12:1 “These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully ①follow in the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess ②as long as you live on the ③earth.
▷ ①Lit perform ②Lit all the days ③Lit ground
12:2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you are going to dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every leafy tree.
12:3 And you shall tear down their altars and smash their memorial stones to pieces, and burn their ①Asherim in the fire, and cut to pieces the carved images of their gods; and you shall eliminate their name from that place.
▷ ①I.e., wooden symbols of a female deity (Asherah)
12:4 You shall not act this way toward the LORD your God.
12:5 But 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 you shall come there.
12:6 You shall bring there your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the ①contribution of your hand, your vowed offerings, your ②voluntary offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.
▷ ①Or uplifted offering ②Or freewill offerings
12:7 There you and your households shall eat before the LORD your God, and rejoice in all ①your undertakings in which the LORD your God has blessed you.
▷ ①Lit the putting forth of your hand
12:8 “You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes;
12:9 for you have not as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the LORD your God is giving you.
12:10 When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security,
12:11 then it shall come about that the place in which the LORD your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring everything that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the ①contribution of your hand, and all your choice vowed offerings which you will vow to the LORD.
▷ ①Or uplifted offering
12:12 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you and your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance with you.
12:13 “Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in any cultic place that you see,
12:14 but only in the place which the LORD chooses in one of your tribes: there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do everything that I command you.
12:15 “However, 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 alike may eat it, as the gazelle and the deer.
▷ ①Lit in every desire of your soul
12:16 Only you shall not eat the blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.
12:17 You are not allowed to eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, new wine, or oil, or the firstborn of your herd or flock, or any of your vowed offerings which you vow, or your ①voluntary offerings, or the ②contribution of your hand.
▷ ①Or freewill offerings ②Or uplifted offering
12:18 But you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God will choose, you and your son and daughter, and your male and female slaves, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all ①your undertakings.
▷ ①Lit the putting forth of your hand
12:19 Be careful that you do not abandon the Levite ①as long as you live in your land.
▷ ①Lit all your days upon your land
12:20 “When the LORD your God extends your border as He has ①promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because ②you desire to eat meat, then you may eat meat, ③whatever you desire.
▷ ①Lit spoken to ②Lit your soul desires ③Lit in every desire of your soul
12:21 If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter animals from 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.
▷ ①Lit in every desire of your soul
12:22 Just as a gazelle or a deer is eaten, so you may eat it; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it.
12:23 Only be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the ①life, and you shall not eat the ②life with the flesh.
▷ ①Lit soul ②Lit soul
12:24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.
12:25 You shall not eat it, so that it may go well for you and your sons after you, since you will be doing what is right in the sight of the LORD.
12:26 Only your holy things which you may have and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the LORD chooses.
12:27 And you 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 you shall eat the flesh.
12:28 “Be careful and listen to all these words which I am commanding you, so that it may go well for 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.
12:29 “When the LORD your God cuts off from you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and live in their land,
12:30 be careful that you are not ensnared ①to follow them, after they are destroyed from your presence, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’
▷ ①Lit after them
12:31 You shall not behave this way toward the LORD your God, because every abominable act which the LORD hates, they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods.
12:32 “ ①Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take anything away from it.
▷ ①Lit Everything that