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 the ordinances which you shall observe to do in the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess it, all the days that you live on 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.

You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains, and on 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 you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods; and you shall destroy their name out of that place.

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

You shall not do 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 to the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even to his habitation you shall seek, and there you shall 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 there you shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the wave offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock:

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 you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.

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

You shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatever 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 you haven't yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the LORD your God gives 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 go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies around you, so that you 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 it shall happen that to the place which the LORD your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the wave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to your God.

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.

You shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you, and your sons, and your daughters, and your male servants, and your female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you.

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

Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that 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 which the LORD shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

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, you may kill and eat flesh within all your gates, after all the desire of your soul, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which he has given you: the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle, and as of the deer.

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

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

You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, or of your new wine, or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your freewill offerings, nor the wave offering of your 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 you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God shall choose, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male servant, and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates: and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all that you put your hand to.

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

Be careful that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live 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 shall enlarge your border, as he has promised you, and you shall say, "I want to eat meat," because your soul desires to eat meat; you may eat meat, after all the desire of your soul.

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 the LORD your God shall choose to put his name there is too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock, which God has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates, after all the desire of your soul.

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 gazelle and as the deer is eaten, so you shall eat of it: the unclean and the clean may eat of it 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 you do not eat the blood: for the blood is the life; and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.

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

You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on 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.

You shall not eat it; that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, when you shall do that which 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.

Only your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take, and go to the place which the LORD 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 you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God; and you shall 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 and do all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you forever, when you do that which 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 LORD your God shall cut off the nations from before you, where you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them, and dwell 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 yourself that you not be ensnared to follow them, after that they are destroyed from before you; and that you not inquire after their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? I will 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.

You shall not do so to the LORD your God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hates, have they done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters do they burn 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.”

Whatever thing I command you, that you shall observe to do: you shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it.