Deuteronomy 12
12
The Lord’s Chosen Place of Worship
1 # ch. 6:1 “These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, #ch. 4:10all the days that you live on the earth. 2#ch. 7:5; Ex. 34:13 You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, #1 Kgs. 14:23; 2 Kgs. 16:4; 17:10; Jer. 3:6on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. 3You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces #See ch. 16:22 their pillars and burn their #See ch. 16:21 Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and #[Zeph. 1:4; Zech. 13:2]destroy their name out of that place. 4#ver. 31You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. 5But you shall seek #ch. 16:2; 26:2; 1 Kgs. 8:29; 2 Chr. 7:12; [Josh. 18:1]the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation#12:5 Or name as its habitation there. There you shall go, 6and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, #ch. 14:22, 23; 15:19, 20 your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the #ch. 14:23firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7And #ch. 14:23, 26; 15:20 there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and #ch. 14:26; 16:11, 14, 15; 26:11; 27:7; 28:8; Lev. 23:40you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
8“You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, #Judg. 17:6; 21:25everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, 9for you have not as yet come to #1 Kgs. 8:56; Ps. 95:11; [Heb. 4:8]the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you. 10But when #See ch. 11:31 you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, #ch. 25:19; Josh. 23:1; [2 Sam. 7:1; 1 Kgs. 5:4]and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, 11then to #[See ver. 5 above] the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, #[See ver. 6 above]your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord. 12And #[See ver. 7 above] you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since #See Num. 18:20he has no portion or inheritance with you. 13#Lev. 17:3, 4; [1 Kgs. 12:28, 33]Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see, 14but at #[See ver. 5 above]the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you.
15“However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you desire, #ch. 16:17 according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. #ch. 14:5; 15:22The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer. 16#See Lev. 3:17Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth like water. 17You may not eat within your towns #[See ver. 6 above]the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings or the contribution that you present, 18but #[See ver. 7 above] you shall eat them before the Lord your God in #[See ver. 5 above] the place that the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns. And #[See ver. 7 above]you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all that you undertake. 19#ch. 14:27; [2 Chr. 31:4]Take care that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.
20“When the Lord your God #ch. 19:8 enlarges your territory, #ch. 11:24; 19:8, 9; Gen. 28:14; Ex. 34:24as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you crave meat, you may eat meat whenever you desire. 21If #See ver. 5 the place that the Lord your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, #ver. 15then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns whenever you desire. 22Just #ch. 14:5; 15:22as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. #ch. 14:5; 15:22The unclean and the clean alike may eat of it. 23#See Lev. 3:17 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, #See Gen. 9:4for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. 24You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth like water. 25You shall not eat it, #ch. 4:40; [Eccles. 8:12; Isa. 3:10] that all may go well with you and with your children after you, #ch. 6:18; 13:18; Ex. 15:26; 1 Kgs. 11:38when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord. 26But the #[Num. 5:9, 10; 18:19] holy things that are due from you, and #[1 Sam. 1:21] your vow offerings, you shall take, and you shall go to #[See ver. 21 above]the place that the Lord will choose, 27and #Lev. 1:5, 9, 13; 17:11offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, but the flesh you may eat. 28Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, #[See ver. 25 above]that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
Warning Against Idolatry
29“When #ch. 19:1; Josh. 23:4, 5the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, 30take care #ch. 7:16that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ 31#ver. 4; Lev. 18:3, 26, 30; [2 Kgs. 17:15] You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every #ch. 7:25; 17:1; 18:12; 23:18; 25:16; 27:15 abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for #2 Kgs. 17:31; Jer. 7:31; 19:5they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
32 # 12:32 Ch 13:1 in Hebrew “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. #See ch. 4:2You shall not add to it or take from it.
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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Deuteronomy 12
12
Only one place to worship the LORD
Moses said to Israel:
1Now I'll tell you the laws and teachings that you have to obey as long as you live. Your ancestors worshipped the LORD, and he is giving you this land. 2But the nations that live there worship other gods. So after you capture the land, you must completely destroy their places of worship—on mountains and hills or in the shade of large trees. 3Wherever these nations worship their gods, you must tear down their altars, break their sacred stones, burn the sacred poles#12.3 sacred poles: Or “trees”, used as symbols of Asherah, the goddess of fertility. used in worshipping the goddess Asherah, and smash their idols to pieces. Destroy these places of worship so completely that no one will remember they were ever there.#Dt 7.5. 4Don't worship the LORD your God in the way those nations worship their gods.
