pero no debes comer nada que no tenga aletas y escamas. Debes tratarlos como inmundos.

11Está permitido comer cualquier ave limpia.

12Pero no debes comer lo siguiente: águila, buitre leonado, quebranta huesos,

13ratonero, milanos, cualquier clase de halcón,

14cualquier miembro de la familia de los cuervos,

15cárabo, búho chico, gaviotas, cualquier clase de halcón,

16búho pequeño, búho real, lechuza,

17búho del desierto, buitre egipcio, búho pescador,

18cigüeñas, cualquier clase de garza, abubilla o murciélago.

19Todos los insectos que vuelan son inmundos para ustedes; no deben comerlos.

20Pero podrán comer cualquier animal limpio que tenga alas.

21No deben comer ningún animal que muera. Puedes dárselo a un extranjero en tu ciudad, y ellos pueden comérselo, o puedes venderlo a un extranjero. Tú, sin embargo, eres un pueblo santo que pertenece al Señor tu Dios. No cocines una cabra joven en la leche de su madre.

22Asegúrense de pagar un diezmo de cada cosecha que se produzca cada año en sus campos.

23Debes comer una décima parte de tu grano, vino nuevo y aceite de oliva, y los primogénitos de tus rebaños y manadas, en presencia del Señor tu Dios en el lugar que elija, para que aprendas a respetar siempre al Señor tu Dios.

24Sin embargo, si está demasiado lejos para llevar todo el diezmo con el que el Señor tu Dios te ha bendecido, porque el lugar donde el Señor tu Dios eligió está demasiado lejos,

25entonces puedes cambiarlo por dinero, llevar el dinero contigo e ir al lugar que el Señor tu Dios elegirá.

26Luego puedes gastar el dinero en lo que quieras: ganado, ovejas, vino, bebida alcohólica o cualquier otra cosa que desees. Entonces podrás tener un banquete allí en presencia del Señor tu Dios y celebrar con tu familia.

27No te olvides de cuidar a los levitas de tu pueblo, porque no tienen ninguna participación en la asignación de tierras.

28Al final de cada tercer año, recoge una décima parte de todos tus productos de ese año y guárdalos en tu pueblo.

29De esta manera los levitas (que no tienen ninguna participación en la asignación de tierras), los extranjeros, los huérfanos y las viudas de tu pueblo recibirán lo que necesitan. El Señor tu Dios te bendecirá en todo lo que hagas.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Moses repeats the dietary laws (clean and unclean animals) already given in Leviticus, forbids pagan mourning practices such as cutting the body, and details the tithing system, including a special provision every three years for Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows.

Explanation

The repetition of the dietary laws here, decades after Leviticus, shows the ongoing importance of these practices as markers of Israel's distinct identity among the nations, even on the eve of entering the promised land and facing new cultural influences. The prohibition of ritual mourning cuts ('ye shall not cut yourselves... for the dead') distinguished Israelite mourning from Canaanite practices of self-mutilation in funeral rites, once again tying religious identity to visible, everyday practices. The three-year tithe system, directed specifically toward the most vulnerable members of society (the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, the widow), shows an economic structure deliberately built to include regular, institutionalized social care, not merely occasional, voluntary charity.

