1 ARST I will now tell you the rules and decrees that you must faithfully obey in the land. Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors worshiped, is giving to you the land to occupy. You must obey these laws all the time that you are alive. BSB BSB: These 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.
2 ARST When you drive out those people groups, you must destroy all the places where they worshiped their gods. These places include places on the tops of mountains and hills and beside large trees. BSB BSB: Destroy 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.
3 ARST Tear down their altars, demolish the stone pillars{ that are dedicated to their gods}, burn the poles{ that they use when they worship the goddess Asherah}, and chop down their carved idols. This is so that no one will ever worship them in those places again. BSB BSB: Tear 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.
4 ARST Do not worship Yahweh like{ the people in Canaan worship their gods}. BSB BSB: You shall not worship the LORD your God in this way.
5 ARST Instead, you must go to the place that Yahweh will choose. It will be in the area where one of your tribes will live. That is where you must enter Yahweh’ s presence and worship him. BSB BSB: Instead, 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.
6 ARST That is the place where you must bring all of your offerings. These include the wholly burned sacrifice, other sacrifices, one tenth of all your produce and animals, special contributions, sacrifices for promises, unprompted sacrifices, and the firstborn animals from your cattle and sheep. BSB BSB: To 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.
7 ARST There, in the presence of Yahweh our God, you and your families will eat the good things that you have worked to produce, and you will be happy, because he has blessed you{ very much}. BSB BSB: There, 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.
8 ARST { When you are in that land,} you must not do some of the things that we have been doing. Until now, you have all been worshiping Yahweh the way you want to. BSB BSB: You are not to do as we are doing here today, where everyone does what seems right in his own eyes.
9 ARST This is because you have not yet arrived in the land that he will allow you to permanently possess. There, you will be able to live peacefully. BSB BSB: For you have not yet come to the resting place and the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you.
10 ARST After you cross the Jordan River, you will start to live in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you. He will protect you from all your enemies that will surround you. You will live peacefully. BSB BSB: When 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,
11 ARST Yahweh will choose one place where he wants you to worship him. That is the place to which you must bring all the offerings that I command you to bring. These include the wholly burned sacrifice, other sacrifices, one tenth of all your produce and animals, special contributions, and sacrifices for promises you make to Yahweh. BSB BSB: then 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.
12 ARST Celebrate there in the presence of Yahweh, with your children, your servants, and the Levites who live in your towns. Remember that the Levites will not have their own land, like you do. BSB BSB: And 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.
13 ARST Do not offer your wholly burnt sacrifice anywhere else. BSB BSB: Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in just any place you see;
14 ARST Only offer them in the place that Yahweh will choose. The place will be in an area that belongs to one of your tribes. That is the only place where you may offer the wholly burnt sacrifice and do the other things that I am commanding you to do{ when you worship him}. BSB BSB: you 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.
15 ARST However, you may kill and eat your animals wherever you live as much as you want. These animals are blessings from Yahweh your God. Impure and pure people may eat that meat, just like you would eat the meat of a deer or an antelope. BSB BSB: But 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,
16 ARST But do not eat the blood{ of any animal}. Let the blood drain onto the ground{ before you cook the meat}. BSB BSB: but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
17 ARST Do not eat any offering for Yahweh where you live. Do not eat the one tenth of your produce and animals that are set aside for Yahweh. Do not eat any of the offerings for promises, unprompted offerings, or special contributions. BSB BSB: Within 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.
18 ARST Instead, you must eat those offerings in the presence of Yahweh in the place that he chooses. You must do this along with your children, your servants, and the Levites who live in your towns. Enjoy the results of your hard work. BSB BSB: Instead, 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,
19 ARST Be sure that you take care of the Levites who live among you. BSB BSB: and be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.
20 ARST In the future, Yahweh will give you more territory, as he has promised. At that time, if you want to eat meat in that new territory, you may eat as much as you want. BSB BSB: When 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.
21 ARST If the place that Yahweh our God chooses for you to worship him is far from{ where you live}, I will tell you what to do. You may kill and eat some of your animals where you live, as much as you want. BSB BSB: If 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.
22 ARST Impure and pure people may eat that meat, just like you would eat the meat of a deer or an antelope. BSB BSB: Indeed, you may eat it as you would eat a gazelle or deer; both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it.
23 ARST But be sure that you do not eat the blood of any animal. This is because blood keeps humans and animals alive. You must not eat that which sustains life along with the meat. BSB BSB: Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.
24 ARST Do not eat the blood. Instead, let it drain onto the ground. BSB BSB: You must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
25 ARST If you obey this command and do what Yahweh says is right for you to do, you and your descendants will prosper. BSB BSB: Do 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.
26 ARST But this is what you must do with your offerings and anything that you promise to give to Yahweh. You must take those things to the place that he will choose. BSB BSB: But you are to take your holy things and your vow offerings and go to the place the LORD will choose.
27 ARST There you will offer the animals for the wholly burned sacrifice on the altar.{ You will also offer the fellowship sacrifice there. After you kill the animals, the priest} will take the blood from the animals and splatter it onto every side of the altar.{ Then, the priests will receive their portion of the meat.} You may eat{ the rest of} the meat. BSB BSB: Present 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.
28 ARST Faithfully obey all these commands. If you do that, you and your descendants will prosper forever. This is because you will be doing what Yahweh our God says is right for you to do. BSB BSB: Be 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.
29 ARST When you enter the land that you will occupy, Yahweh our God will destroy the people groups that live there as you advance. BSB BSB: When 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,
30 ARST After he does that, be sure that you do not worship the gods of those people groups. If you do, it will be like a trap that will catch you. Do not ask them how they worshiped their gods just so you can worship Yahweh in the same way. BSB BSB: be 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.”
32 ARST Be sure to obey all these commands. Do not add anything to these commands, and do not take anything away from them. BSB BSB: See that you do everything I command you; do not add to it or subtract from it.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.