Deuteronomy 12–13

Chapter 12

Laws of the Sanctuary

¹“These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess ^1aas long as you live on the ²earth.

²“You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the ^ahigh mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.

³“^aYou shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their ¹Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and ^bobliterate their name from that place.

⁴“You shall not act like this toward the Lord your God.

⁵“^aBut you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come.

⁶“There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, ^ayour tithes, the ¹contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.

⁷“There also you and your households shall eat before the Lord your God, and ^arejoice in all ¹your undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

⁸“You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes;

⁹for you have not as yet come to ^athe resting place and the ^binheritance which the Lord your God is giving you.

¹⁰“When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and ^aHe gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security,

^11athen it shall come about that the place in which the Lord your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the ¹contribution of your hand, and all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to the Lord.

¹²“And you shall ^arejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the ^bLevite who is within your gates, since ^che has no portion or inheritance with you.

¹³“^aBe careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see,

¹⁴but in the place which the Lord chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

¹⁵“^aHowever, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, ¹whatever you desire, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you; the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of ^bthe gazelle and the deer.

¹⁶“^aOnly you shall not eat the blood; ^byou are to pour it out on the ground like water.

¹⁷“^aYou are not allowed to eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, or the firstborn of your herd or flock, or any of your votive offerings which you vow, or your freewill offerings, or the ¹contribution of your hand.

¹⁸“But ^ayou shall eat them before the Lord your God in ^bthe place which the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and daughter, and your male and female servants, and the ^cLevite who is within your gates; and you shall ^drejoice before the Lord your God in all ¹your undertakings.

¹⁹“^aBe careful that you do not forsake the Levite ¹as long as you live in your land.

²⁰“When the Lord your God extends your border ^aas He has promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because ¹you desire to eat meat, then you may eat meat, ²whatever you desire.

²¹“If the place which the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter of your herd and flock which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates ¹whatever you desire.

²²“Just as a gazelle or a deer is eaten, so you will eat it; the unclean and the clean alike may eat of it.

²³“Only be sure ^anot to eat the blood, for the blood is the ¹life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.

²⁴“You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

²⁵“You shall not eat it, so that ^ait may be well with you and your sons after you, for ^byou will be doing what is right in the sight of the Lord.

²⁶“^aOnly your holy things which you may have and your votive offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the Lord chooses.

²⁷“And ^ayou shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, and ^byou shall eat the flesh.

²⁸“Be careful to listen to all these words which I command you, so that ^ait may be well with you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

²⁹“When ^athe Lord your God cuts off before you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land,

³⁰beware that you are not ensnared ¹to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’

³¹“^aYou shall not behave thus toward the Lord your God, for every abominable act which the Lord hates they have done for their gods; for ^bthey even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.

³²“^1aWhatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; ^byou shall not add to nor take away from it.

Chapter 13

Shun Idolatry

¹“^1aIf a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder,

²and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘^aLet us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’

³you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is ^atesting you to find out if ^byou love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

⁴“^aYou shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and ^bcling to Him.

⁵“But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be ^aput to death, because he has ¹counseled ²rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of ³slavery, ^bto seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. ^cSo you shall purge the evil from among you.

⁶“^aIf your brother, your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife ¹you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, ‘^bLet us go and serve other gods’ (whom neither you nor your fathers have known,

⁷of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end),

^8ayou shall not yield to him or listen to him; ^band your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him.

⁹“^aBut you shall surely kill him; ^byour hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

¹⁰“So you shall stone him ¹to death because he has sought ^ato seduce you from the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of ²slavery.

¹¹“Then ^aall Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.

¹²“If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that

¹³some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘^aLet us go and serve other gods’ (whom you have not known),

¹⁴then you shall investigate and search out and inquire thoroughly. If it is true and the matter established that this abomination has been done among you,

^15ayou shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, ¹utterly destroying it and all that is in it and its cattle with the edge of the sword.

¹⁶“^aThen you shall gather all its booty into the middle of its open square and burn the city and all its booty with fire as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God; and it shall be a ^1bruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt.

¹⁷“Nothing from that which is put under the ban shall cling to your hand, in order that the Lord may turn from ^aHis burning anger and ^bshow mercy to you, and have compassion on you and ^cmake you increase, just ^das He has sworn to your fathers,

¹⁸¹if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, ²keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, ³and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.