Deuteronomy 15:19-23
New English Translation
Giving God the Best
19 You must set apart[a] for the Lord your God every firstborn male born to your herds and flocks. You must not work the firstborn of your bulls or shear the firstborn of your flocks. 20 You and your household must eat them annually before the Lord your God in the place he[b] chooses. 21 If one of them has any kind of blemish—lameness, blindness, or anything else[c]—you may not offer it as a sacrifice to the Lord your God. 22 You may eat it in your villages,[d] whether you are ritually impure or clean,[e] just as you would eat a gazelle or an ibex. 23 However, you must not eat its blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Deuteronomy 15:19 tn Heb “sanctify” (תַּקְדִּישׁ, taqdish), that is, put to use on behalf of the Lord.
- Deuteronomy 15:20 tn Heb “the Lord.” The translation uses a pronoun for stylistic reasons. See note on “he” in 15:4.
- Deuteronomy 15:21 tn Heb “any evil blemish”; NASB “any (+ other NAB, TEV) serious defect.”
- Deuteronomy 15:22 tn Heb “in your gates.”
- Deuteronomy 15:22 tc The LXX adds ἐν σοί (en soi, “among you”) to make clear that the antecedent is the people and not the animals. That is, the people, whether ritually purified or not, may eat such defective animals.
Deuteronomy 15:19-23
Expanded Bible
Rules About Firstborn Animals
19 Save all the first male animals born to your herds and flocks [Ex. 13:2, 11–16; 22:29; Num. 18:15–18]. They are ·for [consecrated to] the Lord your God. Do not work the first calf born to your oxen, and do not cut off the wool from the first lamb born to your sheep. 20 Each year you and your ·family [L house] are to eat these animals in the presence of the Lord your God, in the place he will choose to be worshiped [C Zion; 12:4–7]. 21 If an animal is crippled or blind or has ·something else wrong [some blemish/defect], do not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. 22 But you may eat that animal in your own ·town [L gate]. Both clean and unclean people [C in a ritual sense] may eat it, as they would eat a gazelle or a deer. 23 But don’t eat its blood; pour it out on the ground like water [12:24].
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