Deuteronomy 12
12
The Proper Place to Worship
1Here are the laws and rules you must faithfully obey in the land that the Lord God of your ancestors is giving you as your own. You must obey them as long as you live in the land.
2Completely destroy all the worship sites on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every large tree. The people you’re forcing out worship their gods in these places. 3Tear down their altars, crush their sacred stones, burn their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah, cut down their idols, and wipe out the names of their gods from those places.
4Never worship the Lord your God in the way they worship their gods. 5The Lord your God will choose a place out of all your tribes to live and put his name. Go there and worship him. 6Bring him your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, one-tenth of your income, your contributions, the offerings you vow to bring, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, and goats. 7There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families will eat and enjoy everything you’ve worked for, because the Lord your God has blessed you.
8Never worship in the way that it’s being done here today, where everyone does whatever he considers right. 9Up until now you haven’t come to your place of rest, the property the Lord your God is giving you. 10But you will cross the Jordan River and settle in the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own property. He will give you peace from all your enemies around you so that you will live securely. 11Then the Lord your God will choose a place where his name will live. You must bring everything I command you to that place. Bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, one-tenth of your income, your contributions, and all the best offerings you vow to bring to the Lord. 12Enjoy yourselves in the presence of the Lord your God along with your sons, daughters, male and female slaves, and the Levites. (The Levites live in your cities because they have no land of their own as you have.) 13Be careful that you don’t sacrifice your burnt offerings wherever you want. 14Instead, sacrifice them ⌞only⌟ at the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes. There you must do everything I command you.
15In whatever city you live, you may slaughter and eat as much meat as you want from what the Lord your God has blessed you with. Clean and unclean #12:15 “Clean” refers to anything that is presentable to God. “Unclean” refers to anything that is not presentable to God. people may eat it as if they were eating a gazelle or a deer. 16But never eat the blood. Pour it on the ground like water. 17You may not eat ⌞the Lord’s offerings⌟ in your cities. Those offerings are: one-tenth of your grain, new wine, and olive oil; the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, or goats; the offerings you vow to bring; your freewill offerings; and your contributions. 18Instead, you, your sons and daughters, male and female slaves, and the Levites who live in your cities must eat these in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose. There in the presence of the Lord your God enjoy everything you’ve worked for. 19Don’t forget to take care of the Levites as long as you live in your land.
20The Lord your God will expand your ⌞country’s⌟ borders as he promised. You will say, “I’m hungry for meat.” Then eat as much meat as you want. 21If the place the Lord your God chooses to put his name is too far away from you, you may slaughter an animal from the herds or flocks that the Lord has given you. Eat as much as you want in your city. I have commanded you to do this. 22Eat it as you would eat a gazelle or a deer: Clean and unclean people may eat it together. 23However, be sure you never eat blood, because blood contains life. Never eat the life with the meat. 24Never eat blood. Pour it on the ground like water. 25If you don’t eat blood, things will go well for you and your descendants. You will be doing what the Lord considers right.
26Take the holy things and the offerings you have vowed to bring, and go to the place the Lord will choose. 27Sacrifice the meat and the blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your sacrifices is to be poured out beside the altar of the Lord your God, but you may eat the meat. 28Be sure you obey all these instructions I’m giving you. Then things will always go well for you and your descendants because you will be doing what the Lord your God considers good and right.
29The Lord your God will destroy the nations where you’re going and force them out of your way. You will take possession of their land and live there. 30After they’ve been destroyed, be careful you aren’t tempted to follow their customs. Don’t even ask about their gods and say, “How did these people worship their gods? We want to do what they did.” 31Never worship the Lord your God in the way they worship their gods, because everything they do for their gods is disgusting to the Lord. He hates it! They even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods.#12:31 Deuteronomy 12:32 in English Bibles is Deuteronomy 13:1 in the Hebrew Bible.
32Be sure to do everything I command you. Never add anything to it or take anything away from it.
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Deuteronomy 12
12
Regulations and the case laws:
Worship at the location the LORD selects
1These are the regulations and the case laws that you must carefully keep in the fertile land the LORD, your ancestors’ God, has given to you to possess for as long as you live on that land:
2You must completely destroy every place where the nations that you are displacing worshipped their gods—whether on high mountains or hills or under leafy green trees. 3Rip down their altars and shatter their sacred stones. Burn their sacred poles#12.3 Heb asherim, perhaps objects devoted to the goddess Asherah with fire. Hack their gods’ idols into pieces. Wipe out their names from that place.
