English Standard Version

International Standard Version

1“These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that 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.

2You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and 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.

3You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that 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."

4You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way.

4"You must not act like this with respect to the LORD your God.

5But you shall seek the place that the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go,

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.

6and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.

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.

7And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which 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.

8“You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes,

8"You must not act as we have been doing here today, where everyone acts as they see fit,

9for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that 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.

10But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety,

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 to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that 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.

12And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since he has no portion or inheritance with 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.

13Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see,

13Be careful not to offer burnt offerings at any location you happen to see

14but at the place that the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding 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."

15“However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you desire, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the 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.

16Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth like water.

16Only, you must not consume the blood; instead, pour it out on the ground as you would water.

17You may not eat within your towns the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings or the contribution that you present,

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.

18but you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place that the LORD your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all that you undertake.

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.

19Take care that you do not 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.

20“When the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you crave meat, you may eat meat whenever you desire.

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 that the LORD your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns whenever you desire.

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.

22Just as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. The unclean and the clean alike may eat of it.

22You may eat them, just as you would gazelle and deer. Ritually unqualified and qualified people may eat them.

23Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.

23Only be sure to refrain from eating blood, because blood is the source of life and you must not consume blood with the meat.

24You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth like water.

24You must not consume it; instead, pour it on the ground as you would water.

25You shall not eat it, that all may go well with you and with your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD.

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 the holy things that are due from you, and your vow offerings, you shall take, and you shall go to the place that the LORD will choose,

26"You may carry and bring only your consecrated gifts and offerings in fulfillment of promises to the place that the LORD will choose.

27and offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, but the flesh you may eat.

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 words that I command you, that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do 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."

29“When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell 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,

30take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may 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 shall not worship the LORD your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the LORD hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their 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.

32“Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take 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."

ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

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