Deuteronomy 12
New American Standard Bible
Laws of the Sanctuary
12 “These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully [a]follow in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess [b](A)as long as you live on the [c]earth. 2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you are going to dispossess serve their gods, on the (B)high mountains, on the hills, and under every leafy tree. 3 And (C)you shall tear down their altars and smash their memorial stones to pieces, and burn their [d]Asherim in the fire, and cut to pieces the carved images of their gods; and you shall (D)eliminate their name from that place. 4 You shall not act this way toward the Lord your God. 5 (E)But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and you shall come there. 6 You shall bring there your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, (F)your tithes, the [e]contribution of your hand, your vowed offerings, your [f]voluntary offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7 There you and your households shall eat before the Lord your God, and (G)rejoice in all [g]your undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
8 “You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, (H)everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes; 9 for you have not as yet come to (I)the resting place and the (J)inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. 10 When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and (K)He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security, 11 (L)then it shall come about that the place in which the Lord your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring everything that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the [h]contribution of your hand, and all your choice vowed offerings which you will vow to the Lord. 12 And you shall (M)rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the (N)Levite who is within your gates, since (O)he has no portion or inheritance with you.
13 “(P)Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in any cultic place that you see, 14 but only in the place which the Lord chooses in one of your tribes: there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do everything that I command you.
15 “(Q)However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, [i]whatever you desire, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as (R)the gazelle and the deer. 16 (S)Only you shall not eat the blood; (T)you are to pour it out on the ground like water. 17 (U)You are not allowed to eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, new wine, or oil, or the firstborn of your herd or flock, or any of your vowed offerings which you vow, or your [j]voluntary offerings, or the [k]contribution of your hand. 18 But (V)you shall eat them before the Lord your God in (W)the place which the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and daughter, and your male and female slaves, and the (X)Levite who is within your gates; and you shall (Y)rejoice before the Lord your God in all [l]your undertakings. 19 (Z)Be careful that you do not abandon the Levite [m]as long as you live in your land.
20 “When the Lord your God extends your border (AA)as He has [n]promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because [o]you desire to eat meat, then you may eat meat, [p]whatever you desire. 21 If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter animals from your herd and flock which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates [q]whatever you desire. 22 Just as a gazelle or a deer is eaten, so you may eat it; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it. 23 Only be sure (AB)not to eat the blood, for the blood is the [r]life, and you shall not eat the [s]life with the flesh. 24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water. 25 You shall not eat it, so that (AC)it may go well for you and your sons after you, since (AD)you will be doing what is right in the sight of the Lord. 26 (AE)Only your holy things which you may have and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the Lord chooses. 27 And (AF)you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh 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 (AG)you shall eat the flesh.
28 “Be careful and listen to all these words which I am commanding you, so that (AH)it may go well for you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
29 “When (AI)the Lord your God cuts off from you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and live in their land, 30 be careful that you are not ensnared [t]to follow them, after they are destroyed from your presence, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’ 31 (AJ)You shall not behave this way toward the Lord your God, because every abominable act which the Lord hates, they have done for their gods; for (AK)they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods.
