| New King James Version | NET Bible |
| 1“These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. | 1These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to obey as long as you live in the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess. |
| 2You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. | 2You must by all means destroy all the places where the nations you are about to dispossess worship their gods--on the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. |
| 3And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. | 3You must tear down their altars, shatter their sacred pillars, burn up their sacred Asherah poles, and cut down the images of their gods; you must eliminate their very memory from that place. |
| 4You shall not worship the LORD your God with such things. | 4You must not worship the LORD your God the way they worship. |
| 5“But you shall seek the place where the LORD your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go. | 5But you must seek only the place he chooses from all your tribes to establish his name as his place of residence, and you must go there. |
| 6There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. | 6And there you must take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. |
| 7And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you. | 7Both you and your families must feast there before the LORD your God and rejoice in all the output of your labor with which he has blessed you. |
| 8“You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— | 8You must not do like we are doing here today, with everyone doing what seems best to him, |
| 9for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving you. | 9for you have not yet come to the final stop and inheritance the LORD your God is giving you. |
| 10But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, | 10When you do go across the Jordan River and settle in the land he is granting you as an inheritance and you find relief from all the enemies who surround you, you will live in safety. |
| 11then there will be the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the LORD. | 11Then you must come to the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to reside, bringing everything I am commanding you--your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, and all your choice votive offerings which you devote to him. |
| 12And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you. | 12You shall rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God, along with your sons, daughters, male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you). |
| 13Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; | 13Make sure you do not offer burnt offerings in any place you wish, |
| 14but 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. | 14for you may do so only in the place the LORD chooses in one of your tribal areas--there you may do everything I am commanding you. |
| 15“However, you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, of the gazelle and the deer alike. | 15On the other hand, you may slaughter and eat meat as you please when the LORD your God blesses you in all your villages. Both the ritually pure and impure may eat it, whether it is a gazelle or an ibex. |
| 16Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water. | 16However, you must not eat blood--pour it out on the ground like water. |
| 17You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or your new wine or your oil, of the firstborn of your herd or your flock, of any of your offerings which you vow, of your freewill offerings, or of the heave offering of your hand. | 17You will not be allowed to eat in your villages your tithe of grain, new wine, olive oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, any votive offerings you have vowed, or your freewill and personal offerings. |
| 18But you must eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God chooses, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all to which you put your hands. | 18Only in the presence of the LORD your God may you eat these, in the place he chooses. This applies to you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages. In that place you will rejoice before the LORD your God in all the output of your labor. |
| 19Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land. | 19Be careful not to overlook the Levites as long as you live in the land. |
| 20“When the LORD your God enlarges your border as He has promised you, and you say, ‘Let me eat meat,’ because you long to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires. | 20When the LORD your God extends your borders as he said he would do and you say, "I want to eat meat just as I please," you may do so as you wish. |
| 21If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which the LORD has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires. | 21If the place he chooses to locate his name is too far for you, you may slaughter any of your herd and flock he has given you just as I have stipulated; you may eat them in your villages just as you wish. |
| 22Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them. | 22Like you eat the gazelle or ibex, so you may eat these; the ritually impure and pure alike may eat them. |
| 23Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat. | 23However, by no means eat the blood, for the blood is life itself--you must not eat the life with the meat! |
| 24You shall not eat it; you shall pour it on the earth like water. | 24You must not eat it! You must pour it out on the ground like water. |
| 25You shall not eat it, that it may go well with you and your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD. | 25You must not eat it so that it may go well with you and your children after you; you will be doing what is right in the LORD's sight. |
| 26Only the holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the LORD chooses. | 26Only the holy things and votive offerings that belong to you, you must pick up and take to the place the LORD will choose. |
| 27And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat 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 meat. | 27You must offer your burnt offerings, both meat and blood, on the altar of the LORD your God; the blood of your other sacrifices you must pour out on his altar while you eat the meat. |
| 28Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God. | 28Pay careful attention to all these things I am commanding you so that it may always go well with you and your children after you when you do what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God. |
| 29“When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, | 29When the LORD your God eliminates the nations from the place where you are headed and you dispossess them, you will settle down in their land. |
| 30take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ | 30After they have been destroyed from your presence, be careful not to be ensnared like they are; do not pursue their gods and say, "How do these nations serve their gods? I will do the same." |
| 31You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. | 31You must not worship the LORD your God the way they do! For everything that is abhorrent to him, everything he hates, they have done when worshiping their gods. They even burn up their sons and daughters before their gods! |
| 32“Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it. | 32You must be careful to do everything I am commanding you. Do not add to it or subtract from it! |
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