Deuteronomy - Chapter 12

¹ 'Now, these are the laws and customs which you must keep in the country which Yahweh, God of your ancestors, is giving you as yours, and which you must observe every day that you live in that country.

² 'You must completely destroy all the places where the nations you dispossess have served their gods, on high mountains, on hills, under any spreading tree;

³ you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, burn their sacred poles, hack to bits the statues of their gods and obliterate their name from that place.

⁴ 'Not so must you behave towards Yahweh your God.

⁵ You must seek Yahweh your God in the place which he will choose from all your tribes, there to set his name and give it a home: that is where you must go.

⁶ That is where you must bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and offerings held high, your votive offerings and your voluntary offerings, and the first-born of your herd and flock;

⁷ and that is where you must eat in the presence of Yahweh your God, rejoicing over your labours, you and your households, because Yahweh your God has blessed you.

⁸ 'You must not behave as we are behaving here today, each of you doing what he himself sees fit,

⁹ since you have not yet come to the resting place and the heritage that Yahweh your God is going to give you.

¹⁰ You are about to cross the Jordan and live in the country given you by Yahweh your God as your heritage; he will grant you peace from all the enemies surrounding you, and you will live in safety.

¹¹ To the place chosen by Yahweh your God as a home for his name, to that place you must bring all the things that I am laying down for you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and offerings held high, and all the best of your possessions dedicated by you to Yahweh.

¹² That is where you will rejoice in the presence of Yahweh your God, you and your sons and daughters, your serving men and women, and the Levite living in your community since he has no share or heritage of his own among you.

¹³ 'Take care you do not offer your burnt offerings in all the sacred places you see;

¹⁴ only in the place that Yahweh chooses in one of your tribes may you offer your burnt offerings and do all the things which I have commanded you.

¹⁵ 'This notwithstanding, and whenever you wish, you may slaughter and eat meat wherever you live -- as much as the blessing of Yahweh affords you. Clean or unclean may eat it, as though it were gazelle or deer.

¹⁶ You will not, however, eat the blood, but will pour that like water on the ground.

¹⁷ 'You must not eat the tithe of your wheat, of your new wine or of your oil, or the first-born of your herd or flock, or any of your votive offerings or voluntary offerings, or your offerings held high to Yahweh, at home.

¹⁸ You must eat these in the presence of Yahweh your God in the place Yahweh your God chooses and there alone, you, your son and your daughter, your serving man and serving woman, and the Levite living in your community, expressing your joy in all your labours in the presence of Yahweh your God.

¹⁹ As long as you live on your soil, be careful not to neglect the Levite.

²⁰ 'When Yahweh your God enlarges your territory as he has promised you, and you say, "I should like to eat meat," if you want to eat meat you may eat as much as you like.

²¹ If the place in which Yahweh your God chooses to set his name is too far away, you may slaughter any of your herd or flock that Yahweh has given you, as I have prescribed for you; you may eat as much of it as you please at home.

²² But you must eat it as you would gazelle or deer; clean and unclean may eat it together.

²³ Take care, however, not to eat the blood, since blood is life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.

²⁴ You must not eat it, but must pour it like water on the ground.

²⁵ You must not eat it -- so that you, and your children after you, may prosper, doing what is right in Yahweh's eyes.

²⁶ But the holy things of yours and the things which you have dedicated, you must go and take to the place chosen by Yahweh.

²⁷ The burnt offerings of meat and blood must be presented on the altar of Yahweh your God; whereas, in your sacrifices, the blood must be poured on the altar of Yahweh your God; the meat you yourselves may eat.

²⁸ Faithfully keep and obey all these orders which I am giving you, so that you and your children after you may prosper for ever, doing what is good and right in the eyes of Yahweh your God.

²⁹ 'When Yahweh your God has annihilated the nations confronting you, whom you are going to dispossess, and when you have dispossessed them and made your home in their country,

³⁰ beware of being entrapped into copying them, after they have been destroyed to make way for you, and do not enquire about their gods, saying, "How did these nations worship their gods? I am going to do the same too."

³¹ This is not the way to treat Yahweh your God. For in honour of their gods they have done everything detestable that Yahweh hates; yes, in honour of their gods, they even burn their own sons and daughters as sacrifices!'

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