32 “[u](AL)Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; (AM)you shall not add to nor take anything away from it.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 12:1 Lit perform
- Deuteronomy 12:1 Lit all the days
- Deuteronomy 12:1 Lit ground
- Deuteronomy 12:3 I.e., wooden symbols of a female deity (Asherah)
- Deuteronomy 12:6 Or uplifted offering
- Deuteronomy 12:6 Or freewill offerings
- Deuteronomy 12:7 Lit the putting forth of your hand
- Deuteronomy 12:11 Or uplifted offering
- Deuteronomy 12:15 Lit in every desire of your soul
- Deuteronomy 12:17 Or freewill offerings
- Deuteronomy 12:17 Or uplifted offering
- Deuteronomy 12:18 Lit the putting forth of your hand
- Deuteronomy 12:19 Lit all your days upon your land
- Deuteronomy 12:20 Lit spoken to
- Deuteronomy 12:20 Lit your soul desires
- Deuteronomy 12:20 Lit in every desire of your soul
- Deuteronomy 12:21 Lit in every desire of your soul
- Deuteronomy 12:23 Lit soul
- Deuteronomy 12:23 Lit soul
- Deuteronomy 12:30 Lit after them
- Deuteronomy 12:32 Lit Everything that
Deuteronomy 12
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Pagan Shrines to Be Destroyed
12 “These are the statutes and ordinances that you must diligently observe in the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given you to occupy all the days that you live on the earth.(A)
2 “You must demolish completely all the places where the nations whom you are about to dispossess served their gods, on the mountain heights, on the hills, and under every leafy tree. 3 Break down their altars, smash their pillars, burn their sacred poles[a] with fire, and cut down the idols of their gods, and thus blot out their name from their places.(B) 4 You shall not serve the Lord your God in such ways. 5 But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes as his habitation to put his name there. You shall go there,(C) 6 bringing there your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your donations, your votive gifts, your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and flocks. 7 And you shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your households together, rejoicing in all the undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.(D)
8 “You shall not act as we are acting here today, all of us according to our own desires, 9 for you have not yet come into the rest and the possession that the Lord your God is giving you. 10 When you cross over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is allotting to you, and when he gives you rest from your enemies all around so that you live in safety,(E) 11 then you shall bring everything that I command you to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your donations, and all your choice votive gifts that you vow to the Lord.(F) 12 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you together with your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites who reside in your towns (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you).(G)
A Prescribed Place of Worship
13 “Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place you happen to see. 14 But only at the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes—there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do everything I command you.(H)
15 “Yet whenever you desire you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, according to the blessing that the Lord your God has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as they would of gazelle or deer.(I) 16 The blood, however, you must not eat; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.(J) 17 Nor may you eat within your towns the tithe of your grain, your wine, and your oil, the firstlings of your herds and your flocks, any of your votive gifts that you vow, your freewill offerings, or your donations; 18 these you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God at the place that the Lord your God will choose, you together with your son and your daughter, your male and female slaves, and the Levites resident in your towns, rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God in all your undertakings.(K) 19 Take care that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.(L)
20 “When the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I am going to eat some meat,’ because you wish to eat meat, you may eat meat whenever you have the desire.(M) 21 If the place where the Lord your God will choose to put his name is too far from you, and you slaughter as I have commanded you any of your herd or flock that the Lord has given you, then you may eat within your towns whenever you desire. 22 Indeed, just as gazelle or deer is eaten, so you may eat it; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it.(N) 23 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the meat.(O) 24 Do not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water. 25 Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.(P) 26 But the sacred donations that are due from you and your votive gifts you shall bring to the place that the Lord will choose.(Q) 27 You shall present your burnt offerings, both the meat and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; the blood of your other sacrifices shall be poured out beside[b] the altar of the Lord your God, but the meat you may eat.
28 “Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, because you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.(R)
Warning against Idolatry
29 “When the Lord your God has cut off before you the nations whom you are about to enter to dispossess them, when you have dispossessed them and live in their land, 30 take care that you are not snared into imitating them, after they have been destroyed before you; do not inquire concerning their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also want to do the same.’ 31 You must not do the same for the Lord your God, because every abhorrent thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods. They would even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.(S) 32 [c]You must diligently observe everything that I command you; do not add to it or take anything from it.(T)
Deuteronomy 12
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
12 These are the precepts and judgments, that you must do in the land, which the Lord the God of thy fathers will give thee, to possess it all the days that thou shalt walk upon the earth.
2 Destroy all the places in which the nations, that you shall possess, worshipped their gods upon high mountains, and hills, and under every shady tree:
3 Overthrow their altars, and break down their statues, burn their groves with fire, and break their idols in pieces: destroy their names out of those places.
4 You shall not do so to the Lord your God:
5 But you shall come to the place, which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, and to dwell in it:
6 And you shall offer in that place your holocausts and victims, the tithes and firstfruits of your hands and your vows and gifts, the firstborn of your herds and your sheep.
