Deuteronomy 12:20-14:2

New King James Version

²⁰ “When the Lord your God ^(A)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. ²¹ If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from ^(B)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. ²² Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them. ²³ Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, ^(C)for the blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat. ²⁴ You shall not eat it; you shall pour it on the earth like water. ²⁵ You shall not eat it, ^(D)that it may go well with you and your children after you, ^(E)when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord. ²⁶ Only the ^(F)holy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the Lord chooses. ²⁷ And ^(G)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. ²⁸ Observe and obey all these words which I command you, ^(H)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 ^(I)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, ³⁰ take 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 (J)You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way; for every ^[a]abomination to the Lord which He hates they have done to their gods; for ^(K)they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

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

Punishment of Apostates

13 “If there arises among you a prophet or a ^(M)dreamer of dreams, ^(N)and he gives you a sign or a wonder, ² and ^(O)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,’ ³ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God ^(P)is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ You shall ^(Q)walk^[b] after the Lord your God and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice; you shall serve Him and ^(R)hold fast to Him. ⁵ But ^(S)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. ^(T)So you shall ^[c]put away the evil from your midst.

^6 (U)“If your brother, the son of your mother, your son or your daughter, ^(V)the wife ^[d]of your bosom, or your friend ^(W)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, ⁷ of 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, ⁸ you shall ^(X)not ^[e]consent to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him; ⁹ but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to ^(Y)death, and afterward the hand of all the people. ¹⁰ And 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. ¹¹ So all Israel shall hear and ^(Z)fear, and not again do such wickedness as this among you.

^12 (AA)“If you hear someone in one of your cities, which the Lord your God gives you to dwell in, saying, ^13 [f]‘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— ¹⁴ then you shall inquire, search out, and ask diligently. And if it is indeed true and certain that such an ^[g]abomination was committed among you, ¹⁵ you 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. ¹⁶ And you shall gather all its plunder into the middle of the street, and ^[h]completely ^(AB)burn with fire the city and all its plunder, for the Lord your God. It shall be ^(AC)a ^[i]heap forever; it shall not be built again. ^17 (AD)So none of the accursed things shall remain in your hand, that the Lord may ^(AE)turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy, have compassion on you and ^[j]multiply you, just as He swore to your fathers, ¹⁸ because you have listened to the voice of the Lord your God, ^(AF)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 ^(AG)the children of the Lord your God; ^(AH)you shall not cut yourselves nor ^[k]shave the front of your head for the dead. ^2 (AI)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.