Deuteronomy 12

¹ 'Now, these are the laws and customs which you must keep in the country which Yahweh, God of yourancestors, is giving you as yours, and which you must observe every day that you live in that country.

² 'You must completely destroy all the places where the nations you dispossess have served their gods,on high mountains, on hills, under any spreading tree;

³ you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, burn their sacred poles, hack to bits thestatues of their gods and obliterate their name from that place.

⁴ 'Not so must you behave towards Yahweh your God.

⁵ You must seek Yahweh your God in the place which he wil choose from al your tribes, there to sethis name and give it a home: that is where you must go.

⁶ That is where you must bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and offerings heldhigh, your votive offerings and your voluntary offerings, and the first-born of your herd and flock;

⁷ and that is where you must eat in the presence of Yahweh your God, rejoicing over your labours, youand your households, because Yahweh your God has blessed you.

⁸ 'You must not behave as we are behaving here today, each of you doing what he himself sees fit,

⁹ since you have not yet come to the resting place and the heritage that Yahweh your God is going togive you.

¹⁰ You are about to cross the Jordan and live in the country given you by Yahweh your God as yourheritage; he will grant you peace from al the enemies surrounding you, and you wil live in safety.

¹¹ To the place chosen by Yahweh your God as a home for his name, to that place you must bring althe things that I am laying down for you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and offerings heldhigh, and al the best of your possessions dedicated by you to Yahweh.

¹² That is where you will rejoice in the presence of Yahweh your God, you and your sons anddaughters, your serving men and women, and the Levite living in your community since he has no share orheritage of his own among you.

¹³ 'Take care you do not offer your burnt offerings in al the sacred places you see;

¹⁴ only in the place that Yahweh chooses in one of your tribes may you offer your burnt offerings and doal the things which I have commanded you.

¹⁵ 'This notwithstanding, and whenever you wish, you may slaughter and eat meat wherever you live --as much as the blessing of Yahweh affords you. Clean or unclean may eat it, as though it were gazel e or deer.

¹⁶ You wil not, however, eat the blood, but wil pour that like water on the ground.

¹⁷ 'You must not eat the tithe of your wheat, of your new wine or of your oil, or the first-born of your herdor flock, or any of your votive offerings or voluntary offerings, or your offerings held high to Yahweh, at home.

¹⁸ You must eat these in the presence of Yahweh your God in the place Yahweh your God choosesand there alone, you, your son and your daughter, your serving man and serving woman, and the Levite living inyour community, expressing your joy in al your labours in the presence of Yahweh your God.

¹⁹ As long as you live on your soil, be careful not to neglect the Levite.

²⁰ 'When Yahweh your God enlarges your territory as he has promised you, and you say, "I should liketo eat meat," if you want to eat meat you may eat as much as you like.

²¹ If the place in which Yahweh your God chooses to set his name is too far away, you may slaughterany of your herd or flock that Yahweh has given you, as I have prescribed for you; you may eat as much of it asyou please at home.

²² But you must eat it as you would gazel e or deer; clean and unclean may eat it together.

²³ Take care, however, not to eat the blood, since blood is life, and you must not eat the life with themeat.

²⁴ You must not eat it, but must pour it like water on the ground.

²⁵ You must not eat it -- so that you, and your children after you, may prosper, doing what is right inYahweh's eyes.

²⁶ But the holy things of yours and the things which you have dedicated, you must go and take to theplace chosen by Yahweh.

²⁷ The burnt offerings of meat and blood must be presented on the altar of Yahweh your God; whereas,in your sacrifices, the blood must be poured on the altar of Yahweh your God; the meat you yourselves may eat.

²⁸ Faithful y keep and obey al these orders which I am giving you, so that you and your children afteryou may prosper for ever, doing what is good and right in the eyes of Yahweh your God.

²⁹ 'When Yahweh your God has annihilated the nations confronting you, whom you are going todispossess, and when you have dispossessed them and made your home in their country,

³⁰ beware of being entrapped into copying them, after they have been destroyed to make way for you,and do not enquire about their gods, saying, "How did these nations worship their gods? I am going to do thesame too."

³¹ This is not the way to treat Yahweh your God. For in honour of their gods they have done everythingdetestable that Yahweh hates; yes, in honour of their gods, they even burn their own sons and daughters assacrifices!'