| Holman Christian Standard Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1Be careful to follow these statutes and ordinances in the land that Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess all the days you live on the earth. | 1"These are the statutes and ordinances that you must carefully observe in the land that the LORD God of your ancestors has given you to possess every day that you live on the earth. |
| 2Destroy completely all the places where the nations that you are driving out worship their gods--on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree. | 2Be sure you destroy there all the places where the nations that you're going to dispossess serve their gods—upon the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. |
| 3Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the carved images of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place. | 3Tear down their altars, cut down their sacred poles, and burn them. Cut down the carved images of their gods to erase their memory from that place." |
| 4Don't worship the LORD your God this way. | 4"You must not act like this with respect to the LORD your God. |
| 5Instead, you must turn to the place Yahweh your God chooses from all your tribes to put His name for His dwelling and go there. | 5Instead, you must seek to enter only the place that the LORD your God will choose among your tribes. There he will establish his name and live. |
| 6You are to bring there your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tenths and personal contributions, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. | 6Bring your burnt offerings there, along with your sacrifices, your tithes, your hand-carried gifts, your offerings in fulfillment of promises, your freely given offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. |
| 7You will eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice with your household in everything you do, because the LORD your God has blessed you." | 7Then you and your household will eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice with all the works of your hand with which he blessed you. |
| 8You are not to do as we are doing here today; everyone is doing whatever seems right in his own eyes. | 8"You must not act as we have been doing here today, where everyone acts as they see fit, |
| 9Indeed, you have not yet come into the resting place and the inheritance the LORD your God is giving you. | 9for you haven't arrived yet to your allotted place that the LORD your God is about to give you. |
| 10When you cross the Jordan and live in the land the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all the enemies around you and you live in security, | 10But after you have crossed the Jordan River and settled in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and after you have received relief from the enemies around you and are living securely, |
| 11then Yahweh your God will choose the place to have His name dwell. Bring there everything I command you: your burnt offerings, sacrifices, offerings of the tenth, personal contributions, and all your choice offerings you vow to the LORD. | 11then bring to the place that the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling place—where he will establish his name—everything that I'm commanding you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your hand-carried gifts, and all your best offerings in fulfillment of promises that you pledged to the LORD. |
| 12You will rejoice before the LORD your God--you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you. | 12"Rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the descendant of Levi who is in your city—for there is no territorial allotment for him as you have. |
| 13Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in all the sacred places you see. | 13Be careful not to offer burnt offerings at any location you happen to see |
| 14You must offer your burnt offerings only in the place the LORD chooses in one of your tribes, and there you must do everything I command you." | 14instead of at the place the LORD will choose in one of the tribal areas. There you may offer burnt offerings, and there you may do everything that I'm commanding you." |
| 15But whenever you want, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you. Those who are clean or unclean may eat it, as they would a gazelle or deer, | 15"You may slaughter and eat as much meat as you desire, according to the blessing of the LORD your God, when he provides for you in all your cities. Both ritually unqualified and qualified people may eat it as they would gazelle and deer. |
| 16but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water. | 16Only, you must not consume the blood; instead, pour it out on the ground as you would water. |
| 17Within your gates you may not eat: the tenth of your grain, new wine, or oil; the firstborn of your herd or flock; any of your vow offerings that you pledge; your freewill offerings; or your personal contributions. | 17"You won't be allowed to eat your tithe of grain, new wine, oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, your voluntary offerings that you pledged, your free-will offerings, and the works of your hands in your own cities. |
| 18You must eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God chooses--you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and the Levite who is within your gates. Rejoice before the LORD your God in everything you do, | 18You'll eat only in the presence of the LORD your God at the place that he will choose—you, your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the descendant of Levi who is in your cities. Rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God in everything you undertake. |
| 19and be careful not to neglect the Levite, as long as you live in your land." | 19Be careful not to forget the descendant of Levi while you live in the land. |
| 20When the LORD your God enlarges your territory as He has promised you, and you say, 'I want to eat meat because you have a strong desire to eat meat, you may eat it whenever you want. | 20When the LORD your God enlarges your territory—just as he told you—and you say 'I want to eat meat' since you desire to eat it, you may do so as much as you please. |
| 21If the place where Yahweh your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of your herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want. | 21"If the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish his name is distant from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and your flock what the LORD has provided for you, as he instructed you. You may consume them in your cities as much as you please. |
| 22Indeed, you may eat it as the gazelle and deer are eaten; both the clean and the unclean may eat it. | 22You may eat them, just as you would gazelle and deer. Ritually unqualified and qualified people may eat them. |
| 23But don't eat the blood, since the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. | 23Only be sure to refrain from eating blood, because blood is the source of life and you must not consume blood with the meat. |
| 24Do not eat blood; pour it on the ground like water. | 24You must not consume it; instead, pour it on the ground as you would water. |
| 25Do not eat it, so that you and your children after you will prosper, because you will be doing what is right in the LORD's sight." | 25You must not eat it, so that life will go well for you and for your children after you. Then you'll do what is right in the eyes of the LORD. |
| 26But you are to take the holy offerings you have and your vow offerings and go to the place the LORD chooses. | 26"You may carry and bring only your consecrated gifts and offerings in fulfillment of promises to the place that the LORD will choose. |
| 27Present the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your other sacrifices is to be poured out beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat. | 27You must offer your burnt offerings, both the meat and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God. You must offer the blood by pouring it on the altar of the LORD your God while you consume the meat. |
| 28Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that you and your children after you may prosper forever, because you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God." | 28Be sure to observe all these words that I'm commanding you, in order that life may go well for you and your children after you forever, for this is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God." |
| 29When the LORD your God annihilates the nations before you, which you are entering to take possession of, and you drive them out and live in their land, | 29"When the LORD your God eliminates the nations that you are about to dispossess so you can live in their land, |
| 30be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, 'How did these nations worship their gods? I'll also do the same.' | 30after they have been destroyed in your sight, be careful not to be ensnared as they were. Otherwise, you will seek their gods and ask yourselves, 'How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.' |
| 31You must not do the same to the LORD your God, because they practice every detestable thing, which the LORD hates, for their gods. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. | 31You must not do the same to the LORD your God, because they practiced in the presence of their gods every sort of abomination that the LORD hates. Moreover, they sacrificed their sons and daughters to their gods. |
| 32You must be careful to do everything I command you; do not add anything to it or take anything away from it." | 32 Now as to everything I'm commanding you, you must be careful to observe it. Don't add to or subtract from it." |
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