1 These are the statutes and the judgments that you must keep in order to do them in the land that the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikha, Covenant Giver} of your fathers has given you to possess, all the days that you are alive upon the earth {adamah: physical ground}.
2 You shall certainly destroy all the places where the nations you are dispossessing served their gods {eloheihem: objects of false worship}, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every luxuriant tree {etz ra'anan: evergreen tree}.
3 And you shall break down their altars and shatter their sacred pillars; and you shall burn their Asherah {Asherim: cultic wooden poles} in the fire. You shall cut down the idols of their gods {elohim: false deities} and wipe out their name from that place.
4 You shall not act thus {ken: in this way} toward the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheichem, Covenant Protector}.
5 But you shall go only to the place that the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheichem, Personal Covenant God} will choose from among all your tribes to set his name {shmo: honor and authority} there for his dwelling; you must seek it out and go there.
6 And you shall bring there your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, and your tithes {ma’asroteikhem: tenth portions} and the offering {terumat: contribution} of your hand, and your vows and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.
7 And you shall eat there before the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheichem, Covenant Provider} and you shall rejoice in all the undertaking {mishlakh: sending forth} of your hand, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.
8 You are not to do as we are doing here today, with every man {ish: individual person} doing what is right in his own eyes {be‘einav: personal perspective}.
9 For you have not yet come to the resting place {menuchah: place of settled peace} and to the inheritance that the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikha, Covenant Land Giver} is giving to you.
10 And you will cross the Jordan and dwell in the land that the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikhem, Covenant Giver} is granting you as an inheritance, and He will give you rest from all your enemies around, and you will live in security {betach: secure dwelling}.
11 And there shall be a place that the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikhem, Covenant Dweller} chooses to cause His name to dwell there; there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution {terumah: sacred gift} of your hand, and all the choicest of your vows that you vow to the LORD.
12 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikhem, Inheritance Giver}—you, your sons, your daughters, your male servants, your female servants, and the Levite who lives in your gates, because he has no portion {chelek: tribal allotment} or inheritance with you.
13 Be careful {hishamer: take warning} for yourself, lest you offer up your burnt offerings in any place {makom: unauthorized site} that you see.
14 But only at the place {maqom: designated sanctuary} which the LORD {YHWH, Worship Regulator} will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall bring up your burnt offerings and there you shall do all that I am commanding you.
15 Nevertheless, you may slaughter and eat meat in any of your towns, whenever your soul {nefesh: life essence} longs for it, according to the blessing of the LORD your God {YHWH Elohekha, Source of Provision} which He has given you; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it just as the gazelle and the deer.
16 Only {rak: legal limitation} the blood—you must not eat; you shall pour it out upon the ground {haaretz: physical land} like water.
17 You may not eat within your gates the tithe {maser: tenth portion} of your grain and of your new wine and of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd and of your flock, or any of your vows which you vow, or your freewill offerings, or the offering {terumah: sacred contribution} of your hand.
18 For only before the LORD {YHWH, Chosen-Place Lord} your God {Eloheikha, Your Covenant God} shall you eat it, in the place {bamaqom: appointed sanctuary} which the LORD your God will choose, in it—you, and your son, and your daughter, and your servant, and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all the undertaking {mishlakh: hand-labor} of your hand.
19 Be careful for yourself lest you forsake the Levite {ha-levi: sanctuary servant tribe} all your days upon your land {admatekha: allotted territory}.
20 When the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikha, Border Expander} enlarges your territory as He spoke to you and you say, "I want to eat meat" because you crave {te’aveh: deep longing} meat with your soul, then you may eat meat according to all your soul’s desire.
21 If the place which the LORD your God {YHWH Elohekha, Sanctuary Chooser} chooses to set His name there is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your cattle and from your flock that the LORD has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat in your gates according to all the desire {avat: deep longing} of your soul.
22 Just as a gazelle {tsevi: wild game} and a deer {ayal: antlered animal} are eaten, so you shall eat it; the unclean and the clean together may eat it.
23 Only be very vigilant {chazaq: firmly resolute} not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life {nafeš: vital essence}; and you shall not eat the life with the meat.
24 You shall not eat it; on the land {eretz: inhabited territory} you shall pour {shaphakh: deliberate disposal} it out like water.
25 You shall not eat it, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you, because you will be doing what is right {hayashar: moral uprightness} in the eyes of the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Standard}.
26 Only your holy things {qadasheka: consecrated gifts} and your vows you shall carry and come to the place which the LORD {YHWH, Chosen Destination Revealer} will choose.
27 And you shall offer your burnt offerings—the meat and the blood—upon the altar of the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikha, Covenantal Sovereign}. The blood {dam: lifeblood} of your sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the LORD your God, but the meat you may eat.
28 Keep and listen to all these words which I am commanding you, so that it may be well for you and for your children after you forever, because you will do what is good {tov: morally beneficial} and right in the eyes of the LORD your God {YHWH Elohekha, Covenant Guide}.
29 When the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikha, Covenant Keeper and Victor} cuts off the nations {goyim: peoples} before you, which you are entering there to possess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land.
30 Guard yourself {hishamer: maintain ongoing vigilance}, lest you become ensnared after them and after their destruction from before you, and lest you inquire about their gods {le-’eloheiem: objects of worship}, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? I too will do likewise.”
31 You shall not do thus to the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheicha, Covenant Lawgiver}, for every abomination {to'avat: detestable act} of the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they burn in the fire to their gods.
32 Every word {davar: specific command} that I {anokhi: identifying speaker} am commanding you—be sure to do it; do not add to it or take away from it.