Deuteronomy 12

Revised Geneva Translation

12 “These are the Ordinances and the Laws which you shall observe and do in the land which the LORD God of your fathers gives you to possess, as long as you live upon the Earth.

² “You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains and upon the hills and under every green tree.

³ “Also, you shall overthrow their altars and break down their pillars and burn their groves with fire. And you shall cut down the graven images of their gods and abolish their names out of that place.

⁴ “You shall not do so to the LORD your God.

⁵ “But you shall seek the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of your tribes, to put His Name there, to dwell there. And to there you shall come.

⁶ “And you shall bring your Burnt Offerings there, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the offering of your hands, and your vows, and your Free Offerings, and the firstborn of your cattle and of your sheep.

⁷ “And there you shall eat before the LORD your God. And you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to—you and your households—because the LORD your God has blessed you.

⁸ “You shall not repeat all these things that we do here this day, every man doing whatever seems good to him in his own eyes.

⁹ “For you have not yet come to the rest and the inheritance which the LORD your God gives you.

¹⁰ “But when you go over Jordan and dwell in the land which the LORD your God has given you to inherit, and He has given you rest from all your enemies all around, and you dwell in safety—

¹¹ “when there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose, to cause His name to dwell there—there shall you bring all that I command you: your Burnt Offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the offering of your hands and all your special vows which you vow to the LORD.

¹² “And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and your daughters and your servants and your maidens and the Levite who is within your gates (for he has no part or inheritance with you).

¹³ “Be careful that you do not offer your Burnt Offerings in every place that you see.

¹⁴ “But in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your Burnt Offerings. And there you shall do all that I command you.

¹⁵ “Nevertheless, you may kill and eat flesh within all your gates—whatever your heart desires—according to the blessing of the LORD your God, which He had given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and of the deer.

¹⁶ “Only, you shall not eat the blood. Pour it upon the earth, as water.

¹⁷ “You may not eat the tithe of your corn within your gates, nor of your wine, nor of your oil, nor the firstborn of your cattle, nor of your sheep, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your Free Offerings, nor the offering of your hands.

¹⁸ “But you shall eat it before the LORD your God, in the place which the LORD your God shall choose, you and your son and your daughter and your servant and your maid and the Levite who is within your gates. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all to which you put your hand.

¹⁹ “Beware that you do not forsake the Levite, as long as you live upon the Earth.

²⁰ “When the LORD your God shall enlarge your border—as He has promised you—and you shall say, ‘I will eat flesh (because your heart longs to eat flesh), you may eat flesh, whatever your heart desires.

²¹ “If the place which the LORD your God has chosen to put His Name is far from you, then you shall kill from your bullocks and from your sheep which the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you. And you shall eat within your gates, whatever your heart desires.

²² “But, as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so shall you eat them. The unclean and the clean alike shall eat them.

²³ “Only, be sure that you do not eat the blood. For the blood is the life, and you may not eat the life with the flesh.

²⁴ “You shall not eat it. Pour it upon the earth as water.

²⁵ “You shall not eat it, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you when you shall do that which is right in the sight of the LORD.

²⁶ “But, you shall take up your holy things which you have, and your vows, and come to the place which the LORD shall choose.

²⁷ “And you shall make your Burnt Offerings of the flesh, and of the blood, upon the Altar of the LORD your God. And the blood of your offerings shall be poured upon the Altar of the LORD your God. And you shall eat the flesh.

²⁸ “Hear and obey all these words which I command you, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you, forever, when you do that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God

²⁹ “and when the LORD your God shall destroy the nations before you, wherever you go to possess them. And you shall possess them and dwell in their land.

³⁰ “Beware, lest you be ensnared after them — after they are destroyed before you — and lest you ask after their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods, so that I may do likewise?’

³¹ “You shall not do so to the LORD your God. For they have done to their gods all abomination which the LORD hates. They have burned both their sons and their daughters with fire to their gods.

³² “Whatever I command you, be careful to do it. You shall add nothing to it or take anything from it.”