1 YE are the children of the Lord your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
2 For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon 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 roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois.
6 And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat.
7 Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of them that divide the cloven hoof; as the camel, and the hare, and the coney: for they chew the cud, but divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you.
8 And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcase.
9 These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat:
10 And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you.
11 Of all clean birds ye shall eat.
12 But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,
13 And the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after his kind,
14 And every raven after his kind,
15 And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,
16 The little owl, and the great owl, and the swan,
17 And the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the cormorant,
18 And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.
19 And every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten.
20 But of all clean fowls ye may eat.
21 Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.
22 Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.
23 And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall choose to place his name there, the tithe of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks; that thou mayest learn to fear the Lord thy God always.
24 And if the way be too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it; or if the place be too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee:
25 Then shalt thou turn it into money, and bind up the money in thine hand, and shalt go unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose:
26 And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,
27 And the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part 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, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.

1 Yee are the children of the Lord your God: yee shall not cutte your selues, nor make any baldnesse betweene your eyes for the dead.

2 For thou art an holy people vnto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people vnto himselfe, aboue all the nations that are vpon the earth.

3 Thou shalt not eate any abominable thing.

4 These are the beasts which yee shall eate: the oxe, the sheepe, and the goat,

5 The Hart, and the Roe bucke, and the fallow deere, and the wilde goat, and the Pygarg, and the wilde oxe, and the chamois.

6 And euery beast that parteth the hoofe, and cleaueth the clift into two clawes, and cheweth the cud amongst the beasts: that ye shall eate.

7 Neuerthelesse these yee shall not eate, of them that chew the cud, or of them that diuide the clouen hoofe, as the camel, and the hare, and the cony: for they chew the cudde, but diuide not the hoofe, therefore they are vncleane vnto you.

8 And the swine, because it diuideth the hoofe, yet cheweth not the cud, it is vncleane vnto you: ye shall not eate of their flesh, nor touch their dead carkeise.

9 These yee shall eate of all that are in the waters: all that haue finnes and scales shall ye eate:

10 And whatsoeuer hath not sinnes and scales, ye may not eat: it is vncleane vnto you.

11 Of all cleane birds ye shall eate.

12 But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the Eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,

13 And the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after his kinde,

14 And euery rauen after his kinde,

15 And the owle, & the night hawke, and the cuckow, and the hawke after his kinde,

16 The little owle, and the great owle, and the swanne,

17 And the pellicane, and the Geer-eagle, and the cormorant,

18 And the Storke, and the Heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the batte.

19 And euery creeping thing that flyeth, is vncleane vnto you: they shall not be eaten.

20 But of all cleane foules ye may eat.

21 Ye shall not eate of any thing that dieth of it selfe: thou shalt giue it vnto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eate it, or thou mayest sell it vnto an alien: for thou art an holy people vnto the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kidde in his mothers milke.

22 Thou shalt truely tithe all the increase of thy seede, that the field bringeth forth yeere by yeere.

23 And thou shalt eate before the Lord thy God, in the place which he shall chuse to place his Name there, the tithe of thy corne, of thy wine, and of thine oyle, and the firstlings of thy herdes, and of thy flockes: that thou mayest learne to feare the Lord thy God alwayes.

24 And if the way bee too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carie it, or if the place be too farre from thee, which the Lord thy God shall chuse to set his name there, when the Lord thy God hath blessed thee:

25 Then shalt thou turne it into money, and binde vp the money in thine hand, and shalt goe vnto the place which the Lord thy God shal chuse.

26 And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoeuer thy soule lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheepe, or for wine, or for strong drinke, or for whatsoeuer thy soule desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt reioyce, thou and thine houshold.

27 And the Leuite that is within thy gates, thou shalt not forsake him: for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee.

28 At the end of three yeres thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same yeere, and shalt lay it vp within thy gates.

29 And the Leuite, because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger, and the fatherlesse, and the widowe which are within thy gates, shall come and shal eate, and be satisfied, that the Lord thy God may blesse thee, in all the worke of thine hande which thou doest.

I == Lev 19:28 ; 21:5 ; Jer 16:6 ; 41:5 ; 47:5 ; Rom 8:16 ; 9:8 , 26 ; Gal 3:26 ; 1st Thess 4:13

II == Lev 20:26 ; Deut 7:6 ; 26:18-19

III == Ezek 4:14 ; Acts 10:13-14

IV == Lev 11:2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VIII == Lev 11:26-27

 

 

IX == Lev 11:9

 

 

 

 

XII == Lev 11:13

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

XIX == Lev 11:20-21

 

XXI == Ex 23:19 ; 34:26 ; Lev 17:15 ; 22:8 ; Deut 14:2 ; Ezek 4:14

 

 

XXII == Lev 27:30 ; Deut 12:6 ; 17 ; Neh 10:37

XXIII == Deut 12:5-7 , 17-18 ; 15:19-20

 

 

 

XXIV == Deut 12:21

 

 

 

 

 

XXVI == Deut 12:7 , 18 ; 26:11

 

 

 

 

XXVII == Num 18:20 ; Deut 12:12 , 18-19 ; 18:1-2

 

XXVIII == Deut 26:12 ; Amos 4:4

 

XXIX == Deut 12:12 ; 14:27 ; 15:10 ; 26:12 ; Prov 3:9-10 ; Mal 3:10

 

 

1 "You are children of the LORD, your God. You shall not gash yourselves nor shave the hair above your foreheads for the dead.

