The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Deuteronomy 12
1 These are the statutes and the ordinances which you shall observe to do in
the land which Yahweh, the God of your
fathers, has given you to possess all the
days that you live on the earth.
2 You shall surely destroy allthe 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 You shall break down their altars, dash
their pillars in pieces, and burn their
Asherah poles with fire. You shall cut
down the engraved images of their gods.
You shall destroy their name out of that
place.
4 You shall not do so to Yahweh your God.
5 But to the place which Yahweh your
God shall choose out of all your tribes,
to put his name there, you shall seek his
habitation, and you shall come there.
6 You shall bring your burnt offerings,
your sacrifices, your tithes, the wave offering of your hand, your vows, your free will
offerings, and the firstborn of your herd
and of your flock there.
7 There youshall eatbeforeYahwehyour
God, and you shall rejoice in all that you
put your hand to, you and your households, in which Yahweh your God has
blessed you.
8 Youshallnot do allthe things that we do
here today, every man whatever is right in
his own eyes;
9 for you haven’t yet come to the rest and
to the inheritance which Yahweh your God
gives you.
10 But when you go over the Jordan and
dwell in the land which Yahweh your God
causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest
from all your enemies around you, so that
you dwell in safety,
11 then it shall happen that to the place
which Yahweh your God shall choose,
to cause his name to dwell there, there
you shall bring all that I command you:
your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your
tithes, the wave offering of your hand, and
all your choice vows which you vow to
Yahweh.
12 You shall rejoice before Yahweh your
God—you, and your sons, your daughters,
your male servants, your female servants,
and the Levite who is within your gates,
because he has no portion nor inheritance
with you.
13 Be careful that you don’t offer your
burnt offerings in every place that you see;
14 but in the place which Yahweh
chooses in one of your tribes, there you
shall offer your burnt offerings, and there
you shall do all that I command you.
15 Yet you may kill and eat meat within
all your gates, after all the desire of your
soul, according to Yahweh your God’s
blessing which he has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the
gazelle and the deer.
16 Only you shall not eat the blood. You
shall pour it out on the earth like water.
17 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 free will offerings, nor
the wave offering of your hand;
18 but you shall eat them before Yahweh
your God in the place which Yahweh your
God shall choose: you, your son, your
daughter, your male servant, your female
servant, and the Levite who is within your
gates. You shall rejoice before Yahweh
your God in all that you put your hand to.
19 Be careful that you don’t forsake the
Levite as long as you live in your land.
20 WhenYahweh your God enlarges your
border, as he has promised you, and you
say, “I wantto eat meat,” because your soul
desires to eatmeat, youmay eatmeat, after
all the desire of your soul.
21 If the place which Yahweh your God
shall choose to put his name is too far from
you, then you shall kill of your herd and of
your flock, which Yahweh has given you,
as I have commanded you; and you may
eat within your gates, after all the desire of
your soul.
22 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 be sure that you don’t eat the
blood;for the blood is the life. You shallnot
eat the life with the meat.
24 You shall not eat it. You shall pour it
out on the earth like water.
25 You shall not eat it, that it may go
well with you and with your children after
you, when you do that which is right in
Yahweh’s eyes.
26Only your holy things which you have,
and your vows, you shall take and go to the
place which Yahweh shall choose.
27 You shall offer your burnt offerings,
the meat and the blood, on Yahweh your
God’s altar. The blood of your sacrifices
shall be poured out on Yahweh your God’s
altar, and you shall eat the meat.
28 Observe and hear 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 Yahweh your God’s eyes.
29 When Yahweh your God cuts off the
nations frombefore you where yougo into
dispossess them, and you dispossess them
and dwell in their land,
30 be carefulthat you are not ensnared to
follow them after 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 do so to Yahweh your
God; for every abomination to Yahweh,
which he hates, they have done to their
gods; for they even burn their sons and
their daughters in the fire to their gods.
32 Whatever thing I command you, that
you shall observe to do. You shall not add
to it, nor take away from it.