Deuteronomy 12:1-14:2

New King James Version

A Prescribed Place of Worship

12 “These ^(A)are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, ^(B)all^[a] the days that you live on the earth. ²^(C)You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, ^(D)on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. ³And ^(E)you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their ^[b]wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. ⁴You shall not ^(F)worship the Lord your God with such things.

⁵“But you shall seek the ^(G)place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His ^(H)dwelling^[c] place; and there you shall go. ⁶^(I)There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the ^(J)firstborn of your herds and flocks. ⁷And ^(K)there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and ^(L)you shall rejoice in ^[d]all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

⁸“You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—^(M)every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— ⁹for as yet you have not come to the ^(N)rest^[e] and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁰But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you ^(O)rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, ¹¹then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord. ¹²And ^(P)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the ^(Q)Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you. ¹³Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; ¹⁴but in the place which the Lord chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

¹⁵“However, ^(R)you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you; ^(S)the unclean and the clean may eat of it, ^(T)of the gazelle and the deer alike. ¹⁶^(U)Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water. ¹⁷You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or your new wine or your oil, of the firstborn of your herd or your flock, of any of your offerings which you vow, of your freewill offerings, or of the ^[f]heave offering of your hand. ¹⁸But you must eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God chooses, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in ^[g]all to which you put your hands. ¹⁹^[h]Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

²⁰“When the Lord your God ^(V)enlarges your border as He has promised you, and you say, ‘Let me eat meat,’ because you long to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires. ²¹If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from ^(W)you, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which the Lord has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires. ²²Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them. ²³Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, ^(X)for the blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat. ²⁴You shall not eat it; you shall pour it on the earth like water. ²⁵You shall not eat it, ^(Y)that it may go well with you and your children after you, ^(Z)when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord. ²⁶Only the ^(AA)holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the Lord chooses. ²⁷And ^(AB)you shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall eat the meat. ²⁸Observe and obey all these words which I command you, ^(AC)that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

Beware of False Gods

²⁹“When ^(AD)the Lord your God cuts off from before you the nations which you go to dispossess, and you displace them and dwell in their land, ³⁰take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ ³¹^(AE)You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every ^[i]abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for ^(AF)they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

³²“Whatever I command you, be careful to observe it; ^(AG)you shall not add to it nor take away from it.

Punishment of Apostates

13 “If there arises among you a prophet or a ^(AH)dreamer of dreams, ^(AI)and he gives you a sign or a wonder, ²and ^(AJ)the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’—which you have not known—‘and let us serve them,’ ³you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God ^(AK)is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴You shall ^(AL)walk^[j] after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and ^(AM)hold fast to Him. ⁵But ^(AN)that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken in order to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of bondage, to entice you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. ^(AO)So you shall ^[k]put away the evil from your midst.

⁶^(AP)“If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, ^(AQ)the wife ^[l]of your bosom, or your friend ^(AR)who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers, ⁷of the gods of the people which are all around you, near to you or far off from you, from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, ⁸you shall ^(AS)not ^[m]consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; ⁹but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to ^(AT)death, and afterward the hand of all the people. ¹⁰And you shall stone him with stones until he dies, because he sought to entice you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. ¹¹So all Israel shall hear and ^(AU)fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.

¹²^(AV)“If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the Lord your God gives you to dwell in, saying, ¹³^[n]‘Corrupt men have gone out from among you and enticed the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods” ’—which you have not known— ¹⁴then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an ^[o]abomination was committed among you, ¹⁵you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it, all that is in it and its livestock—with the edge of the sword. ¹⁶And you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and ^[p]completely ^(AW)burn with fire the city and all its plunder, for the Lord your God. It shall be ^(AX)a ^[q]heap forever; it shall not be built again. ¹⁷^(AY)So none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand, that the Lord may ^(AZ)turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and ^[r]multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers, ¹⁸because you have listened to the voice of the Lord your God, ^(BA)to keep all His commandments which I command you today, to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

Improper Mourning

14 “You are ^(BB)the children of the Lord your God; ^(BC)you shall not cut yourselves nor ^[s]shave the front of your head for the dead. ²^(BD)For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Footnotes

