Deuteronomy 13:16
13:16 You must gather all of its plunder into the middle of the plaza 1 and burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It will be an abandoned ruin 2 forever – it must never be rebuilt again.
Deuteronomy 26:13
26:13 Then you shall say before the Lord your God, “I have removed the sacred offering 3 from my house and given it to the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows just as you have commanded me. 4 I have not violated or forgotten your commandments.
1 tn Heb “street.”
2 tn Heb “mound”; NAB “a heap of ruins.” The Hebrew word תֵּל (tel) refers to this day to a ruin represented especially by a built-up mound of dirt or debris (cf. Tel Aviv, “mound of grain”).
3 tn Heb “the sacred thing.” The term הַקֹּדֶשׁ (haqqodesh) likely refers to an offering normally set apart for the Lord but, as a third-year tithe, given on this occasion to people in need. Sometimes this is translated as “the sacred portion” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV), but that could sound to a modern reader as if a part of the house were being removed and given away.
4 tn Heb “according to all your commandment that you commanded me.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.