These are the precepts and judg- ments, that you must do in the land, which the Lord the God of thy fathers will give thee, to possess it all the days that thou shalt walk upon the earth.

Hæc sunt præcepta atque judicia, quæ facere debetis in terra, quam Dominus Deus patrum tuorum daturus est tibi, ut possideas eam cunctis diebus, quibus super humum gradieris.

Here follow the laws and decrees you must observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers means to give you, if you are to have lifelong enjoyment of it.

Destroy all the places in which the nations, that you shall possess, worshipped their gods upon high mountains, and hills, and under every shady tree:

Subvertite omnia loca, in quibus coluerunt gentes, quas possessuri estis, deos suos super montes excelsos, et colles, et subter omne lignum frondosum.

The nations you will dispossess have gods of their own, and build shrines for these on some high mountain, some hill, under the first green tree they can find. All these shrines you must overthrow,

Overthrow their altars, and break down their statues, burn their groves with fire, and break their idols in pieces: destroy their names out of those places.

Dissipate aras eorum, et confringite statuas: lucos igne comburite, et idola comminuite: disperdite nomina eorum de locis illis.

demolish their altars, break their monuments, burn their sacred pillars, hew down their idols, and abolish the very memory of them from the places where they stood.

You shall not do so to the Lord your God:

Non facietis ita Domino Deo vestro:

It is not such worship as this that you will offer to the Lord your God;

But you shall come to the place, which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, and to dwell in it:

sed ad locum, quem elegerit Dominus Deus vester de cunctis tribubus vestris, ut ponat nomen suum ibi, et habitet in eo, venietis:

the Lord your God will choose out one tribe among you, and one place in that tribe, to be the sanctuary of his name, the shrine of his presence; to that place you will go,

And you shall offer in that place your holocausts and victims, the tithes and firstfruits of your hands and your vows and gifts, the firstborn of your herds and your sheep.

et offeretis in loco illo holocausta et victimas vestras, decimas et primitias manuum vestrarum, et vota atque donaria, primogenita boum et ovium.

when you would bring burnt-sacrifice and offering, tithe and first-fruits of your labour, vowed gifts and unvowed, first-born of cattle or of sheep.

And you shall eat there in the sight of the Lord your God: and you shall rejoice in all things, whereunto you shall put your hand, you and your houses wherein the Lord your God hath blessed you.

Et comedetis ibi in conspectu Domini Dei vestri: ac lætabimini in cunctis, ad quæ miseritis manum vos et domus vestræ, in quibus benedixerit vobis Dominus Deus vester.

There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your households shall eat, glad at heart, what your own hands have reaped with his blessing to aid them.

You shall not do there the things we do here this day, every man that which seemeth good to himself.

Non facietis ibi quæ nos hic facimus hodie, singuli quod sibi rectum videtur:

No, it will not be for every man, there as here, to worship when and where he pleases.

For until this present time you are not come to rest, and to the possession, which the Lord your God will give you.

neque enim usque in præsens tempus venistis ad requiem, et possessionem, quam Dominus Deus vester daturus est vobis.

So far, you have not reached your resting-place, that secure way of living which the Lord your God will then grant you.

You shall pass over the Jordan, and shall dwell in the land which the Lord your God will give you, that you may have rest from all enemies round about: and may dwell without any fear,

Transibitis Jordanem, et habitabitis in terra, quam Dominus Deus vester daturus est vobis, ut requiescatis a cunctis hostibus per circuitum: et absque ullo timore habitetis

But when you have crossed Jordan, and are living in the land he has destined for your home, looking round you with fearless eyes, no enemy to molest you,

In the place, which the Lord your God shall choose, that his name may be therein. Thither shall you bring all the things that I command you, holocausts, and victims, and tithes, and the firstfruits of your hands: and whatsoever is the choicest in the gifts which you shall vow to the Lord.

in loco, quem elegerit Dominus Deus vester, ut sit nomen ejus in eo: illuc omnia, quæ præcipio, conferetis, holocausta, et hostias, ac decimas, et primitias manuum vestrarum: et quidquid præcipuum est in muneribus, quæ vovebitis Domino.

then the Lord your God will choose a place to be the sanctuary of his name. There you will present before him all that I now enjoin, burnt-sacrifice and offering, tithe and first-fruit and choice things vowed to his honour.