Deuteronomy 12:1 As long as
Deuteronomy 12:3 Heb. Asherim
Deuteronomy 12:5 home
Deuteronomy 12:7 all that you undertake
Deuteronomy 12:9 Or place of rest
Deuteronomy 12:17 contribution
Deuteronomy 12:18 all your undertakings
Deuteronomy 12:19 Be careful
Deuteronomy 12:31 detestable action
Deuteronomy 13:4 follow the Lord
Deuteronomy 13:5 exterminate
Deuteronomy 13:6 Whom you cherish
Deuteronomy 13:8 yield
Deuteronomy 13:13 Lit. Sons of Belial
Deuteronomy 13:14 detestable action
Deuteronomy 13:16 Or as a whole-offering
Deuteronomy 13:16 Lit. mound or ruin
Deuteronomy 13:17 increase
Deuteronomy 14:1 make any baldness between your eyes

Psalm 105

New King James Version

The Eternal Faithfulness of the Lord^(A)

105 Oh, ^(B)give thanks to the Lord!
Call upon His name;
^(C)Make known His deeds among the peoples!
²Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him;
^(D)Talk of all His wondrous works!
³Glory in His holy name;
Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!
⁴Seek the Lord and His strength;
^(E)Seek His face evermore!
⁵^(F)Remember His marvelous works which He has done,
His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth,
⁶O seed of Abraham His servant,
You children of Jacob, His chosen ones!

⁷He is the Lord our God;
^(G)His judgments are in all the earth.
⁸He ^(H)remembers His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations,
⁹^(I)The covenant which He made with Abraham,
And His oath to Isaac,
¹⁰And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute,
To Israel as an everlasting covenant,
¹¹Saying, ^(J)“To you I will give the land of Canaan
As the allotment of your inheritance,”
¹²^(K)When they were few in number,
Indeed very few, ^(L)and strangers in it.

¹³When they went from one nation to another,
From one kingdom to another people,
¹⁴^(M)He permitted no one to do them wrong;
Yes, ^(N)He rebuked kings for their sakes,
¹⁵Saying, “Do not touch My anointed ones,
And do My prophets no harm.”

¹⁶Moreover ^(O)He called for a famine in the land;
He destroyed all the ^(P)provision of bread.
¹⁷^(Q)He sent a man before them—
Joseph—who ^(R)was sold as a slave.
¹⁸^(S)They hurt his feet with fetters,
^[a]He was laid in irons.
¹⁹Until the time that his word came to pass,
^(T)The word of the Lord tested him.
²⁰^(U)The king sent and released him,
The ruler of the people let him go free.
²¹^(V)He made him lord of his house,
And ruler of all his possessions,
²²To ^[b]bind his princes at his pleasure,
And teach his elders wisdom.

²³^(W)Israel also came into Egypt,
And Jacob dwelt ^(X)in the land of Ham.
²⁴^(Y)He increased His people greatly,
And made them stronger than their enemies.
²⁵^(Z)He turned their heart to hate His people,
To deal craftily with His servants.

²⁶^(AA)He sent Moses His servant,
And Aaron whom He had chosen.
²⁷They ^(AB)performed His signs among them,
And wonders in the land of Ham.
²⁸He sent darkness, and made it dark;
And they did not rebel against His word.
²⁹^(AC)He turned their waters into blood,
And killed their fish.
³⁰^(AD)Their land abounded with frogs,
Even in the chambers of their kings.
³¹^(AE)He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
And lice in all their territory.
³²^(AF)He gave them hail for rain,
And flaming fire in their land.
³³^(AG)He struck their vines also, and their fig trees,
And splintered the trees of their territory.
³⁴^(AH)He spoke, and locusts came,
Young locusts without number,
³⁵And ate up all the vegetation in their land,
And devoured the fruit of their ground.
³⁶^(AI)He also ^[c]destroyed all the firstborn in their land,
^(AJ)The first of all their strength.

³⁷^(AK)He also brought them out with silver and gold,
And there was none feeble among His tribes.
³⁸^(AL)Egypt was glad when they departed,
For the fear of them had fallen upon them.
³⁹^(AM)He spread a cloud for a covering,
And fire to give light in the night.
⁴⁰^(AN)The people asked, and He brought quail,
And ^(AO)satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
⁴¹^(AP)He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
It ran in the dry places like a river.

⁴²For He remembered ^(AQ)His holy promise,
And Abraham His servant.
⁴³He brought out His people with joy,
His chosen ones with ^[d]gladness.
⁴⁴^(AR)He gave them the lands of the ^[e]Gentiles,
And they inherited the labor of the nations,
⁴⁵^(AS)That they might observe His statutes
And keep His laws.