Deuteronomy 12

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
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.	1 "These are the statutes and decrees which you must be careful to observe in the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to occupy, as long as you live on its soil.
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;	2 Destroy without fail every place on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every leafy tree where the nations you are to dispossess worship their gods.
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.	3 Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, destroy by fire their sacred poles, and shatter the idols of their gods, that you may stamp out the remembrance of them in any such place.
4 'Not so must you behave towards Yahweh your God.	4 "That is not how you are to worship the LORD, 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.	5 Instead, you shall resort to the place which the LORD, your God, chooses out of all your tribes and designates as his dwelling
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;	6 and there you shall bring your holocausts and sacrifices, your tithes and personal contributions, your votive and freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and flocks.
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.	7 There, too, before the LORD, your God, you and your families shall eat and make merry over all your undertakings, because the LORD, 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,	8 You shall not do as we are now doing; here, everyone does what seems right to himself,
9 since you have not yet come to the resting place and the heritage that Yahweh your God is going togive you.	9 since you have not yet reached your resting place, the heritage which the LORD, your God, will give 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.	10 But after you have crossed the Jordan and dwell in the land which the LORD, your God, is giving you as a heritage, when he has given you rest from all your enemies round about and you live there in security,
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.	11 then to the place which the LORD, your God, chooses as the dwelling place for his name you shall bring all the offerings I command you: your holocausts and sacrifices, your tithes and personal contributions, and every special offering you have vowed to the LORD.
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.	12 You shall make merry before the LORD, your God, with your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, as well as with the Levite who belongs to your community but has no share of his own in your heritage.
13 'Take care you do not offer your burnt offerings in al the sacred places you see;	13 Take care not to offer up your holocausts in any place you fancy,
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.	14 but offer them up in the place which the LORD chooses from among your tribes; there you shall make whatever offerings I enjoin upon 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.	15 "However, in any of your communities you may slaughter and eat to your heart's desire as much meat as the LORD, your God, has blessed you with; and the unclean as well as the clean may eat it, as they do the gazelle or the deer.
16 You wil not, however, eat the blood, but wil pour that like water on the ground.	16 Only, you shall not partake of the blood, but must pour it out on the ground like water.
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.	17 Moreover, you shall not, in your own communities, partake of your tithe of grain or wine or oil, of the first-born of your herd or flock, of any offering you have vowed, of your freewill offerings, or of your personal contributions.
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.	18 These you must eat before the LORD, your God, in the place he chooses, along with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and the Levite who belongs to your community; and there, before the LORD, you shall make merry over all your undertakings.
19 As long as you live on your soil, be careful not to neglect the Levite.	19 Take care, also, that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in the land.
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.	20 "After the LORD, your God, has enlarged your territory, as he promised you, when you wish meat for food, you may eat it at will, to your heart's desire;
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.	21 and if the place which the LORD, your God, chooses for the abode of his name is too far, you may slaughter in the manner I have told you any of your herd or flock that the LORD has given you, and eat it to your heart's desire in your own community.
22 But you must eat it as you would gazel e or deer; clean and unclean may eat it together.	22 You may eat it as you would the gazelle or the deer: the unclean and the clean eating it alike.
23 Take care, however, not to eat the blood, since blood is life, and you must not eat the life with themeat.	23 But make sure that you do not partake of the blood; for blood is life, and you shall not consume this seat of life with the flesh.
24 You must not eat it, but must pour it like water on the ground.	24 Do not partake of the blood, therefore, but pour it out on the ground like water.
25 You must not eat it -- so that you, and your children after you, may prosper, doing what is right inYahweh's eyes.	25 Abstain from it, that you and your children after you may prosper for doing what is right in the sight of the LORD.
26 But the holy things of yours and the things which you have dedicated, you must go and take to theplace chosen by Yahweh.	26 However, any sacred gifts or votive offerings that you may have, you shall bring with you to the place which the LORD chooses,
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.	27 and there you must offer both the flesh and the blood of your holocausts on the altar of the LORD, your God; of your other sacrifices the blood indeed must be poured out against the altar of the LORD, your God, but their flesh may be eaten.
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.	28 Be careful to heed all these commandments I enjoin on you, that you and your descendants may always prosper for doing what is good and right in the sight of the LORD, 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,	29 "When the LORD, your God, removes the nations from your way as you advance to dispossess them, be on your guard! Otherwise, once they have been wiped out before you and you have replaced them and are settled in their land,
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."	30 you will be lured into following them. Do not inquire regarding their gods, 'How did these nations worship their gods? I, too, would do the same.'
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!'	31 You shall not thus worship the LORD, your God, because they offered to their gods every abomination that the LORD detests, even burning their sons and daughters to their gods.