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Deuteronomy 14

Deuteronomy book home•Chapter 14 of 34•29 verses

Chapter overviewAt a glance + deeper study

REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Deuteronomy 14 Overview

Moses applies Israel’s holiness to mourning customs, diet, and giving. Israel must not copy pagan cutting or shaving rituals for the dead; clean and unclean animals are distinguished; and tithes are to be eaten in the LORD’s presence, with provision made for those who live far away. Every third year, the tithe stored locally supports Levites, strangers, fatherless children, and widows.

DeuteronomyBook

14Chapter

29Verses

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Before you read Deuteronomy 14

Coming from

Chapter 13 guarded Israel against direct attempts to draw the nation into idolatry.

In this chapter

Holiness is expressed not only in crisis moments but in ordinary habits—how Israel mourns, eats, gives, rejoices, and cares for vulnerable people.

Leads into

Chapter 15 continues the economic and social concern through debt release, generosity to the poor, release of Hebrew servants, and dedication of firstlings.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The food laws belong to Israel’s ceremonial distinction under the Mosaic covenant. The tithe instructions in this chapter include communal rejoicing before the LORD and a periodic local provision for those without ordinary land inheritance or social protection. The text should be read in its agricultural, tribal, and sanctuary setting before drawing later applications.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

Israel’s holiness affects visible daily practices, not only formal worship ceremonies.

Truth 2

Giving under the covenant includes rejoicing before God as well as provision for Levites and the needy.

Truth 3

The Levite’s lack of tribal land inheritance creates a real obligation for the rest of Israel.

Truth 4

Care for strangers, fatherless children, and widows is woven into covenant life.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Leviticus 11 gives the earlier detailed list of clean and unclean animals.

Connection 2

Acts 10 uses a divinely given vision of formerly unclean animals in connection with God receiving Gentiles, marking a major redemptive-historical change rather than simply repeating Israel’s dietary law.

Connection 3

Deuteronomy 26 returns to the third-year tithe and requires a formal confession concerning its distribution.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Do not make Israel’s clean/unclean food laws a condition of eternal life.

Keep this clear 2

Do not assume this chapter gives a complete universal tithing formula for every covenant era; it describes Israel’s specific land, sanctuary, and Levitical system.

Keep this clear 3

Israel’s separation from pagan mourning customs does not mean ordinary grief itself is condemned.

Read Deuteronomy 14 watching for…

The reason Israel is told not to copy pagan mourning customs.

The clean/unclean distinctions in the diet section.

What happens when the sanctuary is too far away to carry produce directly.

Who is included in the third-year provision.

The connection between giving and rejoicing before the LORD.

Chapter outline3 sections

1-2Israel is a holy people and must not copy pagan mourning customs 3-21Clean and unclean animals are distinguished 22-29Israel is commanded concerning tithes and provision for the Levite and needy

Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.

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.

Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.

These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,

The hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois.

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.

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.

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.

These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat:

And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you.

Of all clean birds ye shall eat.

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

And the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after his kind,

And every raven after his kind,

And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,

The little owl, and the great owl, and the swan,

And the pelican, and the gier eagle, and the cormorant,

And the stork, and the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.

And every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten.

But of all clean fowls ye may eat.

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.

Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that the field bringeth forth year by year.

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.

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:

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:

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,

And the Levite that is within thy gates; thou shalt not forsake him; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee.

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:

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.