Deuteronomy 12

Destroy the Places of Other Worship

1“These are the statutes and judgments that you shall be careful to do in the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess, all the days that you live upon the ground. 2You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you are dispossessing served their gods, on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every flourishing tree. 3You shall tear down their altars, shatter their pillars, burn their Asherah poles with fire, cut down the carved images of their gods, and destroy their name from that place.

Seek the Place the LORD Will Choose

4“You shall not do so to the LORD your God. 5Rather, you shall seek the place that the LORD your God will choose from all your tribes to put his name there, for his dwelling, and there you shall come. 6There you shall bring your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, contributions from your hand, vow offerings, freewill offerings, and firstborn from your herd and flock. 7There you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all the work of your hands, you and your households, in which the LORD your God has blessed you. 8You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, each person whatever is right in his own eyes, 9for until now you have not come to the rest and to the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you. 10But when you cross the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, and he gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live securely, 11then to the place that the LORD your God will choose to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, contribution from your hand, and all your choice vow offerings that you vow to the LORD. 12You shall rejoice before the LORD your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male servants and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance with you.

Do Not Offer Sacrifices in Every Place

13“Guard yourself, lest you offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see. 14Rather, in the place that the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.

You May Slaughter and Eat Meat in Your Towns

15“Yet according to all the desire of your life, you may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat it, as the gazelle and as the deer. 16Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out upon the ground like water. 17You may not 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 vow offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings, or the contribution of your hand. 18Rather, you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place that the LORD your God will choose—you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates—and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all the work of your hands. 19Guard yourself, lest you abandon the Levite all your days upon your land.

When the LORD Enlarges Your Territory

20“When the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he spoke to you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because your life desires to eat meat, according to all the desire of your life you may eat meat. 21If the place that the LORD your God chooses to put his name there is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and flock that the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates according to all the desire of your life. 22Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat it. The unclean and the clean alike may eat it. 23Only be strong not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. 24You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out upon the ground like water. 25You shall not eat it, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you, when you do what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

Bring Holy Things to the Chosen Place

26“Only your holy things that belong to you and your vow offerings you shall take and go to the place that the LORD will choose. 27You shall offer your burnt offerings, flesh and blood, on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out against the altar of the LORD your God, and you may eat the flesh. 28Guard and listen to all these words that I command you, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God.

Do Not Imitate the Nations’ Worship

29“When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations whom you are entering to dispossess, and you dispossess them and live in their land, 30guard yourself, lest you be ensnared to follow them after they are destroyed before you, and lest you inquire concerning their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I also will do likewise.’ 31You shall not do so to the LORD your God, for every detestable thing that the LORD hates they have done for their gods. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods. 32Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take away from it.