Deuteronomy 12

1 These 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.

These are the ordinances and the lawes, which ye shall obserue and doe in the lande (which the Lord God of thy fathers giueth thee to possesse it) as long as yee liue vpon the earth.

2 You 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:

Yee shall vtterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall possesse, serued their gods vpon the hie mountaines and vpon the hilles, and vnder euery greene tree.

3 Their 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.

Also ye shall ouerthrowe their altars, and breake downe their pillars, and burne their groues with fire: and ye shall hew downe ye grauen images of their gods, and abolish their names out of that place.

4 Do not so to the Lord your God.

Ye shall not do so vnto ye Lord your God,

5 But 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;

But ye shall seeke the place which the Lord your God shall chose out of all your tribes, to put his Name there, and there to dwell, and thither thou shalt come,

6 And 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;

And ye shall bring thither your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the offring of your hands, and your vowes, and your free offrings, and the first borne of your kine and of your sheepe.

7 There 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.

And there ye shall eate before the Lord your God, and ye shall reioyce in all that yee put your hand vnto, both ye, and your housholdes, because the Lord thy God hath blessed thee.

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

Ye shall not doe after all these things that we doe here this day: that is, euery man whatsoeuer seemeth him good in his owne eyes.

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

For ye are not yet come to rest, and to the inheritance which the Lord thy God giueth thee.

10 But 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;

But when ye goe ouer Iorden, and dwell in ye land, which the Lord your God hath giuen you to inherit, and when he hath giue you rest from al your enemies round about, and yee dwel in safetie,

11 Then 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;

When there shalbe a place which the Lord your God shall chose, to cause his name to dwell there, thither shall yee bring all that I commaund you: your burnt offrings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the offring of your hands, and all your speciall vowes which ye vowe vnto the Lord:

12 And 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.

And ye shall reioyce before the Lord your God, yee, and your sonnes and your daughters, and your seruaunts, and your maidens, and the Leuite that is within your gates: for hee hath no part nor inheritance with you.

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

Take heede that thou offer not thy burnt offrings in euery place that thou seest:

14 But 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.

But in ye place which the Lord shall chose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offrings, and there thou shalt doe all that I commaund thee.

15 Only 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.

Notwithstanding thou maiest kill and eate flesh in all thy gates, whatsoeuer thine heart desireth, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath giuen thee: both the vncleane and the cleane may eate thereof, as of the roe bucke, and of the hart.

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

Onely ye shall not eat the blood, but powre it vpon the earth as water.

17 In 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;

Thou maist nor eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corne, nor of thy wine, nor of thine oyle, nor the first borne of thy kine, nor of thy sheep, neither any of thy vowes which thou vowest, nor thy free offerings, nor the offering of thine hands,

18 But 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.

But thou shalt eate it before the Lord thy God, in the place which the Lord thy God shall chuse, thou, and thy sonne, and thy daughter, and thy seruat, and thy maid, and the Leuite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt reioyce before the Lord thy God, in all that thou puttest thine hand to.

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

Beware, that thou forsake not the Leuite, as long as thou liuest vpon the earth.

20 When 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.

When the Lord thy God shall enlarge thy border, as hee hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I wil eate flesh, (because thine heart longeth to eate flesh) thou maiest eate flesh, whatsoeuer thine heart desireth.

21 If 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.

If the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to put his Name there, be farre from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy bullockes, and of thy sheepe which the Lord hath giuen thee, as I haue commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates, whatsoeuer thine heart desireth.

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

Euen as the roe bucke, and the hart is eaten, so shalt thou eat them. both the vncleane and the cleane shall eate of them alike.

23 But 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.

Onely bee sure that thou eate not the blood: for the blood is the life, and thou maiest not eate the life with the flesh.

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

Therefore thou shalt not eat it, but powre it vpon the earth as water.

25 Do 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.

Thou shalt not eat it, that it may go well with thee; and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt doe that which is right in the sight of the Lord:

26 But 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:

But thine holy things which thou hast, and thy vowes thou shalt take vp, and come vnto the place which the Lord shall chuse.

27 Offering 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.

And thou shalt make thy burnt offerings of the flesh, and of the blood vpon the altar of the Lord thy God, and the blood of thine offerings shall bee powred vpon the altar of the Lord thy God, and thou shalt eate the flesh.

28 Take 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.

Take heede, and heare all these woordes which I commaund thee, that it may goe well with thee, and with thy children after thee for euer, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord thy God.

29 When 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;

When the Lord thy God shall destroy the nations before thee, whither thou goest to possesse them, and thou shalt possesse them and dwell in their lande,

30 After 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.

Beware, lest thou be taken in a snare after them, after that they be destroied before thee, and lest thou aske after their gods, saying, Howe did these nations serue their gods, that I may doe so likewise?

31 Do 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.

Thou shalt not doe so vnto the Lord thy God: for al abomination, which the Lord hateth, haue they done vnto their gods: for they haue burned both their sonnes and their daughters with fire to their gods.

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

Therefore whatsoeuer I command you, take heede you doe it: thou shalt put nothing thereto, nor take ought therefrom.