Deuteronomy 12
Open in the reader1These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to follow all the days you live in the land that He-Who-Is, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess.
2Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.
3Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.
4You shall not worship He-Who-Is your God in this way.
5Instead, you must seek the place He-Who-Is your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.
6To that place you are to bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and heave offerings, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, as well as the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
7There, in the presence of He-Who-Is your God, you and your households shall eat and rejoice in all you do, because He-Who-Is your God has blessed you.
8You are not to do as we are doing here today, where everyone does what seems right in his own eyes.
9For you have not yet come to the resting place and the inheritance that He-Who-Is your God is giving you.
10When you cross the Descender and live in the land that He-Who-Is your God is giving you as an inheritance, and He gives you rest from all the enemies around you and you dwell securely,
11then He-Who-Is your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to He-Who-Is.
12And you shall rejoice before He-Who-Is your God—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Joined-One within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.
13Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in just any place you see;
14you must offer them only in the place He-Who-Is will choose in one of your tribal territories, and there you shall do all that I command you.
15But whenever you want, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, according to the blessing He-Who-Is your God has given you. Both the ceremonially clean and unclean may eat it as they would a gazelle or deer,
16but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
17Within your gates you must not eat the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, the firstborn of your herds or flocks, any of the offerings that you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts.
18Instead, you must eat them in the presence of He-Who-Is your God at the place He-Who-Is your God will choose—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Joined-One within your gates. Rejoice before He-Who-Is your God in all you do,
19and be careful not to neglect the Joined-Ones as long as you live in your land.
20When He-Who-Is your God expands your territory as He has promised, and you crave meat and say, “I want to eat meat,” you may eat it whenever you want.
21If the place where He-Who-Is your God chooses to put His Name is too far from you, then you may slaughter any of the herd or flock He-Who-Is has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want.
22Indeed, you may eat it as you would eat a gazelle or deer; both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it.
23Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.
24You must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
25Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of He-Who-Is.
26But you are to take your devoted things and your vow offerings and go to the place He-Who-Is will choose.
27Present the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of He-Who-Is your God. The blood of your other sacrifices must be poured out beside the altar of He-Who-Is your God, but you may eat the meat.
28Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of He-Who-Is your God.
29When He-Who-Is your God cuts off before you the nations you are entering to dispossess, and you drive them out and live in their land,
30be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.”
31You must not worship He-Who-Is your God in this way, because they practice for their gods every abomination which He-Who-Is hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.