Study Desk

But be especially careful not to eat the blood, because the life is in the blood. You must not eat meat that still has its life in it.

But be careful that you don't fall into the same trap they did! Don't go to their false gods for help. Don't say to yourself, ‘They worshiped these gods, so I will worship them too.'

But don't eat camels, rabbits, or rock badgers. These animals chew the cud, but they don't have split hooves. So these animals are not a clean food for you.

And you must not eat pigs. Their hooves are divided, but they don't chew the cud. So pigs are not a clean food for you. Don't eat any meat from pigs. Don't even touch a pig's dead body.

But don't eat anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales. It is not a clean food for you.

But don't eat any of these birds: eagles, vultures, buzzards,

But you may eat any clean bird.

"Don't eat any animal that has died by itself. You may give the dead animal to the foreigner in your town, and he can eat it. Or you may sell the dead animal to a foreigner. But you yourselves must not eat the dead animal, because you belong to the Lord your God. You are his special people. "Don't cook a baby goat in its mother's milk.

But that place might be too far for you to travel to. Maybe you will not be able to carry one-tenth of all the crops that the Lord has blessed you with. If that happens,

But don't forget the Levites living in your town. Share your food with them because they don't have a share of the land like you have.

You may require a foreigner to repay you, but you must cancel any debt another Israelite owes you.

But this will happen only if you obey the Lord your God. You must be careful to obey every command that I have told you today.

Then the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised. And you will have enough money to make loans to many nations. But you will not need to borrow from anyone. You will rule over many nations. But none of these nations will rule over you.

"You might buy a Hebrew man or woman to serve you as a slave. You may keep that person as a slave for six years. But in the seventh year, you must let that person go free.

But when you let your slave go free, don't send him away with nothing.

"But one of your slaves might say to you, ‘I will not leave you.' He might say this because he loves you and your family and because he has a good life with you.

"But if an animal has something wrong with it—if it is crippled or blind or has something else wrong with it—then you must not sacrifice that animal to the Lord your God.

But you may eat the meat from that animal at home. Anyone may eat it—people who are clean and people who are unclean. The rules for eating this meat are the same as the rules for eating gazelles and deer.

But you must not eat the blood from the animal. You must pour the blood out on the ground like water.

But no one should be punished with death if only one witness says that person did that evil thing. But if two or three witnesses say it is true, the person must be killed.