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 statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in the land, which the LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon 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:

Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, in which the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green 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.

And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

4 Do not so to the Lord your God.

Ye shall not do so to the 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 the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even his habitation shall ye seek, and there 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 there ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:

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 eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand to, ye and your households, in which 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 do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatever is right in his own 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 as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the LORD your God giveth you.

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 go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies on every side, so that ye dwell in safety;

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;

Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; there shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow to 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 rejoice before the LORD your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your male and female servants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.

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

Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every 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 the place which the LORD shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command 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.

However thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatever thy soul desireth, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.

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

Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon 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 mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy grain, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave offering of thy hand:

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 must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy male servant, and thy female servant, and the Levite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands to.

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

Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon 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 he hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, whatever thy soul 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 shall be too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which the LORD hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates whatever thy soul desireth.

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

Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat them: the unclean and the clean shall eat 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.

Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.

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

Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon 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 be well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do 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:

Only thy holy things which thou hast, and thy vows, thou shalt take, and go to the place which the LORD shall choose:

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 offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the LORD thy God: and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the LORD thy God, and thou shalt eat 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.

Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may be well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, 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 cut off the nations from before thee, where thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;

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.

Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they are destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do 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 do so to the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the 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.

Whatever thing I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add to it, nor diminish from it.