Deuteronomy — Chapter 12

These are the laws and rules that you must carefully observe in the land that the ETERNAL, God of your ancestors, is giving you to possess, as long as you live on earth.

You must destroy all the sites at which the nations you are to dispossess worshiped their gods, whether on lofty mountains and on hills or under any luxuriant tree.

Tear down their altars, smash their pillars, put their sacred postsasacred posts See note at 7.5. to the fire, and cut down the images of their gods, obliterating their name from that site.

Do not worship the ETERNAL your God in like manner,

but look only to the site that the ETERNAL your God will choose amidst all your tribes as God’s habitation, to establish the divine name there. There youbyou Addressing each head of a household with a patrimony, or his wife if he is unavailable; cf. vv. 12, 18. are to go,

and there you are to bring your burnt offerings and other sacrifices, your tithes and contributions,cyour…contributions Lit. “the contribution(s) of your hands.” your votive and freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and flocks.

Together with your households, you shall feast there before the ETERNAL your God, happy in all the undertakings in which the ETERNAL your God has blessed you.

You shall not act at all as we now act here, everyonedeveryone I.e., every householder. as they please,

because you have not yet come to the allotted haven that the ETERNAL your God is giving you.

When you cross the Jordan and settle in the land that the ETERNAL your God is allotting to you, and you are granted safety from all your enemies around you and you live in security,

then you must bring everything that I command you to the site where the ETERNAL your God will choose to establish the divine name: your burnt offerings and other sacrifices, your tithes and contributions,eyour…contributions See note at v. 6. and all the choice votive offerings that you vow to GOD.

And youfyou See note at v. 5. shall rejoice before the ETERNAL your God with your sons and daughters and with your male and female slaves, along with the Levitegthe Levite I.e., he and his household. in your settlements, for he has no territorial allotment among you.

Take care not to sacrifice your burnt offerings in any place you like,

but only in the place that GOD will choose in one of your tribal territories. There youhyou See note at v. 5. shall sacrifice your burnt offerings and there you shall observe all that I enjoin upon you.

But whenever you desire, you may slaughter and eat meat in any of your settlements, according to the blessing that the ETERNAL your God has granted you. The impure and the pure alike may partake of it, as of the gazelle and the deer.igazelle…deer I.e., animals that may be eaten (cf. 14.5; Lev. 11.1ff.), but not sacrificed (Lev. 1.1ff.).

But you must not partake of the blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

You may not partake in your settlements of the tithes of your new grain or wine or oil, or of the firstlings of your herds and flocks, or of any of the votive offerings that you vow, or of your freewill offerings, or of your contributions.jyour contributions See note at v. 6.

These you must consume before the ETERNAL your God in the place that the ETERNAL your God will choose—youkyou See note at v. 5. and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levitelthe Levite See the second note at v. 12. in your settlements—happy before the ETERNAL your God in all your undertakings.

Be sure not to neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.

When GOD enlarges your territory, as promised, and you say, “I shall eat some meat,” for you have the urge to eat meat, you may eat meat whenever you wish.

If the place where GOD has chosen to establish the divine name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of the cattle or sheep that GOD gives you, as I have instructed you; and you may eat to your heart’s content in your settlements.

Eat it, however, as the gazelle and the deer are eaten: the impure may eat it together with the pure.

But make sure that you do not partake of the blood; for the blood is the life, and you must not consume the life with the flesh.

You must not partake of it; you must pour it out on the ground like water:

you must not partake of it, in order that it may go well with you and with your descendants to come, for you will be doing what is right in GOD’s sight.

But such sacred and votive donations as you may have shall be taken by youmshall be taken by you Lit. “you shall pick up and come.” to the site that GOD will choose.

YounYou See note at v. 5. shall offer your burnt offerings, both the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the ETERNAL your God; and of your other sacrifices, the blood shall be poured out on the altar of the ETERNAL your God, and you shall eat the flesh.

Be careful to heed all these commandments that I enjoin upon you; thus it will go well with you and with your descendants after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the ETERNAL your God.

When the ETERNAL your God has cut down before you the nations that you are about to enter and dispossess, and you have dispossessed them and settled in their land,

beware of being lured into their ways after they have been wiped out before you! Do not inquire about their gods, saying, “How did those nations worship their gods? I too will follow those practices.”

You shall not act thus toward the ETERNAL your God, for they perform for their gods every abhorrent act that GOD detests; they even offer up their sons and daughters in fire to their gods.