Deuteronomy 12

¹ ‘Now these are the laws and customs that you must keep and observe, in the land that Yahweh the God of your fathers has granted you to possess, for as long as you live in that land.

² ‘You must destroy completely all the places where the nations you dispossess have served their gods, on high mountains, on hills, under any spreading tree;

³ you must tear down their altars, smash their pillars, cut down their sacred poles, set fire to the carved images of their gods and wipe out their name from that place.

⁴ ‘Not so are you to behave towards Yahweh your God.

⁵ You must seek Yahweh your God only in the place he himself will choose from among all your tribes, to set his name there and give it a home.

⁶ There you shall bring your holocausts and your sacrifices, your tithes, the offerings from your hands, your votive offerings and your voluntary offerings, the first-born of your herd and flock;

⁷ there you will eat in the presence of Yahweh your God and be thankful for all that your hands have presented, you and your households blessed by Yahweh your God.[*a]

⁸ ‘You must not act as we do here today: every man does what seems right to him,

⁹ for as yet you have not come to the resting place and the inheritance that Yahweh your God is giving you.

¹⁰ You are about to cross the Jordan and live in the land that Yahweh your God grants you to inherit; he will give you relief from all the enemies that surround you, and you shall live in security.

¹¹ To the place chosen by Yahweh your God as a home for his name, to that place you are to bring all that I command you: your holocausts and your sacrifice, your tithes, the offerings from your hands, and all the best of your possessions that you vow to Yahweh.

¹² There you shall rejoice in the presence of Yahweh your God, you and your sons and daughters, your serving men and women, and the Levite who lives in your towns, since he has no share or inheritance with you.

¹³ ‘Take care you do not offer your holocausts in all the sacred places you see;

¹⁴ only in the place that Yahweh chooses in one of your tribes may you offer your holocausts and do all I command you.

¹⁵ ‘Still, whenever you want you may slaughter and eat flesh in any of your towns, as much as the blessing of Yahweh affords you. Clean or unclean may eat it, just as if it were gazelle or deer.

¹⁶ Only you must not consume the blood but pour it out like water on the ground.

¹⁷ ‘In your towns you may not consume the tithes of your corn, your wine or your oil, or the first-born of your herd or flock, or any of your votive offerings or voluntary offerings, or anything your hands have presented.

¹⁸ You must eat these in the presence of Yahweh your God in the place Yahweh your God chooses and there alone, you and your son and daughter, your serving man or woman and the Levite who lives in your towns. You shall rejoice in the presence of Yahweh your God over all that your hands have presented.

¹⁹ In your land take care never to neglect the Levite.

²⁰ ‘When Yahweh your God enlarges your territory as he has promised you, and you say, “I should like to eat meat”, if you want to eat meat you may eat as much as you like.

²¹ If the place in which Yahweh your God chooses to set his name is too far away, you may slaughter any of your herd or flock that Yahweh has given you in the way that I have laid down for you; you may eat in your towns as much as you will.

²² But you must eat it as you would gazelle or deer; clean or unclean alike may eat it.

²³ Only take care not to consume the blood, for the blood is the life, and you must not consume the life with the flesh.

²⁴ You must not consume it but pour it out like water on the ground.

²⁵ You must not consume it, and then you and your sons after you will prosper, doing what is right in the eyes of Yahweh.

²⁶ But the holy things you have and those you have vowed you must go and take to the place that Yahweh chooses.

²⁷ The holocaust of flesh and blood you must offer on the altar of Yahweh your God; and, in your sacrifices, the blood must be poured out on the altar of Yahweh your God; the flesh you may eat yourselves.

²⁸ Be faithful in keeping all the instructions that I give you and obey them, so that you and your sons after you may be happy for always, doing what is good and right in the eyes of Yahweh your God.

²⁹ ‘When Yahweh your God has annihilated in front of you the nations that you are to dispossess, and when you have dispossessed them and made your home in their country,

³⁰ be careful you are not caught in a trap: do not imitate them once they have been destroyed in front of you, or go enquiring after their gods, saying, “How did these nations worship their gods? I will go and do the same.”

³¹ This is not the way for you to behave towards Yahweh your God. For Yahweh detests all this and hates what they have done for their gods, even burning their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods.