Deuteronomy 12

¹These are the laws and the decisions which you are to keep with care in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to be your heritage all the days of your life on earth.

²You are to give up to the curse all those places where the nations, whom you are driving out, gave worship to their gods, on the high mountains and the hills and under every green tree:

³Their altars and their pillars are to be broken down, and their holy trees burned with fire, and the images of their gods cut down; you are to take away their names out of that place.

⁴Do not so to the Lord your God.

⁵But let your hearts be turned to the place which will be marked out by the Lord your God, among your tribes, to put his name there;

⁶And there you are to take your burned offerings and other offerings, and the tenth part of your goods, and the offerings to be lifted up to the Lord, and the offerings of your oaths, and those which you give freely from the impulse of your hearts, and the first births among your herds and your flocks;

⁷There you and all your families are to make a feast before the Lord your God, with joy in everything to which you put your hand, because the Lord has given you his blessing.

⁸You are not to do things then in the way in which we now do them here, every man as it seems right to him:

⁹For you have not come to the rest and the heritage which the Lord your God is giving you.

¹⁰But when you have gone over Jordan and are living in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as your heritage, and when he has given you rest from all those on every side who are fighting against you, and you are living there safely;

¹¹Then there will be a place marked out by the Lord your God as the resting-place for his name, and there you will take all the things which I give you orders to take: your burned offerings and other offerings, and the tenth part of your goods, and the offerings to be lifted up, and the offerings of your oaths which you make to the Lord;

¹²And you will be glad before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, and your men-servants and your women-servants, and the Levite who is with you in your house, because he has no part or heritage among you.

¹³Take care that you do not make your burned offerings in any place you see:

¹⁴But in the place marked out by the Lord in one of your tribes, there let your burned offerings be offered, and there do what I have given you orders to do.

¹⁵Only you may put to death animals, such as the gazelle or the roe, for your food in any of your towns, at the desire of your soul, in keeping with the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given you: the unclean and the clean may take of it.

¹⁶But you may not take the blood for food, it is to be drained out on the earth like water.

¹⁷In your towns you are not to take as food the tenth part of your grain, or of your wine or your oil, or the first births of your herds or of your flocks, or anything offered under an oath, or freely offered to the Lord, or given as a lifted offering;

¹⁸But they will be your food before the Lord your God in the place of his selection, where you may make a feast of them, with your son and your daughter, and your man-servant and your woman-servant, and the Levite who is living with you: and you will have joy before the Lord your God in everything to which you put your hand.

¹⁹See that you do not give up caring for the Levite as long as you are living in your land.

²⁰When the Lord your God makes wide the limit of your land, as he has said, and you say, I will take flesh for my food, because you have a desire for it; then you may take whatever flesh you have a desire for.

²¹If the place marked out by the Lord your God as the resting-place for his name is far away from you, then take from your herds and from your flocks which the Lord has given you, as I have said, and have a meal of it in the towns where you may be living.

²²It will be your food, like the gazelle and the roe; the unclean and the clean may take of it.

²³But see that you do not take the blood for food; for the blood is the life; and you may not make use of the life as food with the flesh.

²⁴Do not take it for food but let it be drained out on the earth like water.

²⁵Do not take it for food; so that it may be well for you and for your children after you, while you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

²⁶But the holy things which you have, and the offerings of your oaths, you are to take to the place which will be marked out by the Lord:

²⁷Offering the flesh and the blood of your burned offerings on the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your offerings is to be drained out on the altar of the Lord your God, and the flesh will be your food.

²⁸Take note of all these orders I am giving you and give attention to them, so that it may be well for you and for your children after you for ever, while you do what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

²⁹When the people of the land where you are going have been cut off before you by the Lord your God, and you have taken their land and are living in it;

³⁰After their destruction take care that you do not go in their ways, and that you do not give thought to their gods, saying, How did these nations give worship to their gods? I will do as they did.

³¹Do not so to the Lord your God: for everything which is disgusting to the Lord and hated by him they have done in honour of their gods: even burning their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

³²You are to keep with care all the words I give you, making no addition to them and taking nothing from them.

Deuteronomy 12

¹These are the statutes and the ordinances which you shall observe to do in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess it, all the days that you live on the earth.

²You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree:

³and you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods; and you shall destroy their name out of that place.

⁴You shall not do so to the Lord your God.

⁵But to the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even to his habitation you shall seek, and there you shall come;

⁶and there you shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the wave offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock:

⁷and there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

⁸You shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatever is right in his own eyes;

⁹for you haven't yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the Lord your God gives you.

¹⁰But when you go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your God causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies around you, so that you dwell in safety;

¹¹then it shall happen that to the place which the Lord your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the wave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to the Lord.

¹²You shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you, and your sons, and your daughters, and your male servants, and your female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you.

¹³Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see;

¹⁴but in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

¹⁵Notwithstanding, you may kill and eat flesh within all your gates, after all the desire of your soul, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given you: the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle, and as of the hart.

¹⁶Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth as water.

¹⁷You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, or of your new wine, or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your freewill offerings, nor the wave offering of your hand;

¹⁸but you shall eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God shall choose, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male servant, and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates: and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all that you put your hand to.

¹⁹Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

²⁰When the Lord your God shall enlarge your border, as he has promised you, and you shall say, "I want to eat meat," because your soul desires to eat meat; you may eat meat, after all the desire of your soul.

²¹If the place which the Lord your God shall choose, to put his name there, is too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock, which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates, after all the desire of your soul.

²²Even as the gazelle and as the hart is eaten, so you shall eat of it: the unclean and the clean may eat of it alike.

²³Only be sure that you do not eat the blood: for the blood is the life; and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.

²⁴You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth as water.

²⁵You shall not eat it; that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, when you shall do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord.

²⁶Only your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take, and go to the place which the Lord shall choose:

²⁷and you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God; and you shall eat the flesh.

²⁸Observe and hear all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you forever, when you do that which is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

²⁹When the Lord your God shall cut off the nations from before you, where you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them, and dwell in their land;

³⁰take heed to yourself that you not be ensnared to follow them, after that they are destroyed from before you; and that you not inquire after their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise."

³¹You shall not do so to the Lord your God: for every abomination to the Lord, which he hates, have they done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters do they burn in the fire to their gods.

³²Whatever thing I command you, that you shall observe to do: you shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it.