4Don’t act like they did toward the LORD your God!
5Instead, you must search for the location the LORD your God will select from all your tribes to put his name there, as his residence, and you must go there. 6You must bring your entirely burned offerings, your sacrifices, your tenth-part gifts, your contributions,#12.6 Or the contribution of your hands; also in 12:11, 17 your payments for solemn promises, your spontaneous gifts, and the oldest offspring of your herds and flocks to that place. 7You will have a feast there, each of you and your families, in the LORD your God’s presence, and you will celebrate all you have done because the LORD your God has blessed you. 8Don’t act like we’ve been acting here lately—everyone doing what seems right to them— 9because up to this point you haven’t yet reached the place of rest or the inheritance the LORD your God is giving you. 10But you are about to cross the Jordan River and will settle in the land the LORD your God is giving you as your inheritance. Then he will give you rest from all your enemies on every side so that you live safely and securely. 11At that point, you must bring all that I am commanding you, your entirely burned offerings, your sacrifices, your tenth-part gifts, your contributions, and all your best payments that you solemnly promised to the LORD, to the location the LORD your God selects for his name to reside. 12Then you will rejoice in the LORD your God’s presence: each of you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites who dwell in your cities because they have no designated inheritance.
13But watch yourself! Make sure you don’t offer up your entirely burned offerings in just any place you see. 14No, only at the location the LORD selects from one of your tribal areas—that’s where you must offer up your entirely burned offerings and that’s where you must perform everything I’m telling you. 15However, whenever you wish, you may slaughter and eat meat, as the LORD your God sees fit to bless you with such in your cities. People who are polluted and people who are purified can join in the feast, as they would if they were eating gazelle or deer. 16But you must not consume any of the animals’ blood. Pour it out on the ground, just like water.
17Within your cities you are not allowed to eat any of the following: your tenth-part gifts of grain, wine, and oil; the oldest offspring of your herds and flocks; any of the payments you have solemnly promised; your spontaneous gifts or your contributions. 18Only in the presence of the LORD your God, at the location the LORD your God selects, can you eat these things—that holds true for you, your son and daughter, your male and female servant, and the Levite who lives in your city. Then celebrate all you have done in the LORD your God’s presence. 19But watch yourself: as long as you are on the land, don’t forget about the Levites.
20Once the LORD your God has enlarged your territory, as he promised you, and you think to yourself, I’d like to eat some meat (because you have the desire to do so), feel free to do so whenever you want. 21But if the location that the LORD your God will choose to put his name is far away from where you live, then slaughter an animal from your herd or flock that the LORD has given you, just as I have commanded you, and eat it in your cities whenever you wish. 22But be sure to eat it as if it were gazelle or deer. People who are polluted and people who are purified can feast on it together.
23Furthermore, make sure that you don’t consume any of the blood, because blood is life. You must not consume the life along with the meat. 24You must not consume any of it. Pour it out on the ground, just like water. 25You must not consume any of it so that things go well for you and for your children later because you did what was right in the LORD’s eyes.
26Note that you must bring your sacred offerings and your payments for solemn promises to the location the LORD selects, 27offering up your entirely burned sacrifices—both meat and blood—on the LORD your God’s altar. The blood from your sacrifices must be poured out on the LORD your God’s altar, but you are allowed to eat the meat. 28Observe and obey all these words that I am commanding you so that things always go well for you and your children later because you did what was good and right in the LORD your God’s eyes.
29Once the LORD your God has removed from before you all the nations that you are entering and taking possession of, and you have displaced them and are living in their land, 30then watch yourself! Don’t be trapped by following their practices after they’ve been wiped out before you. Don’t go investigating their gods, thinking, How did these nations worship their gods? I want to do the very same thing!
31Don’t act like they did toward the LORD your God because they did things for their gods that are detestable to the LORD, which he hates. They even burned their own sons and daughters with fire for their gods!
32 # 12.32 13:1 in Heb Everything I’m commanding you, you must do it with utmost care! Don’t add anything to it or take anything away from it.
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