2 For you are a people sacred to the LORD, your God, who has chosen you from all the nations on the face of the earth to be a people peculiarly his own.

3 "You shall not eat any abominable thing.

4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

5 the red deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the ibex, the addax, the oryx, and the mountain sheep.

6 Any animal that has hoofs you may eat, provided it is cloven-footed and chews the cud.

7 But you shall not eat any of the following that only chew the cud or only have cloven hoofs: the camel, the hare and the rock badger, which indeed chew the cud, but do not have hoofs and are therefore unclean for you;

8 and the pig, which indeed has hoofs and is cloven-footed, but does not chew the cud and is therefore unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their dead bodies you shall not touch.

9 "Of the various creatures that live in the water, whatever has both fins and scales you may eat,

10 but all those that lack either fins or scales you shall not eat; they are unclean for you.

11 "You may eat all clean birds.

12 But you shall not eat any of the following: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey,

13 the various kites and falcons,

14 all the various species of crows,

15 the ostrich, the nightjar, the gull, the various species of hawks,

16 the owl, the screech owl, the ibis,

17 the desert owl, the buzzard, the cormorant,

18 the stork, the various species of herons, the hoopoe, and the bat.

19 All winged insects, too, are unclean for you and shall not be eaten.

20 But you may eat any clean winged creatures.

21 "You must not eat any animal that has died of itself, for you are a people sacred to the LORD, your God. But you may give it to an alien who belongs to your community, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. "You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

22 "Each year you shall tithe all the produce that grows in the field you have sown;

23 then in the place which the LORD, your God, chooses as the dwelling place of his name you shall eat in his presence your tithe of the grain, wine and oil, as well as the firstlings of your herd and flock, that you may learn always to fear the LORD, your God.

24 If, however, the journey is too much for you and you are not able to bring your tithe, because the place which the LORD, your God, chooses for the abode of his name is too far for you, considering how the LORD has blessed you,

25 you may exchange the tithe for money and, with the purse of money in hand, go to the place which the LORD, your God, chooses.

26 You may then exchange the money for whatever you desire, oxen or sheep, wine or strong drink, or anything else you would enjoy, and there before the LORD, your God, you shall partake of it and make merry with your family.

27 But do not neglect the Levite who belongs to your community, for he has no share in the heritage with you.

28 "At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithes of your produce for that year and deposit them in community stores,

29 that the Levite who has no share in the heritage with you, and also the alien, the orphan and the widow who belong to your community, may come and eat their fill; so that the LORD, your God, may bless you in all that you undertake.

v 1,2. They were to be a holy, peculiar people unto the Lord, so they were to avoid heathen customs of anguish for the dead such as cutting themselves and making baldness between their eyes. The latter may refer to both shaving hair and afflicting their minds over the dead. The cutting may have also included any other cutting of the body in worship. I have seen the place in South Dakota where at a powwows the Indians make slits in their chests and insert wooden sticks under the skin. The sticks have a cloth ribbon tied to them and to the top of a pole. They jump and dance around until they are able to jerk the sticks out of their skin. A few whites involved in false religion pay a price and practice this with them. Believers of today are a peculiar people, Titus 2:14, separated unto God and need to be pure, doing good works.

v 3-8. This starts a series of dietary laws which in 1 Tim. 4:4  are repealed under the gospel. Various reasons are advanced as to the choice of these foods, but the best is that they were simply an arbitrary choice of God for His  peculiar, separated, people. The basic distinction of the first group is that they must both chew the cud and have a split hoof. If they lacked either or both, they were considered unclean.

 

v 9,10. Among fish they could eat only that which had fins and scales. If they did not have both, they were considered unclean.

 

v 11-20. The only distinction of winged creatures was that every creeping thing that flies is unclean. Beyond that, the Lord simply named the clean and the unclean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

v 21. They could not eat that which died of itself, Ex 22:31 (Exception, see notes on Lev. 17:15 ) but could give or sell it to others. Neither were they to boil a kid in it’s mother’s milk, as practiced by heathen. See more comments on this in my notes on Ex. 23:19. The ban also given Ex,34:26.

 

v 22,23. They were to tithe every thing they produced agriculturally, but all their increase can be assumed as in verse 28. As stated in 12:18, they could not eat of their tithes at home, but could eat and share them with the Levites at the tabernacle (except years 3 & 6). This would be helpful, because they might be there more than a week. Some think this is a second tithe of the remaining 90%, but I can’t find any basis for it.

v 24-27. If they lived too far away to take their offering, they could sell it and use the money to buy whatever they wanted at the tabernacle. This was a practice that the money changers abused by the time of Jesus. In v 26 we see that they could even buy strong drink to use at the tabernacle. The strong drink was not hard liquor, but what we would call lite beer today. It was a means of preserving their grapes in those days, and was useful, but it or even fermented wine could cause drunkenness if used in excess. Again there is a reminder to be considerate and give that unused to the Levites.

 

 

 

v 28,29. Every third year was what some think was a second tithe, which was not to be taken to the tabernacle, but to be distributed in their own town. However, a careful reading of v 28 says all  the tithe was kept at home that year. Levites, though they had cities and fields, should be able to live comfortably. Good treatment to strangers might persuade them to be proselytes, and of course fatherless and widows likely needed extra items. This was Israel’s obligation, not part of a world wide welfare system. We are not asked to tithe in that manner but give as God prospers, 1 Cor. 16:2. While I see no Scriptural basis for multiple tithes some pastors promote, I might add the Levites were to give a tithe of the tithes they received into the treasury, Neh. 10:38.