1 “ These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess as long as you live on the earth.

¶ These are the statutes and rights which ye shall keep to do them in the land which the LORD God of thy fathers gives thee to inherit all the days that ye live upon the land.

2 Y ou shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.

Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, upon which the Gentiles, of whom ye shall inherit, served their gods, upon the high mountains and upon the hills and under every green tree;

3 Y ou shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place.

and ye shall overthrow their altars and break their images and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the statues of their gods and destroy the names of them out of that place.

4 Y ou shall not act like this toward the Lord your God.

Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.

5 B ut you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come.

¶ But ye shall seek the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there for his habitation, and thou shalt go there.

6 T here you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.

And there ye shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices and your tithes and the offerings of your hand and your vows and your freewill offerings and the firstborn of your cows and of your sheep;

7 T here also you and your households shall eat before the Lord your God, and rejoice in all your undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

and there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye and your households shall rejoice in every work of your hands in which the LORD thy God has blessed thee.

8 “ You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes;

Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, each man doing what seems right in his own eyes,

9 f or you have not as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you.

For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the LORD your God gives you.

10 W hen you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security,

But when ye pass the Jordan and dwell in the land which the LORD your God gives you to inherit and when he gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety,

11 t hen it shall come about that the place in which the Lord your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution of your hand, and all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to the Lord.

then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; there shall ye bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the offerings of your hand and all your choice of vows which ye vow unto the LORD;

12 A nd you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance with you.

and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God, ye and your sons and your daughters and your menslaves and your maidslaves and the Levite that is within your gates because he has no part nor inheritance with you.

13 “ Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see,

Keep thyself that thou not offer thy burnt offerings in any place that thou seest

14 b ut in the place which the Lord chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

but in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of thy tribes; there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.

15 “ However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, whatever you desire, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and the deer.

Notwithstanding, thou may kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, according to the desire of thy soul, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he has given thee; the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck and as of the hart.

16 O nly you shall not eat the blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.

Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.

17 Y ou are not allowed to eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, or the firstborn of your herd or flock, or any of your votive offerings which you vow, or your freewill offerings, or the contribution of your hand.

Thou may not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy grain or of thy wine or of thy oil or the firstborn of thy cows or of thy sheep nor any of thy vows which thou hast promised nor thy freewill offerings or the heave offerings of thy hands.

18 B ut you shall eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and daughter, and your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all your undertakings.

But thou must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall have chosen, thou and thy son and thy daughter and thy manslave and thy maidslave and the Levite that is within thy gates; and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God in all the work of thy hands.

19 B e careful that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

Keep thyself that thou not forsake the Levite in all thy days upon thy land.

20 “ When the Lord your God extends your border as He has promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you desire to eat meat, then you may eat meat, whatever you desire.

When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he has promised thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul desires to eat flesh, according to all the desire of thy soul thou shalt eat flesh.

21 I f the place which the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter of your herd and flock which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates whatever you desire.

When the place which the LORD thy God shall have chosen to put his name there is far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy cows and of thy sheep, which the LORD has given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates according to all thy soul desires.

22 J ust as a gazelle or a deer is eaten, so you will eat it; the unclean and the clean alike may eat of it.

Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat them; the unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike.

23 O nly be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.

Only be sure not to eat the blood; for the blood is the soul (or the life), and thou art not to eat the soul with its flesh.

24 Y ou shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water.

25 Y ou shall not eat it, so that it may be well with you and your sons after you, for you will be doing what is right in the sight of the Lord.

Thou shalt not eat it that it may go well with thee and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.

26 O nly your holy things which you may have and your votive offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the Lord chooses.

But the things which thou hast consecrated and thy vows, thou shalt take and go unto the place which the LORD shall have chosen,

27 A nd you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall eat the flesh.

and thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the LORD thy God, and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the LORD thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh.

28 “ Be careful to listen to all these words which I command you, so that it may be well with you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

Keep and hear all these words which I command thee that it may go well with thee and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God.

29 “ When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land,

When the LORD thy God shall have cut off the Gentiles from before thee, in the place where thou goest to inherit of them, and thou dost inherit of them and dost dwell in their land,

30 b eware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’

keep thyself from being snared by following them, after they are destroyed from before thee; enquire not after their gods, saying, After the manner that these Gentiles served their gods, even so will I do likewise.

31 Y ou shall not behave thus toward the Lord your God, for every abominable act which the Lord hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God; for every abomination unto the LORD, which he hates, they have done unto their gods; for they have even burnt their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.

32 “ Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.

Keep thyself, and do all that I command you; thou shalt not add to it nor diminish from it.