Deuteronomy
12:1 These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do in
the land, which the LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it,
all the days that ye live upon the earth.
12:2 Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye
shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the
hills, and under every green tree:
12:3 And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn
their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their
gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.
12:4 Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.
12:5 But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your
tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek,
and thither thou shalt come:
12:6 And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices,
and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and
your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your
flocks:
12:7 And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in
all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD
thy God hath blessed thee.
12:8 Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man
whatsoever is right in his own eyes.
12:9 For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which the
LORD your God giveth you.
12:10 But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your
God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your
enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;
12:11 Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to
cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command
you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the
heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto
the LORD:
12:12 And ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God, ye, and your sons, and
your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the
Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor
inheritance with you.
12:13 Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every
place that thou seest:
12:14 But in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of thy tribes, there
thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I
command thee.
12:15 Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates,
whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the LORD
thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat
thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.
12:16 Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as
water.
12:17 Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy
wine, or of thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor
any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave
offering of thine hand:
12:18 But thou must 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 thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy
gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou
puttest thine hands unto.
12:19 Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou
livest upon the earth.
12:20 When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he hath promised
thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to
eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.
12:21 If the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to put his name there be
too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock,
which the LORD hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt
eat in thy gates whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.
12:22 Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat them: the
unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike.
12:23 Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and
thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.
12:24 Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water.
12:25 Thou shalt not eat it; that it may go well with thee, and with thy
children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight
of the LORD.
12:26 Only thy holy things which thou hast, and thy vows, thou shalt take, and
go unto the place which the LORD shall choose:
12:27 And thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon
the altar of the LORD thy God: and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be
poured out upon the altar of the LORD thy God, and thou shalt eat the
flesh.
12:28 Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go
well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou
doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God.
12:29 When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee,
whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and
dwellest in their land;
12:30 Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after
that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after
their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will
I do likewise.
12:31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the
LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their
sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
12:32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add
thereto, nor diminish from it.
