| New King James Version | New International Version |
| 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 decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess--as long as you live in the land. |
| 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. | 2Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. |
| 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. | 3Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places. |
| 4You shall not worship the LORD your God with such things. | 4You must not worship the LORD your God in their way. |
| 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 are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; |
| 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. | 6there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and 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. | 7There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God 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 are not to do as we do here today, everyone doing as they see fit, |
| 9for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving you. | 9since you have not yet reached the resting place and the 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, | 10But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that 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 to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name--there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the LORD. |
| 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. | 12And there rejoice before the LORD your God--you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no allotment or inheritance of their own. |
| 13Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; | 13Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please. |
| 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. | 14Offer them only at the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command 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. | 15Nevertheless, you may slaughter your animals in any of your towns and eat as much of the meat as you want, as if it were gazelle or deer, according to the blessing the LORD your God gives you. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it. |
| 16Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water. | 16But you must not eat the 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 must not eat in your own towns the tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, or the firstborn of your herds and flocks, or whatever you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts. |
| 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. | 18Instead, you are to eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God will choose--you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns--and you are to rejoice before the LORD your God in everything you put your hand to. |
| 19Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land. | 19Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your 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 has enlarged your territory as he promised you, and you crave meat and say, "I would like some meat," then you may eat as much of it as you want. |
| 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 where the LORD your God chooses to put his Name is too far away from you, you may slaughter animals from the herds and flocks the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you, and in your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want. |
| 22Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them. | 22Eat them as you would gazelle or deer. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat. |
| 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. | 23But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and 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 the blood; 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. | 25Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD. |
| 26Only the holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the LORD chooses. | 26But take your consecrated things and whatever you have vowed to give, and go 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. | 27Present your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God, both the meat and the blood. The blood of your sacrifices must be poured beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may 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. | 28Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes 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, | 29The LORD your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled 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.’ | 30and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? We 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 in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. |
| 32“Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; you shall not add to it nor take away from it. | 32See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it. |
| The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved. | New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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