Deuteronomy 12
1 “(I will now tell you again/These, [again], are) the rules and regulations that you must faithfully obey in the land that Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors [worshiped], is giving to you to occupy. You must obey these laws all the time that you are alive.
“These [are] the statutes and the judgments which you observe to do in the land which YHWH, God of your fathers, has given to you to possess it, all the days that you are living on the ground.
2 You must destroy all the places where the people-groups that you will expel worship their gods, on the tops of mountains and hills and under big green trees.
You utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you are dispossessing served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the heights, and under every green tree;
3 You must tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. Completely burn the statues of their goddess Asherah in fires, and chop down their wooden idols, in order that no one will ever worship them [MTY] in those places again.
and you have broken down their altars, and shattered their standing pillars, and you burn their Asherim with fire, and you cut down carved images of their gods, and have destroyed their name out of that place.
4 “Do not worship Yahweh like [the people in Canaan worship their gods].
You do not do so to your God YHWH;
5 Instead, you must go to the place that Yahweh will choose. It will be in the area where one of your tribes will live. That is where you must go to worship Yahweh.
rather—that you seek after the place which your God YHWH chooses out of all your tribes to put His Name there, for His Dwelling Place, and you have entered there,
6 That is the place where you must bring your sacrifices that will be completely burned on the altar, and your other sacrifices, (your tithes/ten percent of all of your crops), other offerings that you decide to give, and the firstborn animals from your cattle and sheep.
and have brought in there your burnt-offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the raised-offering of your hand, and your vows, and your free-will offerings, and the firstlings of your herd and of your flock;
7 There, in the presence of Yahweh our God, who has [greatly] blessed you, you and your families will eat the good things that you have worked to produce, and you will be happy.
and you have eaten there before your God YHWH, and have rejoiced in every putting forth of your hand, you and your households, with which your God YHWH has blessed you.
8 “[When you are in that land], you must not do some of the things that we have been doing. Until now, you have all been worshiping [Yahweh] the way you wanted to,
You do not do according to all that we are doing here today—each [doing] anything that is right in his own eyes—
9 because you have not yet arrived in the land which Yahweh is giving to you, where you will be able to live peacefully.
for until now you have not come to the rest and to the inheritance which your God YHWH is giving to you.
10 But when you cross the Jordan [River], you will start to live in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you. He will protect you from all your enemies that will surround you, and you will live peacefully/safely.
When you have passed over the Jordan, and have dwelt in the land which your God YHWH is causing you to inherit, and He has given rest to you from all your surrounding enemies, and you have dwelt confidently,
11 “Yahweh will choose one place where he wants you to worship him. That is the place to which you must bring all the offerings that I command you to bring: The sacrifices that must be completely burned [on the altar], your other sacrifices, other offerings that you yourselves decide to give, (your tithes/ten percent of all your crops), and all the special offerings that you will solemnly promise to give to Yahweh.
then it has been, the place on which your God YHWH fixes to cause His Name to dwell there, there you bring in all that which I am commanding you: your burnt-offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the raised-offering of your hand, and all the choice of your vows which you vow to YHWH.
12 Rejoice there in the presence of Yahweh, along with your children, your male and female servants, and the descendants of Levi who live in your towns. Do not forget that the descendants of Levi will not have their own land, like you will have.
And you have rejoiced before your God YHWH, you, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your handmaids, and the Levite who [is] within your gates, for he has no part and inheritance with you.
13 Be sure that you do not offer sacrifices anywhere you want to.
Take heed to yourself lest you cause your burnt-offerings to ascend in any place which you see;
14 You must offer them only in the place that Yahweh will choose for you, in an area that belongs to one of your tribes. That is the only place where he wants you to offer sacrifices that will be completely burned [on the altar], and to do the other things that I am commanding you to do [when you worship him].
rather—that in the place which YHWH chooses in one of your tribes, there you cause your burnt-offerings to ascend, and there you do all that which I am commanding you.
15 “However, you will be permitted to kill and eat the meat of your animals in the places where you live. As often as you want to, you may eat the meat of the animals that Yahweh our God will bless you by giving them to you. Those who have done things that cause them to become unacceptable to God and those who have not done things like that may all eat that meat, just like you would eat the meat of a deer or an antelope.
Nevertheless, you slaughter anything of the desire of your soul, and have eaten [its] flesh according to the blessing of your God YHWH which He has given to you in all your gates; the unclean and the clean eat it, as [if] the roe and as [if] the deer.
16 But you must not eat the blood [of any animals]; you must let the blood drain onto the ground [before you cook the meat].
