“These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully 1follow in the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess 2aas long as you live on the 3earth.Lit performLit all the daysLit groundDeut 4:9, 10; 1 Kin 8:40 2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you are going to dispossess serve their gods, on the ahigh mountains, on the hills, and under every leafy tree.2 Kin 16:4; 17:10, 11 3 And ayou shall tear down their altars and smash their memorial stones to pieces, and burn their 1Asherim in the fire, and cut to pieces the carved images of their gods; and you shall beliminate their name from that place.I.e., wooden symbols of a female deity (Asherah)Num 33:52; Deut 7:5; Judg 2:2Ex 23:13; Ps 16:4; Zech 13:2 4 You shall not act this way toward the LORD your God. 5 aBut you shall seek the LORD at the place which the LORD your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and you shall come there.Ex 20:24; Deut 12:11, 13; 2 Chr 7:12; Ps 78:68 6 You shall bring there your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, ayour tithes, the 1contribution of your hand, your vowed offerings, your 2voluntary offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.Or uplifted offeringOr freewill offeringsDeut 14:22 7 There you and your households shall eat before the LORD your God, and arejoice in all 1your undertakings in which the LORD your God has blessed you.Lit the putting forth of your handLev 23:40; Deut 12:12, 18; 14:26; 28:47; Eccl 3:12, 13; 5:18-20
8 “You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, aeveryone doing whatever is right in his own eyes;Judg 17:6; 21:25 9 for you have not as yet come to athe resting place and the binheritance which the LORD your God is giving you.Deut 3:20; 25:19; Ps 95:11Deut 4:21 10 When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and aHe gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security,Josh 11:23 11 athen it shall come about that the place in which the LORD your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring everything that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the 1contribution of your hand, and all your choice vowed offerings which you will vow to the LORD.Or uplifted offeringDeut 12:5; 15:20; 16:2; 17:8; 18:6 12 And you shall arejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the bLevite who is within your gates, since che has no portion or inheritance with you.Deut 12:7Deut 12:18, 19; 26:11-13Deut 10:9; 14:29
13 “aBe careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in any cultic place that you see,Deut 12:5, 11 14 but only in the place which the LORD chooses in one of your tribes: there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do everything that I command you.
15 “aHowever, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, 1whatever you desire, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as bthe gazelle and the deer.Lit in every desire of your soulDeut 12:20-23Deut 12:22; 14:5; 15:22 16 aOnly you shall not eat the blood; byou are to pour it out on the ground like water.Gen 9:4; Lev 7:26; 17:10-12; 1 Sam 14:33f; Acts 15:20, 29Deut 15:23 17 aYou are not allowed to eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, new wine, or oil, or the firstborn of your herd or flock, or any of your vowed offerings which you vow, or your 1voluntary offerings, or the 2contribution of your hand.Or freewill offeringsOr uplifted offeringDeut 12:26 18 But ayou shall eat them before the LORD your God in bthe place which the LORD your God will choose, you and your son and daughter, and your male and female slaves, and the cLevite who is within your gates; and you shall drejoice before the LORD your God in all 1your undertakings.Lit the putting forth of your handDeut 14:23Deut 12:5Deut 12:12Deut 12:7; Eccl 3:12f; 5:18-20 19 aBe careful that you do not abandon the Levite 1as long as you live in your land.Lit all your days upon your landDeut 14:27
20 “When the LORD your God extends your border aas He has 1promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because 2you desire to eat meat, then you may eat meat, 3whatever you desire.Lit spoken toLit your soul desiresLit in every desire of your soulGen 15:18; Deut 11:24; 19:8 21 If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter animals from your herd and flock which the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates 1whatever you desire.Lit in every desire of your soul 22 Just as a gazelle or a deer is eaten, so you may eat it; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it. 23 Only be sure anot to eat the blood, for the blood is the 1life, and you shall not eat the 2life with the flesh.Lit soulGen 9:4; Lev 17:10-14; Deut 12:16 24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water. 25 You shall not eat it, so that ait may go well for you and your sons after you, since byou will be doing what is right in the sight of the LORD.Deut 4:40; Is 3:10Ex 15:26; 1 Kin 11:38 26 aOnly your holy things which you may have and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the LORD chooses.Num 5:9f; 18:19; Deut 12:17 27 And ayou shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh 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 byou shall eat the flesh.Lev 1:9, 13Lev 3:1-17
28 “Be careful and listen to all these words which I am commanding you, so that ait may go well for you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.Deut 4:40; Eccl 8:12
29 “When athe LORD your God cuts off from you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and live in their land,Josh 23:4 30 be careful that you are not ensnared 1to follow them, after they are destroyed from your presence, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’Lit after them 31 aYou shall not behave this way toward the LORD your God, because every abominable act which the LORD hates, they have done for their gods; for bthey even burn their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods.Deut 9:5Lev 18:21; Deut 18:10; Ps 106:37; Jer 32:35
32 “1aWhatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; byou shall not add to nor take anything away from it.Lit Everything thatDeut 4:2; Josh 1:7Prov 30:6; Rev 22:18