There shall you feast before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite that dwelleth in your cities. For he hath no other part and possession among you.

Ibi epulabimini coram Domino Deo vestro, vos et filii ac filiæ vestræ, famuli et famulæ, atque Levites qui in urbibus vestris commoratur: neque enim habet aliam partem et possessionem inter vos.

There you shall regale yourselves in the Lord’s presence, with sons and daughters, men-servants and maid-servants, and the Levites, too, that dwell in your cities, with no part and lot of their own such as you have.

Beware lest thou offer thy holocausts in every place that thou shalt see:

Cave ne offeras holocausta tua in omni loco, quem videris:

No, do not present thy burnt-sacrifice in the first place that offers;

But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes shalt thou offer sacrifices, and shalt do all that I command thee.

sed in eo, quem elegerit Dominus, in una tribuum tuarum offeres hostias, et facies quæcumque præcipio tibi.

bring thy victims to one place, in one tribe, of the Lord’s own choosing, and there carry out all that I enjoin upon thee.

But if thou desirest to eat, and the eating of flesh delight thee, kill, and eat according to the blessing of the Lord thy God, which he hath given thee, in thy cities: whether it be unclean, that is to say, having blemish or defect: or clean, that is to say, sound and without blemish, such as may be offered, as the roe, and the hart, shalt thou eat it:

Sin autem comedere volueris, et te esus carnium delectaverit, occide, comede juxta benedictionem Domini Dei tui, quam dedit tibi in urbibus tuis: sive immundum fuerit, hoc est, maculatum et debile: sive mundum, hoc est, integrum et sine macula, quod offerri licet, sicut capream et cervum, comedes:

Wouldst thou eat meat? Slay, then, and eat, there in thy own city, whatever the bounty of the Lord thy God has given thee. Marred by blemish or by wound, whole, unblemished, and fit for sacrifice, it is all one; eat boldly as thou wouldst eat the flesh of red deer or roe,

Only the blood thou shalt not eat, but thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water.

absque esu dumtaxat sanguinis, quem super terram quasi aquam effundes.

so long as thou dost not eat it with the blood; that must be poured out like water on the ground.

Thou mayst not eat in thy towns the tithes of thy corn, and thy wine, and thy oil, the firstborn of thy herds and thy cattle, nor any thing that thou vowest, and that thou wilt offer voluntarily, and the firstfruits of thy hands:

Non poteris comedere in oppidis tuis decimam frumenti, et vini, et olei tui, primogenita armentorum et pecorum, et omnia quæ voveris, et sponte offerre volueris, et primitias manuum tuarum:

But where tithes of corn or wine or oil are in question, or the first-born of herd and flock, gifts to the Lord vowed or unvowed, or the first-fruits of thy crops, these thou mayest not eat in thy own city.

But thou shalt eat them before the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, thou and thy son and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and maidservant, and the Levite that dwelleth in thy cities: and thou shalt rejoice and be refreshed before the Lord thy God in all things, whereunto thou shalt put thy hand.

sed coram Domino Deo tuo comedes ea in loco, quem elegerit Dominus Deus tuus, tu et filius tuus, et filia tua, et servus et famula, atque Levites qui manet in urbibus tuis: et lætaberis et reficieris coram Domino Deo tuo in cunctis ad quæ extenderis manum tuam.

Take them to the place the Lord thy God has chosen and eat them there in his presence; make good cheer and regale thyself, there before the Lord thy God, with all the good things thy labour has earned; let son and daughter, man-servant and maid-servant, share it, and the Levite, too, that has his dwelling in thy city;

Take heed thou forsake not the Levite all the time that thou livest in the land.

Cave ne derelinquas Levitem in omni tempore quo versaris in terra.

never neglect the Levite, all thy days on earth.

When the Lord thy God shall have enlarged thy borders, as he hath spoken to thee, and thou wilt eat the flesh that thy soul desireth:

Quando dilataverit Dominus Deus tuus terminos tuos, sicut locutus est tibi, et volueris vesci carnibus, quas desiderat anima tua:

Wide lands the Lord thy God means to give thee, as he has promised; and often thou wilt be fain to indulge appetite, and eat flesh-meat,

And if the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name should be there, be far off, thou shalt kill of thy herds and of thy flocks, as I have commanded thee, and shalt eat in thy towns, as it pleaseth thee.

locus autem, quem elegerit Dominus Deus tuus ut sit nomen ejus ibi, si procul fuerit, occides de armentis et pecoribus, quæ habueris, sicut præcepi tibi, et comedes in oppidis tuis, ut tibi placet.

when the place the Lord has chosen for his name’s sanctuary is far away. Slay, then, and eat what beasts thou wilt, out of thy herd or thy flock, there in thy own city as I bid thee. Have no scruple;

Even as the roe and the hart is eaten, so shalt thou eat them: both the clean and unclean shall eat of them alike.

Sicut comeditur caprea et cervus, ita vesceris eis: et mundus et immundus in commune vescentur.

eat such meat as if it were the flesh of red deer or roe, let the undefiled and the defiled alike be thy guests;

Only beware of this, that thou eat not the blood, for the blood is for the soul: and therefore thou must not eat the soul with the flesh:

Hoc solum cave, ne sanguinem comedas: sanguis enim eorum pro anima est, et idcirco non debes animam comedere cum carnibus:

only do not eat it with the blood, it is the blood that animates living things, and this life of theirs must not be eaten with the flesh,

But thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water,

sed super terram fundes quasi aquam,

but poured out like water on the ground.

That it may be well with thee and thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is pleasing in the sight of the Lord.

ut bene sit tibi et filiis tuis post te, cum feceris quod placet in conspectu Domini.

So shall it be well with thee and with thy sons after thee; thou hast done all the Lord requires of thee.

But the things which thou hast sanctified and vowed to the Lord, thou shalt take, and shalt come to the place which the Lord shall choose:

Quæ autem sanctificaveris, et voveris Domino, tolles, et venies ad locum, quem elegerit Dominus:

But all that thou hast consecrated or vowed to the Lord thou must take with thee to the place the Lord has chosen,

And shalt offer thy oblations the flesh and the blood upon the altar of the Lord thy God: the blood of thy victims thou shalt pour on the altar: and the flesh thou thyself shalt eat.

et offeres oblationes tuas carnem et sanguinem super altare Domini Dei tui: sanguinem hostiarum fundes in altari; carnibus autem ipse vesceris.

and make due offering, of flesh and blood both, on the altar of the Lord thy God; all the blood of thy victims thou must pour away on the altar, and be content with the flesh for thy food.

Observe and hear all the things that I command thee, that it may be well with thee and thy children after thee for ever, when thou shalt do what is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God.

Observa et audi omnia quæ ego præcipio tibi, ut bene sit tibi et filiis tuis post te in sempiternum, cum feceris quod bonum est et placitum in conspectu Domini Dei tui.

All these commands of mine thou shalt remember and obey; well for thee and for thy sons in perpetuity, if thou dost ever what is the Lord thy God’s good pleasure.

When the Lord thy God shall have destroyed before thy face the nations, which thou shalt go in to possess, and when thou shalt possess them, and dwell in their land:

Quando disperdiderit Dominus Deus tuus ante faciem tuam gentes, ad quas ingredieris possidendas, et possederis eas, atque habitaveris in terra earum:

When the Lord thy God has routed the nations thou art to dispossess, and they give way before thee, and thou art dwelling in the land that once was theirs,

Beware lest thou imitate them, after they are destroyed at thy coming in, and lest thou seek after their ceremonies, saying: As these nations have worshipped their gods, so will I also worship.

cave ne imiteris eas, postquam te fuerint introëunte subversæ, et requiras cæremonias earum, dicens: Sicut coluerunt gentes istæ deos suos, ita et ego colam.

do not imitate the folk thou hast conquered; do not hanker after their observances, and say, Why may I not worship as these worshipped before me?

Thou shalt not do in like manner to the Lord thy God. For they have done to their gods all the abominations which the Lord abhorreth, offering their sons and daughters, and burning them with fire.

Non facies similiter Domino Deo tuo. Omnes enim abominationes, quas aversatur Dominus, fecerunt diis suis, offerentes filios et filias, et comburentes igni.

Not so shalt thou approach the Lord thy God; all that the Lord hates most, these did, very abominably, sacrificing their own sons and daughters by fire to these gods of theirs.

What I command thee, that only do thou to the Lord: neither add any thing, nor diminish.

Quod præcipio tibi, hoc tantum facito Domino: nec addas quidquam, nec minuas.

In worshipping the Lord, thou shalt do only what I bid thee, neither more nor less.