unclean food

¹And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: ²Say to the sons of Israel: These are the animals that you ought to eat out of all the living things of the earth. ³All that has a divided hoof, and that chews over again, among the cattle, you shall eat. ⁴But whatever certainly chews over again, but has a hoof that is not divided, such as the camel and others, these you shall not eat, and you shall consider them to be among what is unclean. ⁵The rock rabbit which chews over again, and whose hoof is not divided, is unclean, ⁶and so also is the hare, for it too chews over again, yet its hoof is not divided,

³You shall not eat the things that are unclean. ⁴These are the animals which you ought to eat: the ox, and the sheep, and the goat, ⁵the stag and the roe deer, the gazelle, the wild goat, the addax, the antelope, the giraffe. ⁶Every beast which has a hoof divided into two parts and which also chews the cud, you shall eat. ⁷But those which chew over again, but do not have a divided hoof, you must not eat, such as the camel, the hare, and the hyrax. Since these chew the cud, but do not have a divided the hoof, they shall be unclean to you. ⁸The pig also, since it has a divided hoof, but does not chew over again, shall be unclean. Their flesh shall not be eaten, and you shall not touch their carcasses.

⁹Then, on the following day, while they were making the journey and approaching the city, Peter ascended to the upper rooms, so that he might pray, at about the sixth hour. ¹⁰And since he was hungry, he wanted to enjoy some food. Then, as they were preparing it, an ecstasy of mind fell over him. ¹¹And he saw heaven opened, and a certain container descending, as if a great linen sheet were let down, by its four corners, from heaven to earth, ¹²on which were all four-footed beasts, and the crawling things of the earth and the flying things of the air. ¹³And a voice came to him: “Rise up, Peter! Kill and eat.” ¹⁴But Peter said: “Far be it from me, lord. For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.”

¹⁴I know, with confidence in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in and of itself. But to him who considers anything to be unclean, it is unclean to him.

³prohibiting marriage, abstaining from foods, which God has created to be accepted with thanksgiving by the faithful and by those who have understood the truth. ⁴For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected which is received with thanksgiving; ⁵for it has been sanctified by the Word of God and by prayer.

²⁵Therefore, you must also separate the clean animals from the unclean, and the clean birds from the unclean. Do not pollute your souls with cattle, or birds, or anything that moves upon the earth, and which I have shown you to be unclean.

¹⁶Therefore, let no one judge you as concerns food or drink, or a particular feast day, or feast days of new moons, or of Sabbaths.

¹⁷Those who were sanctified, who thought themselves to be clean in the gardens behind the inner gate, who were eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse: they will be consumed all at once, says the Lord.

¹⁸And he said to them: “So, are you also without prudence? Do you not understand that everything entering to a man from outside is not able to pollute him? ¹⁹For it does not enter into his heart, but into the gut, and it exits into the sewer, purging all foods.” ²⁰“But,” he said “the things which go out from a man, these pollute a man. ²¹For from within, from the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, ²²thefts, avarice, wickedness, deceitfulness, homosexuality, an evil eye, blasphemy, self-exaltation, foolishness. ²³All these evils proceed from within and pollute a man.”

¹⁴And I said: “Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God! Behold, my soul has not been polluted, and from my infancy even until now, I have not eaten anything that has died of itself, nor that which has been torn up by beasts, and no unclean flesh at all has entered into my mouth.”

¹⁸And he said to them: “So, are you also without prudence? Do you not understand that everything entering to a man from outside is not able to pollute him? ¹⁹For it does not enter into his heart, but into the gut, and it exits into the sewer, purging all foods.”

¹⁰And having called the multitudes to him, he said to them: “Listen and understand. ¹¹A man is not defiled by what enters into the mouth, but by what proceeds from the mouth. This is what defiles a man.” ¹²Then his disciples drew near and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees, upon hearing this word, were offended?” ¹³But in response he said: “Every plant which has not been planted by my heavenly Father shall be uprooted. ¹⁴Leave them alone. They are blind, and they lead the blind. But if the blind are in charge of the blind, both will fall into the pit.” ¹⁵And responding, Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.”

¹⁵For behold, the Lord will arrive with fire, and his four-horse chariots will be like a whirlwind: to render his wrath with indignation, and his rebuke with flames of fire. ¹⁶For the Lord will divide with fire, and with his sword among all flesh, and those slain by the Lord will be many. ¹⁷Those who were sanctified, who thought themselves to be clean in the gardens behind the inner gate, who were eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse: they will be consumed all at once, says the Lord.

²And he cried out with strength, saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. And she has become the habitation of demons, and the keepsake of every unclean spirit, and the possession of every unclean and hateful flying thing.

¹But accept those who are weak in faith, without disputing about ideas. ²For one person believes that he may eat all things, but if another is weak, let him eat plants. ³He who eats should not despise him who does not eat. And he who does not eat should not judge him who eats. For God has accepted him. ⁴Who are you to judge the servant of another? He stands or falls by his own Lord. But he shall stand. For God is able to make him stand. ⁵For one person discerns one age from the next. But another discerns unto every age. Let each one increase according to his own mind. ⁶He who understands the age, understands for the Lord. And he who eats, eats for the Lord; for he gives thanks to God. And he who does not eat, does not eat for the Lord, and he gives thanks to God.

⁵“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and I saw, in an ecstasy of mind, a vision: a certain container descending, like a great linen sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners. And it drew near to me. ⁶And looking into it, I considered and saw the four-footed beasts of the earth, and the wild beasts, and the reptiles, and the flying things of the air. ⁷Then I also heard a voice saying to me: ‘Rise up, Peter. Kill and eat.’ ⁸But I said: ‘Never, lord! For what is common or unclean has never entered into my mouth.’ ⁹Then the voice responded a second time from heaven, ‘What God has cleansed, you shall not call common.’ ¹⁰Now this was done three times. And then everything was taken up again into heaven.

²⁸For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to impose no further burden upon you, other than these necessary things: ²⁹that you abstain from things immolated to idols, and from blood, and from what has been suffocated, and from fornication. You will do well to keep yourselves from these things. Farewell.”