Fun facts

  • The prohibition against 'seething a kid in his mother's milk' (v. 21), repeated three times in the Torah (here, and in Exodus 23:19 and 34:26), is the basis for the modern Jewish practice of keeping meat and dairy completely separate (kashrut), although the exact original meaning of the prohibition is still debated among scholars.
  • The special three-year tithe for the poor (v. 28-29), distinct from the regular annual tithe, is sometimes called by scholars the 'third tithe' or the 'poor tithe,' showing a social welfare system structured in multi-year cycles within Israel's agricultural economy.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Deuteronomio 14:1It forbids Canaanite mourning rituals, such as cutting the body or shaving the forehead for the dead — practices common among neighboring peoples but off-limits to Israel.
  2. Deuteronomio 14:2It repeats the reason behind these rules: Israel is a holy people, chosen by God out of all the nations on earth.
  3. Deuteronomio 14:3It introduces the block of dietary laws with a general rule: nothing considered detestable was to be eaten.
  4. Deuteronomio 14:4It begins the list of permitted animals: ox, sheep, and goat, the most common domestic animals.
  5. Deuteronomio 14:5It continues the list with permitted wild animals: deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, and similar animals.
  6. Deuteronomio 14:6The rule of eating only animals that chew the cud and have a split hoof excludes the pig, which has a split hoof but doesn’t chew the cud, and also the camel or the hare, which chew the cud but don’t have a split hoof. It’s the same list from Leviticus 11, repeated here as part of Moses’s final speech.
  7. Deuteronomio 14:7It excludes from the permitted list animals that meet only one of the two conditions (chewing the cud or having a split hoof), such as the camel, the hare, and the rabbit.
  8. Deuteronomio 14:8It specifically excludes the pig, which has a split hoof but doesn’t chew the cud — forbidden both to eat and to touch its carcass.
  9. Deuteronomio 14:9It moves on to water creatures: only those with fins and scales are permitted.
  10. Deuteronomio 14:10Everything that lives in the water without fins and scales is considered unclean and forbidden.
  11. Deuteronomio 14:11General rule for birds: any bird classified as clean may be eaten.
  12. Deuteronomio 14:12It begins the list of forbidden birds: the eagle, the ossifrage, and the osprey, birds of prey associated with death and carrion.
  13. Deuteronomio 14:13It continues the list with the glede, the kite, and the vulture, birds of prey after their kind.
  14. Deuteronomio 14:14The raven makes the list of unclean animals — yet it would later be a raven that fed the prophet Elijah in the wilderness, bringing him bread and meat (1 Kings 17).
  15. Deuteronomio 14:15These birds of prey and desert birds complete this part of the list of those unfit to eat — notice that the Bible doesn’t explain the reason for each prohibition, it just lists which ones to avoid.
  16. Deuteronomio 14:16More nocturnal birds of prey make the list: the little owl, the great owl, and the swan.
  17. Deuteronomio 14:17It continues with the pelican, the gier eagle, and the cormorant, birds tied to water or to carrion.
  18. Deuteronomio 14:18It closes the bird list with the stork, the heron, the lapwing, and the bat (classified together with the birds in this system).
  19. Deuteronomio 14:19It extends the prohibition to every flying insect or winged creeping thing, treated as unclean.
  20. Deuteronomio 14:20It repeats the general rule: every bird classified as clean is permitted for consumption.
  21. Deuteronomio 14:21The prohibition against cooking a kid in “his mother’s milk” is one of the most debated laws in the Bible: it may reject a Canaanite fertility rite, or simply be a rule against mixing life and death on the same plate. Scholars have not reached a consensus on the exact reason.
  22. Deuteronomio 14:22The tithe here isn’t donated, it’s eaten: the people brought a tenth of the harvest to the sanctuary and held a feast with it before God. If the journey was too far, they could sell everything, bring the money, and buy wine, cattle, and “strong drink” there for the same feast.
  23. Deuteronomio 14:23It details the consumption of the tithe: eaten before God, at the place He chose, as a way to learn to fear Him continually.
  24. Deuteronomio 14:24It provides for the exception of distance: if the journey to the sanctuary was too long, physically transporting the tithe would become impractical.
  25. Deuteronomio 14:25The solution in that case was to sell the produce, carry the money in hand, and travel to the place God had chosen.
  26. Deuteronomio 14:26Once there, the money could buy whatever was desired — meat, wine, drink — for a festive meal before God.
  27. Deuteronomio 14:27It again reinforces care for the Levite, who depended on these offerings since he had no land of his own.
  28. Deuteronomio 14:28Every three years, this tithe, instead of becoming a feast, was kept in the town itself to support the Levite, who had no land of his own, as well as the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow — the people with no economic safety net in that world.
  29. Deuteronomio 14:29Every three years, the tithe would be kept locally to support the Levite, the foreigner, the orphan, and the widow — bringing a blessing on the work of the one who gives.

Chapters

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334

Our apps

Our apps →

Bible in Stories

The Bible told as a story, with audio and videos.

📱 Get the app

World in Stories

True stories of humanity that sound made up.

App StoreGoogle Play

Feito! Pequenas Vitórias

A light daily routine for people who lose track of the day.

App StoreGoogle Play