No defective animal could be offered to God (see 17.1).

Any blemish: any serious “defect” (New Revised Standard Version), such as blindness or lameness, disqualified the animal from being offered to God.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• But if the animal is lame or blind, or has some other physical defect, you must not slaughter it and offer it to the LORD your God.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .