^16 (A)Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth like water. ¹⁷ You may not eat within your towns ^(B)the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings or the contribution that you present, ¹⁸ but ^(C)you shall eat them before the Lord your God in ^(D)the place that the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns. And ^(E)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all that you undertake. ^19 (F)Take care that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.

²⁰ “When the Lord your God ^(G)enlarges your territory, ^(H)as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you crave meat, you may eat meat whenever you desire. ²¹ If ^(I)the place that the Lord your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, ^(J)then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns whenever you desire. ²² Just ^(K)as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. ^(L)The unclean and the clean alike may eat of it. ^23 (M)Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, ^(N)for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. ²⁴ You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth like water. ²⁵ You shall not eat it, ^(O)that all may go well with you and with your children after you, ^(P)when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.

^23 (A)Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.