Only, you do not eat the blood—you pour it on the earth as water;
17 In the places where you live, you must not eat the things that you are offering [to Yahweh]: You must not eat the (tithes/ten percent) of your grain or of your wine, or of your [olive] oil, or the firstborn of your cattle and sheep, or the offerings that you yourselves decide to give to Yahweh, or any other offerings.
you are not able to eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, and of your new wine, and your oil, and the firstlings of your herd and of your flock, and any of your vows which you vow, and your free-will offerings, and a raised-offering of your hand;
18 Instead, you and your children and your male and female servants and the descendants of Levi who live in your towns must go to the place that he has chosen and eat those things there in the presence of Yahweh. And you should rejoice in the presence of Yahweh about everything that you do.
but you eat it before your God YHWH in the place which your God YHWH fixes on, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your handmaid, and the Levite who [is] within your gates, and you have rejoiced before your God YHWH in every putting forth of your hand;
19 Be sure that you take care of the descendants of Levi all during the time that you live in your land.
take heed to yourself lest you forsake the Levite [for] all your days on your ground.
20 “When Yahweh our God gives you much more land [than you will have when you first occupy it], which is what he has promised to do, and you say ‘I would like some meat to eat’ because you are craving/wanting some meat, you will be permitted to eat meat whenever you want to.
When your God YHWH enlarges your border, as He has spoken to you, and you have said, Let me eat flesh—for your soul desires to eat flesh—you eat flesh of all the desire of your soul.
21 If the place that Yahweh our God chooses to be the place for you to worship him is far [from where you live], you are permitted to kill some of your cattle or sheep that Yahweh has given to you, and you may eat that meat at the places where you live, just like I have told you to do.
When the place is far from you [in] which your God YHWH chooses to put His Name there, then you have sacrificed from your herd and from your flock which YHWH has given to you, as I have commanded you, and have eaten within your gates, of all the desire of your soul;
22 Those who have done things that cause them to become unacceptable to God, and those who have not done things like that, are all permitted to all eat that meat, just like you would eat the meat of a deer or an antelope.
only, as the roe and the deer is eaten, so do you eat it; the unclean and the clean alike eat it.
23 But be sure that you do not eat the blood [of any animal], because it is the blood that sustains life in living beings, and so you must not eat the life along with the meat.
Only, be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood [is] the life, and you do not eat the life with the flesh;
24 Do not eat the blood; instead, let it drain onto the ground.
you do not eat it—you pour it on the earth as water;
25 If you obey this command and do what Yahweh says is right [for you to do], things will go well for you and for your descendants.
you do not eat it, in order that it may be well with you and with your sons after you when you do that which [is] right in the eyes of YHWH.
26 “But the sacred offerings that Yahweh has told you to give and the other offerings that you yourselves decide to give, you must take to the place that Yahweh will choose.
Only, your holy things which you have, and your vows, you take up, and have gone to the place which YHWH chooses,
27 You must offer there the sacrifices that will be completely burned [on Yahweh’s altar]. You must also offer there the sacrifices from which you may eat some of meat after you [kill the animals and] drain out the blood and some of it is thrown on the [sides of the] altar.
and you have made your burnt-offerings—the flesh and the blood—on the altar of your God YHWH; and the blood of your sacrifices is poured out by the altar of your God YHWH, and you eat the flesh.
28 Faithfully obey all these things that I have commanded you. If you do that, things will go well forever for you and your descendants, because you will be doing what Yahweh our God says is right [for you to do] and what pleases him.
Observe, and you have obeyed all these words which I am commanding you, in order that it may be well with you and with your sons after you for all time, when you do that which [is] good and right in the eyes of your God YHWH.
29 “When you enter the land that you will occupy, as you advance, Yahweh our God will get rid of the people-groups that live there.
When your God YHWH cuts off the nations—to where you are going in to possess them—from your presence, and you have possessed them, and have dwelt in their land—
30 After he does that, be sure that you do not [worship the gods] that they have been worshiping, because if you do that, you will be caught in the same trap [that they were caught in] [MET]. Do not ask anyone about those gods, saying, ‘Tell me how they worshiped their gods, in order that I can [worship them] also.’
take heed to yourself lest you are ensnared after them, after their being destroyed out of your presence, and lest you inquire about their gods, saying, How do these nations serve their gods, that I also do so?
31 Do not try to worship Yahweh our God like they have worshiped their gods, because when they worship them, they do disgusting things, things that Yahweh hates. [The worst thing that they do is] that they sacrifice their own children and burn them [on their altars].
You do not do so to your God YHWH; for every abomination that YHWH has hated they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters with fire for their gods.
32 “Be sure to do everything that I have commanded you to do. Do not add anything to these commands, and do not take anything away from them.”
The whole thing which I am commanding you, you observe to do it; you do not add to it, nor diminish from it.”
