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

Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their elohim, upon the high mountains, and upon 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.

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 elohim, and destroy the names of them out of that place.

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

Ye shall not do so unto YHWH your Elohim.

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 unto the place which YHWH your Elohim shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:

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 thither 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 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.

And there ye shall eat before YHWH your Elohim, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein YHWH thy Elohim hath blessed thee.

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

Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.

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 ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which YHWH your Elohim giveth 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 ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which YHWH your Elohim giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;

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 shall be a place which YHWH your Elohim shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither 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 unto YHWH:

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 ye shall rejoice before YHWH your Elohim, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, 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 offer your holocausts in any place that you see.

Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:

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 which YHWH 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 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.

Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of YHWH thy Elohim which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.

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

Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as 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.

Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, 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 thine hand:

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 thou must eat them before YHWH thy Elohim in the place which YHWH thy Elohim shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before YHWH thy Elohim in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.

19 Be careful, lest you abandon the Levite, at any time while you are living in the 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 will have enlarged your borders, just as he has spoken to you, and when you would eat the flesh that your soul desires,

When YHWH thy Elohim 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, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.

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 which YHWH thy Elohim hath chosen to put his name there be too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which YHWH hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.

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.

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 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.

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

Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as 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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of YHWH thy Elohim.

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 YHWH thy Elohim shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;

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.’

Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their elohim, saying, How did these nations serve their elohim? even so will I do likewise.

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.

Thou shalt not do so unto YHWH thy Elohim: for every abomination to YHWH, which he hateth, have they done unto their elohim; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their elohim.

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

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