Deuteronomy 14:1-6

The Holy and the Profane

14:1 You are children ¹  of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald ²  for the sake of the dead. 14:2 For you are a people holy ³  to the Lord your God. He ⁴  has chosen you to be his people, prized ⁵  above all others on the face of the earth. 14:3 You must not eat any forbidden ⁶  thing. 14:4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 14:5 the ibex, ⁷  the gazelle, ⁸  the deer, ⁹  the wild goat, the antelope, ¹⁰  the wild oryx, ¹¹  and the mountain sheep. ¹²  14:6 You may eat any animal that has hooves divided into two parts and that chews the cud. ¹³ 

¹ tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); TEV, NLT “people.”

² sn Do not cut yourselves or shave your forehead bald. These were pagan practices associated with mourning the dead; they were not be imitated by God’s people (though they frequently were; cf. 1 Kgs 18:28; Jer 16:6; 41:5; 47:5; Hos 7:14 [LXX]; Mic 5:1). For other warnings against such practices see Lev 21:5; Jer 16:5.

³ tn Or “set apart.”

⁴ tn Heb “The Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

⁵ tn Or “treasured.” The Hebrew term סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah) describes Israel as God’s choice people, those whom he elected and who are most precious to him (cf. Exod 19:4-6; Deut 14:2; 26:18; 1 Chr 29:3; Ps 135:4; Eccl 2:8 Mal 3:17). See E. Carpenter, NIDOTTE 3:224.

⁶ tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “forbidden; abhorrent”) describes anything detestable to the Lord because of its innate evil or inconsistency with his own nature and character. See note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25. Cf. KJV “abominable”; NIV “detestable”; NRSV “abhorrent.”

⁷ tn The Hebrew term אַיָּל (’ayyal) may refer to a type of deer (cf. Arabic ’ayyal). Cf. NAB “the red deer.”

⁸ tn The Hebrew term צְבִי (tsÿvi) is sometimes rendered “roebuck” (so KJV).

⁹ tn The Hebrew term יַחְמוּר (yakhmur) may refer to a “fallow deer”; cf. Arabic yahmur (“deer”). Cf. NAB, NIV, NCV “roe deer”; NEB, NRSV, NLT “roebuck.”

¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term דִּישֹׁן (dishon) is a hapax legomenon. Its referent is uncertain but the animal is likely a variety of antelope (cf. NEB “white-rumped deer”; NIV, NRSV, NLT “ibex”).

¹¹ tn The Hebrew term תְּאוֹ (tÿ’o; a variant is תּוֹא, to’) could also refer to another species of antelope. Cf. NEB “long-horned antelope”; NIV, NRSV “antelope.”

¹² tn The Hebrew term זֶמֶר (zemer) is another hapax legomenon with the possible meaning “wild sheep.” Cf. KJV, ASV “chamois”; NEB “rock-goat”; NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “mountain sheep.”

¹³ tn The Hebrew text includes “among the animals.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.