5-19Soon you will cross the Jordan, and the LORD will help you conquer your enemies and let you live in peace, there in the land he has given you. But after you are settled, life will be different. You must not offer sacrifices anywhere you want to. Instead, the LORD will choose a place somewhere in Israel where you must go to worship him. All your sacrifices and offerings must be taken there, including sacrifices to please the LORD#12.5-19 sacrifices to please the LORD: These sacrifices have traditionally been called “whole burnt offerings” because the whole animal was burnt on the altar. A main purpose of such sacrifices was to please the LORD with the smell of the sacrifice, and so in the CEV they are often called “sacrifices to please the LORD”. and any gift you promise or voluntarily give him. That's where you must also take one tenth of your grain, wine, and olive oil,#12.5-19 one tenth of your grain, wine, and olive oil: The Israelites had to give one tenth of their harvest of these products to the LORD each year (see 14.22-29; 26.12,13; Leviticus 27.30-33). as well as the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, and goats.#12.5-19 the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, and goats: The Israelites had to sacrifice these to the LORD (see 15.19-22). You and your family and servants will eat your gifts and sacrifices#12.5-19 sacrifices: Some sacrifices were completely burnt on the altar; in other sacrifices, part of the animal was burnt and part was given to the priests, but most of the meat was eaten by the worshippers as a sacred meal. and celebrate there at the place of worship, because the LORD your God has made you successful in everything you have done. And since Levites will not have any land of their own, you must ask some of them to come along and celebrate with you.#Gn 9.4; Lv 7.26,27; 17.10-14; 19.26; Dt 15.23.
Sometimes you may want to kill an animal for food and not as a sacrifice. If the LORD has blessed you and given you enough cows or sheep or goats, then you can butcher one of them where you live. You can eat it just like the meat from a deer or gazelle that you kill when you go hunting. And even those people who are unclean and unfit for worship can have some of the meat. But you must not eat the blood of any animal—let the blood drain out on the ground.
20-21The LORD has promised that later on he will give Israel more land, and some of you may not be able to travel all the way from your homes to the place of worship each time you are hungry for meat.#12.20-21 meat: Usually eaten only on special occasions, such as during a sacred meal when sacrifices were offered to the LORD. But the LORD will give you cattle, sheep, and goats, and you can butcher any of those animals at home and eat as much as you want. 22It is the same as eating the meat from a deer or a gazelle that you kill when you go hunting. And in this way, anyone who is unclean and unfit for worship can have some of the meat.#12.22 anyone…the meat: Only those who were properly prepared for worship, or “clean”, could eat a sacred meal, but anyone could eat this kind of meat.
23-24But don't eat the blood. It is the life of the animal, so let it drain out on the ground before you eat the meat.#Lv 17.10-14. 25Do you want the LORD to make you successful? Do you want your children to be successful even after you are gone? Then do what pleases the LORD and don't eat blood.
26-27All sacrifices and offerings to the LORD must be taken to the place where he chooses to be worshipped. If you offer a sacrifice to please the LORD, all of its meat must be burnt on the altar. You can eat the meat from certain kinds of sacrifices, but you must always pour out the animal's blood on the altar.
28If you obey these laws, you will be doing what the LORD your God says is right and good. Then he will help you and your descendants be successful.
Worship the LORD in the right way
Moses said:
29Israel, as you go into the land and attack the nations that are there, the LORD will get rid of them, and you can have their land.
30But that's when you must be especially careful not to ask, “How did those nations worship their gods? Shouldn't we worship the LORD in the same way?” 31No, you should not! The LORD hates the disgusting way those nations worship their gods, because they even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices.
32Obey all the laws and teachings I am giving you. Don't add any, and don't take any away.#Dt 4.2; Rev 22.18-19.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012