Verse 18 gives detailed regulations about animal sacrifice. A possible reason for the very strange law in the second part of verse 19 is that it may have been intended to prohibit the Israelites from following an ancient magical practice intended to ensure the fertility of the fields. In a text found by archaeologists at Ugarit, on the coast of Syria, there is a reference to a Canaanite magical practice of sprinkling the meat of a kid cooked in milk on to the field as part of the fertility rites of that society. In the concluding section of chapter 23, God promises his people that he will lead them into the land of Canaan, but strong warnings are given to them that they must have nothing to do with the religions of the Canaanites and the other people inhabiting that land.