7 And you shall eat there in the sight of the Lord your God: and you shall rejoice in all things, whereunto you shall put your hand, you and your houses wherein the Lord your God hath blessed you.
8 You shall not do there the things we do here this day, every man that which seemeth good to himself.
9 For until this present time you are not come to refit, and to the possession, which the Lord your God will give you.
10 You shall pass over the Jordan, and shall dwell in the land which the Lord your God will give you, that you may have rest from all enemies round about: and may dwell without any fear,
11 In the place, which the Lord your God shall choose, that his name may be therein. Thither shall you bring all the things that I command you, holocausts, and victims, and tithes, and the firstfruits of your hands: and whatsoever is the choicest in the gifts which you shall vow to the Lord.
12 There shall you feast before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your menservants and maid-servants, and the Levite that dwelleth in your cities. For he hath no other part and possession among you.
13 Beware lest thou offer thy holocausts in every place that thou shalt see:
14 But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes shalt thou offer sacrifices. and shalt do all that I command thee.
15 But if thou desirest to eat, and the eating of flesh delight thee, kill, and eat according to the blessing of the Lord thy God, which he hath given thee, in thy cities: whether it be unclean, that is to say, having blemish or defect: or clean, that is to say, sound and without blemish, such as may be offered, as the roe, and the hart, shalt thou eat it:
16 Only the blood thou shalt not eat, but thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water.
17 Thou mayst not eat in thy towns the tithes of thy corn, and thy wine, and thy oil, the firstborn of thy herds and thy cattle, nor any thing that thou vowest, and that thou wilt offer voluntarily, and the firstfruits of thy hands:
18 But thou shalt eat them before the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, thou and thy son and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and maidservant, and the Levite that dwelleth in thy cities: and thou shalt rejoice and be refreshed before the Lord thy God in all things, whereunto thou shalt put thy hand.
19 Take heed thou forsake not the Levite all the time that thou livest in the land.
20 When the Lord thy God shall have enlarged thy borders, as he hath spoken to thee, and thou wilt eat the flesh that thy soul desireth:
21 And if the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name should be there, be far off, thou shalt kill of thy herds and of thy flocks, as I have commanded thee, and shalt eat in thy towns, as it pleaseth thee.
22 Even as the roe and the hart is eaten, so shalt thou eat them: both the clean and unclean shall eat of them alike.
23 Only beware of this, that thou eat not the blood, for the blood is for the soul: and therefore thou must not eat the soul with the flesh:
24 But thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water,
25 That it may be well with thee and thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is pleasing in the sight of the Lord.
26 But the things which thou hast sanctified and vowed to the Lord, thou shalt take, and shalt come to the place which the Lord shall choose:
27 And shalt offer thy oblations the flesh and the blood upon the altar of the Lord thy God: the blood of thy victims thou shalt pour on the altar: and the flesh thou thyself shalt eat.
28 Observe and hear all the things that I command thee, that it may be well with thee and thy children after thee for ever, when thou shalt do what is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God.
29 When the Lord thy God shall have destroyed before thy face the nations, which then shalt go in to possess, and when thou shalt possess them, and dwell in their land:
30 Beware lest thou imitate them, after they are destroyed at thy coming in, and lest thou seek after their ceremonies, saying: As these nations have worshipped their gods, so will I also worship.
31 Thou shalt not do in like manner to the Lord thy God. For they have done to their gods all the abominations which the Lord abhorreth, offering their sons and daughters, and burning them with fire.
32 What I command thee, that only do thou to the Lord: neither add any thing, nor diminish.
Deuteronomy 12
The Message
12 These are the rules and regulations that you must diligently observe for as long as you live in this country that God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, has given you to possess.
2-3 Ruthlessly demolish all the sacred shrines where the nations that you’re driving out worship their gods—wherever you find them, on hills and mountains or in groves of green trees. Tear apart their altars. Smash their phallic pillars. Burn their sex-and-religion Asherah shrines. Break up their carved gods. Obliterate the names of those god sites.
