“Do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” This is the third time the Torah relays this exact commandment. The first was in Exodus, the second also in Exodus, and the third in Deuteronomy. The Torah repeats many laws, especially in Deuteronomy, but this law is unique in that it is repeated using the exact same phrase three times.

The formulation appears first in the context of first fruits and festivals:

“The choice first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” (Exodus 23:19)

רֵאשִׁית בִּכּוּרֵי אַדְמָתְךָ תָּבִיא בֵּית ה׳ אֱלֹהֶיךָ

לֹא־תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ

It appears again, word for word, at the end of the second tablets narrative:

“The choice first fruits of your soil you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” (Exodus 34:26)

רֵאשִׁית בִּכּוּרֵי אַדְמָתְךָ תָּבִיא בֵּית ה׳ אֱלֹהֶיךָ

לֹא־תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ

The third appearance is in Deuteronomy, now firmly embedded in the laws of permitted and forbidden foods:

“You shall not eat anything that has died a natural death; give it to the stranger in your community to eat, or sell it to a foreigner. For you are a people consecrated to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” (Deuteronomy 14:21)

לֹא־תֹאכְלוּ כָל־נְבֵלָה לַגֵּר אֲשֶׁר בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ תִּתְּנֶנָּה וַאֲכָלָהּ אוֹ מָכֹר לְנָכְרִי

כִּי עַם קָדוֹשׁ אַתָּה לַה׳ אֱלֹהֶיךָ

לֹא־תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ

The commentators derive several lessons from this triple repetition. One common explanation is that each occurrence forbids a different act: cooking meat and milk together, eating the mixture, and deriving benefit from it. The Talmud in Chullin 113a explains instead that each verse comes to include a different category of animals: birds, domesticated kosher animals, and wild animals. (Believe it or not, eating a non-kosher cheeseburger is not a Torah violation of eating meat and milk, even if it is prohibited by not eating non-kosher meat).

Chizkuni explains that the three times are there to emphasize the prohibition during three moments of temptation-

Ibn Ezra notes that some heretical interpretations claimed the first two verses referred to boiling fruit in milk, based on the surrounding context of first fruits. He rejects this reading outright, pointing out that the verse explicitly refers to a mother and milk, categories that do not apply to fruit. Ibn Ezra explains that Deuteronomy 14 provides the correct legal context, while the placement in Exodus is thematic: the first fruit season coincides with the birthing season of livestock.

Sforno explains that this commandment addresses a specific pagan fertility rite, in which a young goat would be boiled in its mother’s milk to ensure agricultural blessing and herd fertility. This explains why the phrase appears alongside first fruits in Exodus, where the Torah warns against idol like ritual practices. When Moshe later repeats the phrase in Deuteronomy, he places it in its proper halakhic context among the dietary laws, fully integrating it into Israel’s system of sanctified eating.