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;

9 for 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,

11 athen 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,

14 but 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 1life 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,

30 beware 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.