Notice that Revised Standard Version, following the Hebrew text, places the main verb you shall bring in the middle of the sentence. A more normal and intelligible ordering of the sentence is found in Good News Translation: “The LORD will choose a single place where he is to be worshiped.” However, in languages that do not use the passive voice, we may say, for example, “… where you must worship him.” This verse repeats essentially verses 5-6. Here the verb make … dwell is used with his name, whereas in verse 5 the verb is “put.” The figure of speech is different, but the action is the same.

All that I command you: Moses is the speaker.

The list of sacrifices and offerings here is the same as in verse 6, except that here “freewill offerings” are not included. And where verse 6 has simply “your votive offerings,” here a fuller phrase is used: all your votive offerings which you vow to the LORD. The phrase is redundant, since a votive offering is something that is vowed. The verb “to vow” means to promise or to dedicate. The Hebrew is literally “your choice votive offerings.” New Revised Standard Version has “all your choice votive gifts which you vow to the LORD.” Good News Translation has “those special gifts that you have promised to the LORD.” Revised Standard Version fails to represent the adjective “choice” (Good News Translation “special”).

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 .

You shall rejoice before the LORD: or “You shall celebrate there at the place for worshiping the LORD.”

Instead of the all-inclusive “your households” of verse 3, here the fuller statement appears: your sons and your daughters, your menservants and your maidservants.

The Levite: that is, “the Levites,” “members of the tribe of Levi,” or “descendants of the great ancestor Levi” (see 10.8-9; 18.1-2, for further statements).

Has no portion or inheritance with you: that is, the tribe of Levi, unlike the other tribes, will not be given its own territory (see 10.8-9 for no portion or inheritance). Other ways to express this are “The descendants of Levi will have no land of their own,” or “… will not be given their own territory [in which to live].”

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 .

The command is repeated in verses 13-14 and expressed in a very precise way. There will be one place where the people are to offer their sacrifices to Yahweh; they must not offer them anywhere else.

Every place that you see: this means “any place you might choose.”

Here, and in verse 14, only your burnt offerings are mentioned; the others are not named, but they are understood to be included. So we may translate “You must not offer sacrifices just anywhere you want to,” or even “You must not slaughter animals and offer them to Yahweh just….”

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 .

For the content of this verse, see verse 7.

You shall do all that I am commanding you: Moses is speaking. Good News Translation restructures in a helpful way.

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 .

The thought or presupposition underlying this command is that the act of slaughtering animals at home, and not at the central sanctuary, is not a religious act, but a purely secular act. So the ritual rules do not apply. Everyone, whether ritually pure or impure, is free to eat the meat of these animals.

You may slaughter and eat flesh within any of your towns: this refers to domestic animals, not wild game. Good News Translation is very clear: “But you are to kill and eat your animals wherever you live.”

As of the gazelle … the hart: being wild animals, deers and antelopes (Good News Translation) were not subject to the ritual rules that applied to sacrificial animals, and everyone could eat their meat. In cultures where these animals are unknown, we may use a more general translation, as the actual animals are unimportant: “just as you would eat the meat of wild animals [or, animals of the forest, or jungle].”

As much as you desire: this is meant to say “as often as you wish” (New Revised Standard Version “whenever you desire”).

According to the blessing of the LORD your God which he has given you: this means, depending on the number of animals that God has blessed them with. Their prosperity is due to God’s blessing. Good News Translation has “as many as the LORD gives you.” For the LORD your God see 1.6.

The unclean and the clean: this means people who are ritually impure and pure; it does not mean actual bodily filth. The main effect on a person who became ritually impure was that such a person could not take part in community worship until the proper ritual had been performed to remove that person’s impurity. This was ritual impurity, not a moral lapse. In some languages a lot of information understood by the original readers of the text must be included in order to allow the reader to understand the meaning of these terms. For unclean Good News Translation has “ritually impure,” while Contemporary English Version has “all those people who are unclean and unfit for worship.” Another way to express unclean is “religiously impure [or, unacceptable].” Some languages will render the unclean and the clean as “people with bad taboo and those with good taboo.” Most translators will need to provide a detailed note in the Glossary on these terms.

The gazelle … the hart: in more modern terms, “the meat of deer or antelope” (Good News Translation).

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 .

You shall not eat the blood: for the prohibition against eating blood, see verse 23 (also Gen 9.3-4; Lev 17.10-14). The Israelites devised a method of draining the blood out of the animal, a ritual still practiced by Jews today. Another way to render this sentence is “But you must not eat the blood of any animals” (Contemporary English Version).

Pour it out upon the earth like water: as New Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have it, “on the ground.” To make it clearer, “Pour it out on the ground as you would pour out water.”

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 .

Verses 17-18 are one sentence. As distinct from eating meat wherever they lived, the Israelites could not eat at home any of the offerings listed; all these had to be eaten at the central sanctuary. In many languages it will be necessary to divide this long sentence into at least three sentences (see Good News Translation).

You may not eat within your towns: as in verse 15, this is equivalent to saying “You may not eat at home.” For the sacrificial slaughter of their animals, the Israelites will have to leave home and go to the one sanctuary.

The tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil: see 7.13. These were the three main agricultural products. For the law of the tithe (verses 6 and 11), see Lev 27.30-32. Alternative translation models are “one-tenth of your grain or…,” or even “One kilogram [or whatever measure is commonly used] for every ten that you produce, or one liter [or gallon] of wine or olive oil for every ten that you produce.”

The firstlings of your herd or of your flock: see verse 6.

Votive offerings … freewill offerings … the offering that you present: see verse 6.

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 .

Eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God will choose: as in verses 5, 11, 14.

For the rest of the verse, see verse 12. And for you shall rejoice …, see verse 7.

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 .