| Berean Study Bible | New Living Translation |
| 1These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to follow all the days you live in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess. | 1“These are the decrees and regulations you must be careful to obey when you live in the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. You must obey them as long as you live. |
| 2Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree. | 2“When you drive out the nations that live there, you must destroy all the places where they worship their gods—high on the mountains, up on the hills, and under every green tree. |
| 3Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place. | 3Break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. Burn their Asherah poles and cut down their carved idols. Completely erase the names of their gods! |
| 4You shall not worship the LORD your God in this way. | 4“Do not worship the LORD your God in the way these pagan peoples worship their gods. |
| 5Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go. | 5Rather, you must seek the LORD your God at the place of worship he himself will choose from among all the tribes—the place where his name will be honored. |
| 6To that place you are to bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and heave offerings, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, as well as the firstborn of your herds and flocks. | 6There you will bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your sacred offerings, your offerings to fulfill a vow, your voluntary offerings, and your offerings of the firstborn animals of your herds and flocks. |
| 7There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your households shall eat and rejoice in all you do, because the LORD your God has blessed you. | 7There you and your families will feast in the presence of the LORD your God, and you will rejoice in all you have accomplished because the LORD your God has blessed you. |
| 8You are not to do as we are doing here today, where everyone does what seems right in his own eyes. | 8“Your pattern of worship will change. Today all of you are doing as you please, |
| 9For you have not yet come to the resting place and the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you. | 9because you have not yet arrived at the place of rest, the land the LORD your God is giving you as your special possession. |
| 10When you cross the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and He gives you rest from all the enemies around you and you dwell securely, | 10But you will soon cross the Jordan River and live in the land the LORD your God is giving you. When he gives you rest from all your enemies and you’re living safely in the land, |
| 11then the LORD your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the LORD. | 11you must bring everything I command you—your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your sacred offerings, and your offerings to fulfill a vow—to the designated place of worship, the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to be honored. |
| 12And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you. | 12“You must celebrate there in the presence of the LORD your God with your sons and daughters and all your servants. And remember to include the Levites who live in your towns, for they will receive no allotment of land among you. |
| 13Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in just any place you see; | 13Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings just anywhere you like. |
| 14you must offer them only in the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribal territories, and there you shall do all that I command you. | 14You may do so only at the place the LORD will choose within one of your tribal territories. There you must offer your burnt offerings and do everything I command 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. Both the ceremonially clean and unclean may eat it as they would a gazelle or deer, | 15“But you may butcher your animals and eat their meat in any town whenever you want. You may freely eat the animals with which the LORD your God blesses you. All of you, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat, just as you now eat gazelle and deer. |
| 16but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water. | 16But you must not consume the blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water. |
| 17Within your gates you must not eat the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, the firstborn of your herds or flocks, any of the offerings that you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts. | 17“But you may not eat your offerings in your hometown—neither the tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, nor the firstborn of your flocks and herds, nor any offering to fulfill a vow, nor your voluntary offerings, nor your sacred offerings. |
| 18Instead, you must 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 menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates. Rejoice before the LORD your God in all you do, | 18You must eat these in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose. Eat them there with your children, your servants, and the Levites who live in your towns, celebrating in the presence of the LORD your God in all you do. |
| 19and be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land. | 19And be very careful never to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land. |
| 20When the LORD your God expands your territory as He has promised, and you crave meat and say, “I want to eat meat,” you may eat it whenever you want. | 20“When the LORD your God expands your territory as he has promised, and you have the urge to eat meat, you may freely eat meat whenever you want. |
| 21If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His Name is too far from you, then you may slaughter any of the herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want. | 21It might happen that the designated place of worship—the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to be honored—is a long way from your home. If so, you may butcher any of the cattle, sheep, or goats the LORD has given you, and you may freely eat the meat in your hometown, as I have commanded you. |
| 22Indeed, you may eat it as you would eat a gazelle or deer; both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it. | 22Anyone, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat, just as you do now with gazelle and deer. |
| 23Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. | 23But never consume the blood, for the blood is the life, and you must not consume the lifeblood with the meat. |
| 24You must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water. | 24Instead, pour out the blood on the ground like water. |
| 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. | 25Do not consume the blood, so that all may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what pleases the LORD. |
| 26But you are to take your holy things and your vow offerings and go to the place the LORD will choose. | 26“Take your sacred gifts and your offerings given to fulfill a vow to the place the LORD chooses. |
| 27Present the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your other sacrifices must be poured out beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat. | 27You must offer the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your other sacrifices must be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat. |
| 28Be careful to obey all these things I command 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. | 28Be careful to obey all my commands, so that all will go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and pleasing to the LORD your God. |
| 29When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations you are entering to dispossess, and you drive them out and live in their land, | 29“When the LORD your God goes ahead of you and destroys the nations and you drive them out and 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 do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.” | 30do not fall into the trap of following their customs and worshiping their gods. Do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations worship their gods? I want to follow their example.’ |
| 31You must not worship the LORD your God in this way, because they practice for their gods every abomination which the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. | 31You must not worship the LORD your God the way the other nations worship their gods, for they perform for their gods every detestable act that the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods. |
| 32See that you do everything I command you; do not add to it or subtract from it. | 32 “So be careful to obey all the commands I give you. You must not add anything to them or subtract anything from them. |
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