Deuteronomy 12–13

Detailed Stipulations: Purity and Unity

12“These are the rules and the regulations that you must diligently observe^a in the land that Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,^b has given to you to take possession of it, during all the days that you are living on the land.

²You must completely demolish all of the places there where they served their gods, that is, the nations whom you are about to dispossess, on the high mountains, and on the hills and under each leafy green tree.^{c 3}And you shall break down their altars, and you shall smash their stone pillars, and their Asherah poles you must burn with fire, and the images of their gods you shall hew down, and you shall blot out their names from that place. ⁴You shall not worship Yahweh your God like this. ⁵But only^d to the place that Yahweh your God will choose from all of your tribes to place his name there as his dwelling shall you seek, and there you shall go. ⁶And you shall bring there your burnt offerings and your sacrifices and your tithes and your donations^e and your votive gifts and your freewill offerings and the firstling of your herd and your flock. ⁷And you shall eat there before^f Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice in all your endeavors,^g you and your family in which Yahweh your God has blessed you.

⁸“You must not do just as we are doing here today,^h each according to all that is right in his eyes.^{i 9}For you have not come up to now to the resting place and to the inheritance that Yahweh your God is giving to you. ¹⁰But you will cross the Jordan, and you will settle in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give rest to you from all your enemies from all around, and you will live securely, ¹¹and then^j at the place that Yahweh your God will choose, to let his name dwell there, there you shall bring all the things I am commanding you, your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your donations,^k and all of the choice things, your votive gifts that you vow to Yahweh. ¹²And you shall rejoice before^l Yahweh your God, you and your sons and your daughters and your slaves and your slave women and the Levite who is in your towns,^m because there is not for him a plot of ground and an inheritance with you.

¹³“Take care for yourself so that you do not offer your burnt offerings at just any place that you happen to see, ¹⁴but onlyⁿ at the place that Yahweh will choose among one of your tribes; there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all the things that I am commanding you.

¹⁵“But whenever you desire^o you may slaughter, and you may eat meat according to the blessing of Yahweh your God that he has given to you in all of your towns;^p the unclean and the clean may eat it just as they would the gazelle and as the deer. ¹⁶Only the blood you must not eat, but on the ground you must pour it like water. ¹⁷You are not allowed to eat in your towns^q the tithe of your grain and your wine and your olive oil and the firstborn of your herd and your flock and all of your votive gifts that you vowed and your freewill offering and your donations.^{r 18}But only before^s Yahweh your God you shall eat it, at the place that Yahweh your God will choose,^t you and your son and your daughter and your slave and your slave woman and the Levite who is in your towns,^u and you must rejoice before^v your God in all your undertakings.^{w 19}Take care^x so that you do not neglect the Levite all of your days on your land.

²⁰“When Yahweh your God enlarges your territory just as he has promised^y to you, and you say ‘I want to eat some meat,’ because you want it,^z whenever you desire^a you may eat meat. ²¹If the place that^b Yahweh your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, and you slaughter any of your herd and any of your flock that Yahweh has given to you just as I have commanded you, then you may eat whenever you desire in your towns.^{c 22}Surely just as the gazelle and the deer is eaten, so both the unclean and the clean together may eat it. ²³Only, be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the meat. ²⁴You shall not eat it, but on the ground you shall pour it out like water. ²⁵You shall not eat it, so that it will go well^d for you and your children after you, because then you will be doing what is^e right in the eyes of Yahweh. ²⁶Only your holy objects that are yours^f and your votive gifts you must carry and you must bring to the place that Yahweh will choose. ²⁷And you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood on the altar of Yahweh your God, and the blood of your sacrifices you shall pour out on the altar of Yahweh your God, but the meat you may eat. ²⁸Be careful to obey^g all these things that I am commanding you, so that it will go well^h for you and for your children after you forever,ⁱ because then you will be doing what is^j good and right^k in the eyes of Yahweh your God.

²⁹“When Yahweh your God has cut off the nations whom you are about to go to,^l to dispossess them before you,^m and you have dispossessed them, and you live in their land, ³⁰take careⁿ so that you are not ensnared into imitating them^o after their being destroyed from before you,^p and so that you not enquire concerning their gods, saying,^q ‘How did these nations serve their gods, and thus I myself^r want to do also.’ ³¹You must not do so toward Yahweh your God, because of every detestable thing they have done for their gods Yahweh hates, for even their sons and their daughters they would burn in the fire to their gods. ^32s All of the things^t that I am commanding you, you must diligently observe;^u you shall not add to it, and you shall not take away from it.”

13“If a prophet stands up in your midst or a dreamer of dreams^a and he gives to you a sign or wonder, ²and the sign or^b the wonder comes about that he spoke^c to you, saying,^d ‘Let us go after other gods (those whom you have not known), and let us serve them,’ ³you must not listen to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer, for Yahweh your God is testing you to know whether you love^e Yahweh your God with all of your heart and with all of your inner self.^{f 4}You shall go after Yahweh your God, and him you shall revere, and his commandment you shall keep, and to his voice you shall listen, and him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast. ⁵But that prophet or the dreamer of that dream shall be executed, for he spoke falsely about Yahweh your God, the one bringing you out from the land of Egypt and the one redeeming you from the house of slavery, in order to seduce you from the way that Yahweh your God commanded you to go in it; so in this way you shall purge the evil from your midst.

⁶“If your brother, the son of your mother or your son or your daughter or your wife whom you embrace^g or your intimate friend^h in secrecy says,ⁱ ‘Let us go and let us serve other gods!’ gods that you and your ancestors^j have not known, ⁷from among the gods of the people who are around you, those near you or those far from you,^k from one end of the earth and up to the other end of the earth, ⁸you must not give in to him, and you shall not listen to him, and your eye shall not take pity on him, and you shall not have compassion, and you shall not cover up^l for him. ⁹But you shall certainly kill him; your hand shall be first against him to kill him and next the hand of all of the people. ¹⁰And you shall stone him with stones and let him die, for he tried to seduce you from Yahweh your God, the one bringing you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. ¹¹And all of Israel shall hear, and they shall fear, and they shall not continue to act^m according to this evil thing in your midst.

¹²“If you hear in one of your towns which Yahweh your God is giving to you to live in, someone saying that^{n 13}worthless men^o have gone out from your midst and have seduced the inhabitants of their town, saying,^p ‘Let us go and serve other gods!’ whom you have not known, ¹⁴then you shall inquire and examine and interrogate thoroughly, and, look! It is true; the thing has actually been done, this detestable thing in your midst, ¹⁵then you shall certainly strike down the inhabitants of that town with the edge^q of the sword; you shall destroy it and everything in it, its domestic animals with the edge^r of the sword. ¹⁶And then you shall gather all of its booty into the middle of its public square, and you shall burn the town and all of its war-booty totally for Yahweh your God, and it shall be a pile of rubble forever;^s it shall not be built again. ¹⁷And let not something cling to your hand from the things devoted to destruction, so that Yahweh may turn back from his burning anger,^t and he may show compassion to you and he may continue to show compassion and so multiply you just as he swore^u to your ancestors,^{v 18}if you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep all of his commandments that I am commanding to you today^w so as to do the right thing in the eyes of Yahweh your God.”