Deuteronomy 12

1 “These are the precepts and judgments which you must do in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, will give to you, so that you may possess it during all the days that you shall walk upon the soil.

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.

2 Overturn all the places where the nations, which you will possess, worshipped their gods on lofty mountains, and on hills, and under every leafy tree.

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:

3 Scatter their altars and break their statues. Burn their sacred groves with fire and crush their idols. Abolish their names from those places.

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.

4 But you shall not do the same to the Lord your God.

Do not so to the Lord your God.

5 Instead, you shall approach the place which the Lord your God will choose among all your tribes, so that he may set his name there, and may dwell in that place.

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;

6 And you shall offer, in that place, your holocausts and victims, the tithes and first-fruits of your hands, and your vows and gifts, the firstborn of the cattle and of the sheep.

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;

7 And you shall eat it there, in the sight of the Lord your God. And you shall rejoice in all the things to which you shall set your hand: you and your household, which the Lord your God has blessed for you.

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.

8 You shall not do there the things that we are doing here today: each one doing what seems good to himself.

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:

9 For even until the present time, you did not arrive at the rest and the possession, which the Lord your God will give to you.

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

10 You shall cross over the Jordan, and you shall live in the land which the Lord your God will give to you, so that you may have rest from all the surrounding enemies, and so that you may live without any fear,

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;

11 in the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may be in it. To that place, you shall bring all the things that I instruct you: holocausts, and victims, and tithes, and the first-fruits of your hands, and whatever is best among the gifts that you shall vow to the Lord.

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;

12 In that place, you shall feast before the Lord your God: you, and your sons and daughters, your men and women servants, as well as the Levite who dwells in your cities. For he has no other portion or possession among you.

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.

13 Take care that you do not offer your holocausts in any place that you see.

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

14 Instead, you shall offer sacrifices in the place which the Lord will choose within one of your tribes, and you shall do whatsoever I instruct you.

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.

15 So, if you wish to eat, and if the eating of flesh pleases you, then kill and eat according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which he has given to you, in your cities: you may eat it whether it is unclean, that is, having blemish or defect, or whether it is clean, that is, whole and without blemish, of the kind which is permitted to be offered, such as the roe deer and the stag.

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.

16 Only the blood you shall not eat. Instead, you shall pour it upon the ground like water.

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

17 You may not eat in your towns the tithes of your crops, and your wine and oil, the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, nor anything which you will vow, or which you will offer spontaneously, nor the first-fruits of your hands.

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;

18 But you shall eat these before the Lord your God, in the place which the Lord your God will choose: you, and your son, and your daughter, and your man servant and woman servant, and the Levite who dwells in your cities. And you shall rejoice and be refreshed in the sight of the Lord your God by all the things to which you will extend your hand.

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.

19 Be careful, lest you abandon the Levite, at any time while you are living in the land.

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

20 When the Lord your God will have enlarged your borders, just as he has spoken to you, and when you would eat the flesh that your soul desires,

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.

21 but if the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may be there, is far away, you may kill, from your herds and your flocks which you will have, in the manner I have instructed to you, and you may eat in your towns, as it pleases you.

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.

22 Just as the roe deer and the stag may be eaten, so also may you eat these: you may eat both the clean and the unclean alike.

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

23 Only beware of this: you may not eat the blood. For their blood is for the soul. And because of this, you must not eat the soul with the flesh.

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.

24 Instead, you shall pour it upon the ground like water,

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

25 so that it may be well with you, and with your sons after you, when you will do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord.

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.

26 But the things that you have sanctified and vowed to the Lord, you shall take up and bring to the place which the Lord will choose.

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:

27 And you shall offer your oblations of flesh and of blood upon the altar of the Lord your God. You shall poor out the blood of your victims upon the altar. And you yourself shall eat the flesh.

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.

28 Observe and heed all the things that I instruct to you, so that it may be well with you, and with your sons after you, continually, when you will do what is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord your God.

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.

29 When the Lord your God will have abolished before your face the nations, which you shall enter so as to possess them, and when you will possess them and live in their land,

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;

30 be careful that you do not imitate them, after they have been overturned at your arrival, and that you do not seek their ceremonies, saying: ‘Just as these nations have worshipped their gods, so also will I worship.’

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.

31 You shall not act in like manner toward the Lord your God. For they have done to their gods all the abominations that the Lord spurns, offering their sons and daughters, and burning them with fire.

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.

32 What I command to you, this only shall you do, for the Lord. You may neither add nor subtract anything.”

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