Deuteronomy 12

1 These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to follow all the days you live in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess.

And these [are] the ordinances and the judgements, which you shall observe to do in the land, which the Lord God of your fathers gives you for an inheritance, all the days which you live upon the land.

2 Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.

You shall utterly destroy all the places in which they served their gods, whose [land] you inherit, on the high mountains and on the hills, and under the thick tree.

3 Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.

And you shall destroy their altars, and break in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their groves, and you shall burn with fire the graven images of their gods, and you shall abolish their name out of that place.

4 You shall not worship the LORD your God in this way.

You shall not do so to the Lord your God.

5 Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.

But in the place which the Lord your God shall choose in one of your cities to name his name there, and to be called upon, you shall even seek [him] out and go there.

6 To that place you are to bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and heave offerings, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, as well as the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

And you shall carry there your whole burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your first fruits, and your vowed-offerings, and your free will offerings, and your offerings of thanksgiving, the firstborn of your herds, and of your flocks.

7 There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your households shall eat and rejoice in all you do, because the LORD your God has blessed you.

And you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all the things on which you shall lay your hand, you and your houses, as the Lord your God has blessed you.

8 You are not to do as we are doing here today, where everyone does what seems right in his own eyes.

You shall not do altogether as we do here today, every man that which is pleasing in his own sight.

9 For you have not yet come to the resting place and the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you.

For hitherto you have not arrived at the rest and the inheritance, which the Lord our God gives you.

10 When you cross the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and He gives you rest from all the enemies around you and you dwell securely,

And you shall go over Jordan, and shall dwell in the land, which the Lord our God takes as an inheritance for you; and he shall give you rest from all your enemies round about, and you shall dwell safely.

11 then the LORD your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the LORD.

And there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose for his name to be called there, there shall you bring all things that I order you today; your whole burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the first fruits of your hands, and every choice gift of yours, whatever you shall vow to the Lord your God.

12 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.

And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants and your maidservants, and the Levite that is at your gates; because he has no portion or inheritance with you.

13 Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in just any place you see;

Take heed to yourself that you offer not your whole burnt offerings in any place which you shall see;

14 you must offer them only in the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribal territories, and there you shall do all that I command you.

save in the place which the Lord your God shall choose, in one of your tribes, there shall you offer your whole burnt offerings, and there shall you do all things whatever I charge you this day.

15 But whenever you want, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you. Both the ceremonially clean and unclean may eat it as they would a gazelle or deer,

But you shall kill according to all your desire, and shall eat flesh according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which he has given you in every city; the unclean that is within you and the clean shall eat it on equal terms, as the doe or the stag.

16 but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.

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

17 Within your gates you must not eat the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, the firstborn of your herds or flocks, any of the offerings that you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts.

You shall not be able to eat in your cities the tithe of your corn, and of your wine, and of your oil, the firstborn of your herd and of your flock, and all [your] vows as many as you shall have vowed, and your thank-offerings, and the first fruits of your hands.

18 Instead, you must eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God will choose—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates. Rejoice before the LORD your God in all you do,

But before the Lord your God you shall eat it, in the place which the Lord your God shall choose for himself, you, and your son, and your daughter, your man-servant, and your maidservant, and the stranger that is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, on whatever you shall lay your hand.

19 and be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.

Take heed to yourself that you do not desert the Levite all the time that you live upon the earth.

20 When the LORD your God expands your territory as He has promised, and you crave meat and say, “I want to eat meat,” you may eat it whenever you want.

And if the Lord your God shall enlarge your borders, as he said to you, and you shall say, I will eat flesh; if your soul should desire to eat flesh, you shall eat flesh according to all the desire of your soul.

21 If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His Name is too far from you, then you may slaughter any of the herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want.

And if the place be far from you, which the Lord your God shall choose for himself, that his name be called upon it, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock which God shall have given you, even as I commanded you, and you shall eat in your cities according to the desire of your soul.

22 Indeed, you may eat it as you would eat a gazelle or deer; both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it.

As the doe and the stag are eaten, so shall you eat it; the unclean in you and the clean shall eat it in like manner.

23 Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.

Take diligent heed that you eat no blood, for blood [is] the life of it; the life shall not be eaten with the flesh.

24 You must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.

You shall not eat [it]; you shall pour it out on the ground as water.

25 Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

You shall not eat it, that it may be well with you and with your sons after you, if you shall do that which is good and pleasing before the Lord your God.

26 But you are to take your holy things and your vow offerings and go to the place the LORD will choose.

But you shall take your holy things, if you have any, and your vowed-offerings, and come to the place which the Lord your God shall choose to have his name named upon it.

27 Present the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your other sacrifices must be poured out beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat.

And you shall sacrifice your whole burnt offerings, you shall offer the flesh upon the altar of the Lord your God; but the blood of your sacrifices you shall pour out at the foot of the altar of the Lord your God, but the flesh you shall eat.

28 Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God.

Beware and listen, and you shall do all the commands which I charge you, that it may be well with you and with your sons for ever, if you shall do that which is pleasing and good before the Lord your God.

29 When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations you are entering to dispossess, and you drive them out and live in their land,

And if the Lord your God shall utterly destroy the nations, to whom you go in there to inherit their land, from before you, and you shall inherit it, and dwell in their land;

30 be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.”

take heed to yourself that you seek not to follow them after they are destroyed before you, saying, How do these nations act towards their gods? I will do likewise.

31 You must not worship the LORD your God in this way, because they practice for their gods every abomination which the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

You shall not do so to your God; for they have sacrificed to their gods the abominations of the Lord which he hates, for they burn their sons and their daughters in fire to their gods.

32 See that you do everything I command you; do not add to it or subtract from it.

Every word that I command you this day, it shall you observe to do: you shall not add to it, nor diminish from it.