4 Stay clear of those places—don’t let what went on there contaminate the worship of God, your God.
5-7 Instead find the site that God, your God, will choose and mark it with his name as a common center for all the tribes of Israel. Assemble there. Bring to that place your Absolution-Offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and Tribute-Offerings, your Vow-Offerings, your Freewill-Offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. Feast there in the Presence of God, your God. Celebrate everything that you and your families have accomplished under the blessing of God, your God.
8-10 Don’t continue doing things the way we’re doing them at present, each of us doing as we wish. Until now you haven’t arrived at the goal, the resting place, the inheritance that God, your God, is giving you. But the minute you cross the Jordan River and settle into the land God, your God, is enabling you to inherit, he’ll give you rest from all your surrounding enemies. You’ll be able to settle down and live in safety.
11-12 From then on, at the place that God, your God, chooses to mark with his name as the place where you can meet him, bring everything that I command you: your Absolution-Offerings and sacrifices, tithes and Tribute-Offerings, and the best of your Vow-Offerings that you vow to God. Celebrate there in the Presence of God, your God, you and your sons and daughters, your servants and maids, including the Levite living in your neighborhood because he has no place of his own in your inheritance.
13-14 Be extra careful: Don’t offer your Absolution-Offerings just any place that strikes your fancy. Offer your Absolution-Offerings only in the place that God chooses in one of your tribal regions. There and only there are you to bring all that I command you.
15 It’s permissible to slaughter your nonsacrificial animals like gazelle and deer in your towns and eat all you want from them with the blessing of God, your God. Both the ritually clean and unclean may eat.
16-18 But you may not eat the blood. Pour the blood out on the ground like water. Nor may you eat there the tithe of your grain, new wine, or olive oil; nor the firstborn of your herds and flocks; nor any of the Vow-Offerings that you vow; nor your Freewill-Offerings and Tribute-Offerings. All these you must eat in the Presence of God, your God, in the place God, your God, chooses—you, your son and daughter, your servant and maid, and the Levite who lives in your neighborhood. You are to celebrate in the Presence of God, your God, all the things you’ve been able to accomplish.
19 And make sure that for as long as you live on your land you never, never neglect the Levite.
20-22 When God, your God, expands your territory as he promised he would do, and you say, “I’m hungry for meat,” because you happen to be craving meat at the time, go ahead and eat as much meat as you want. If you’re too far away from the place that God, your God, has marked with his name, it’s all right to slaughter animals from your herds and flocks that God has given you, as I’ve commanded you. In your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want. Just as the nonsacrificial animals like the gazelle and deer are eaten, you may eat them; the ritually unclean and clean may eat them at the same table.
23-25 Only this: Absolutely no blood. Don’t eat the blood. Blood is life; don’t eat the life with the meat. Don’t eat it; pour it out on the ground like water. Don’t eat it; then you’ll have a good life, you and your children after you. By all means, do the right thing in God’s eyes.
26-27 And this: Lift high your Holy-Offerings and your Vow-Offerings and bring them to the place God designates. Sacrifice your Absolution-Offerings, the meat and blood, on the Altar of God, your God; pour out the blood of the Absolution-Offering on the Altar of God, your God; then you can go ahead and eat the meat.
28 Be vigilant, listen obediently to these words that I command you so that you’ll have a good life, you and your children, for a long, long time, doing what is good and right in the eyes of God, your God.
29-31 When God, your God, cuts off the nations whose land you are invading, shoves them out of your way so that you displace them and settle in their land, be careful that you don’t get curious about them after they’ve been destroyed before you. Don’t get fascinated with their gods, thinking, “I wonder what it was like for them, worshiping their gods. I’d like to try that myself.” Don’t do this to God, your God. They commit every imaginable abomination with their gods. God hates it all with a passion. Why, they even set their children on fire as offerings to their gods!
32 Diligently do everything I command you, the way I command you: don’t add to it; don’t subtract from it.
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