Clean and Unclean Land Animals

11 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: ² “Tell the Israelites: You may eat^(A) all these kinds of land animals.^{(B) 3} You may eat any animal with divided hooves and that chews the cud. ⁴ But among the ones that chew the cud or have divided hooves you are not to eat these:

⁸ Do not eat any of their meat or touch their carcasses—they are unclean for you.^(E)

Clean and Unclean Aquatic Animals

⁹ “This is what you may eat from all that is in the water: You may eat everything in the water that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or streams. ¹⁰ But these are to be detestable to you: everything in the seas or streams that does not have fins and scales among all the swarming things and other living creatures^(F) in the water. ¹¹ They are to remain detestable to you; you must not eat any of their meat, and you must detest their carcasses. ¹² Everything in the water that does not have fins and scales will be detestable to you.

Unclean Birds

¹³ “You are to detest these birds. They must not be eaten because they are detestable:

Clean and Unclean Flying Insects

²⁰ “All winged insects that walk on all fours are to be detestable to you. ²¹ But you may eat these kinds of all the winged insects that walk on all fours: those that have jointed legs above their feet for hopping on the ground. ²² You may eat these:

²³ All other winged insects that have four feet are to be detestable to you.

Clean and Unclean Foods

³ “You must not eat any detestable thing. ⁴ These are the animals you may eat:

⁶ You may eat any animal that has hooves divided in two and chews the cud. ⁷ But among the ones that chew the cud or have divided hooves, you are not to eat these:

You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses.^(A)

⁹ “You may eat everything from the water that has fins and scales, ¹⁰ but you may not eat anything that does not have fins and scales—it is unclean for you.^(B)

¹¹ “You may eat every clean bird, ¹² but these are the ones you may not eat:

¹⁹ All winged insects are unclean for you; they may not be eaten. ²⁰ But you may eat every clean flying creature.^(D)

²¹ “You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to a temporary resident living within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

³ The king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his court officials,^[a] to bring some of the Israelites from the royal family^(A) and from the nobility— ⁴ young men without any physical defect, good-looking, suitable for instruction in all wisdom,^(B) knowledgeable, perceptive, and capable of serving in the king’s palace^(C)—and to teach them the Chaldean language^(D) and literature. ⁵ The king assigned them daily provisions from the royal food and from the wine that he drank.^(E) They were to be trained for three years, and at the end of that time they were to serve in the king’s court.^{[b](F) 6} Among them, from the descendants of Judah, were Daniel,^(G) Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. ⁷ The chief official gave them other names: he gave the name Belteshazzar to Daniel, Shadrach to Hananiah, Meshach to Mishael, and Abednego to Azariah.^(H)

Faithfulness in Babylon

⁸ Daniel determined that he would not defile himself with the king’s food^(I) or with the wine he drank. So he asked permission from the chief official not to defile himself.^{(J) 9} God had granted Daniel favor and compassion from the chief official,^{(K) 10} yet he said to Daniel, “My lord the king assigned your food and drink. I’m afraid of what would happen if he saw your faces looking thinner than those of the other young men your age. You would endanger my life^[c] with the king.”

¹¹ So Daniel said to the guard whom the chief official had assigned to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, ¹² “Please test your servants for 10 days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³ Then examine our appearance and the appearance of the young men who are eating the king’s food, and deal with your servants based on what you see.” ¹⁴ He agreed with them about this and tested them for 10 days. ¹⁵ At the end of 10 days they looked better and healthier^[d] than all the young men who were eating the king’s food.^{(L) 16} So the guard continued to remove their food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables.

Peter’s Vision

⁹ The^(A) next day, as they were traveling and nearing the city, Peter went up to pray on the housetop^(B) about noon.^{[a] 10} Then he became hungry and wanted to eat, but while they were preparing something, he went into a visionary state. ¹¹ He saw heaven opened^(C) and an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners to the earth. ¹² In it were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, and the birds of the sky. ¹³ Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat!”

¹⁴ “No, Lord!” Peter said. “For I have never eaten anything common^[b] and ritually unclean!”^(D)

¹⁵ Again, a second time, a voice said to him, “What God has made clean, you must not call common.”^{(E) 16} This happened three times, and then the object was taken up into heaven.

³ saying, “You visited uncircumcised men and ate with them!”^(A)

² One person believes he may eat anything,^(A) but one who is weak eats only vegetables.

Freedom from the Law

¹¹ But when Cephas^[a] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.^{[b] 12} For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party. ¹³ Then the rest of the Jews^(A) joined his hypocrisy,^(B) so that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴ But when I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas^[c] in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile^(C) and not like a Jew,^(D) how can you compel Gentiles to live^(E) like Jews?”^[d]