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 .