Chapter 12
1 These are the statutes and the ordinances which you shall observe to do in the land which the LORD , the God of your fathers, has given you to possess all the days that you live on the earth.
2 You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods: on the high mountains , and on the hills , and under every green tree .
3 You shall break down their altars , dash their pillars in pieces , and burn their Asherah poles with fire. You shall cut down the engraved images of their gods. You shall destroy their name out of that place .
4 You shall not do so to the LORD your God .
5 But to the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes , to put his name there , you shall seek his habitation , and you shall come there .
6 You shall bring your burnt offerings , your sacrifices , your tithes , the wave offering of your hand , your vows , your free will offerings , and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock there .
7 There you shall eat before the LORD your God , and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to , you and your households , in which the LORD your God has blessed you .
8 You shall not do all the things that we do here today , every man whatever is right in his own eyes ;
9 for you haven’t yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the LORD your God gives you .
10 But when you go over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the LORD your God causes you to inherit , and he gives you rest from all your enemies around you , so that you dwell in safety,
11 then it shall happen that to the place which the LORD your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there , there you shall bring all that I command you : your burnt offerings , your sacrifices , your tithes , the wave offering of your hand , and all your choice vows which you vow to the LORD .
12 You shall rejoice before the LORD your God — you , and your sons , your daughters , your male servants , your female servants , and the Levite who is within your gates , because he has no portion nor inheritance with you .
13 Be careful that you don’t offer your burnt offerings in every place that 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 Yet you may kill and eat meat within all your gates , after all the desire of your soul , according to the LORD your God ’s blessing which he has given you . The unclean and the clean may eat of it , as of the gazelle and the deer.
16 Only you shall not eat the blood . You shall pour it out on the earth like water .
17 You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain , or of your new wine , or of your oil , or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock , nor any of your vows which you vow , nor your free will offerings , nor the wave offering of your hand ;
18 but you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God shall choose: you , your son , your daughter , your male servant , your female servant , and the Levite who is within your gates . You shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all that you put your hand to .
19 Be careful that you don’t forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.
20 When the LORD your God enlarges your border , as he has promised you , and you say , " I want to eat meat ," because your soul desires to eat meat , you may eat meat , after all the desire of your soul .
21 If the place which the LORD your God shall choose to put his name is too far from you , then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock , which the LORD has given you , as I have commanded you ; and you may eat within your gates , after all the desire of your soul .
22 Even as the gazelle and as the deer is eaten, so you shall eat of it . The unclean and the clean may eat of it alike .
23 Only be sure that you don’t eat the blood ; for the blood is the life . You shall not eat the life with the meat .
24 You shall not eat it . You shall pour it out on the earth like water .
25 You shall not eat it , that it may go well with you and with your children after you , when you do that which is right in the LORD ’s eyes .
26 Only your holy things which you have , and your vows , you shall take and go to the place which the LORD shall choose.
27 You shall offer your burnt offerings , the meat and the blood , on the LORD your God ’s altar . The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the LORD your God ’s altar , and you shall eat the meat .
28 Observe and hear all these words which I command you , that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever , when you do that which is good and right in the LORD your God ’s eyes .
29 When the LORD your God cuts off the nations from before you where you go in to dispossess them , and you dispossess them and dwell in their land ,
30 be careful that you are not ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed from before you , and that you not enquire after their gods, saying, " How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise ."
31 You shall not do so to the LORD your God ; for every abomination to the LORD , which he hates , they have done to their gods; for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
32 Whatever thing I command you, that you shall observe to do. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it.