Anything that dies of itself: the reason for this law, forbidding the eating of any animal that “dies a natural death” (Good News Translation), is that the animal’s blood had not been properly drained out, so that anyone who ate such an animal would be eating blood, which was strictly forbidden (see 12.15, 22-27; Exo 22.31). Such an animal was ritually unclean.

In this case, however, the dead animal could be eaten by the alien who is within your towns, that is, a foreigner who lived permanently among the Israelites (see 1.16). Or it could be sold to a foreigner, that is, some foreigner who might be traveling through the Israelite community. Contemporary English Version expresses this quite clearly with “You may give it to foreigners who live in your town, or sell it to foreigners who are visiting your town.”

A people holy to the LORD your God: see 7.6; 14.2.

You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk: for this law see also Exo 23.19; 34.26. Here a kid is the young either of a sheep or a goat; consequently Good News Translation has “a young sheep or goat.” It is thought by some that this was a Canaanite custom and thus abhorrent to the Israelites; but the evidence for such a Canaanite rite is far from conclusive.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .