Deuteronomy 12

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
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 precepts and judgments which you must do in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, will give to you, so that you may possess it during all the days that you shall walk upon the 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 Overturn all the places where the nations, which you will possess, worshipped their gods on lofty mountains, and on hills, and under every leafy 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.	3 Scatter their altars and break their statues. Burn their sacred groves with fire and crush their idols. Abolish their names from those places.
4 'Not so must you behave towards Yahweh your God.	4 But you shall not do the same to 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 approach the place which the Lord your God will choose among all your tribes, so that he may set his name there, and may dwell in that place.
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 you shall offer, in that place, your holocausts and victims, the tithes and first-fruits of your hands, and your vows and gifts, the firstborn of the cattle and of the sheep.
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 And you shall eat it there, in the sight of the Lord your God. And you shall rejoice in all the things to which you shall set your hand: you and your household, which the Lord your God has blessed for 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 there the things that we are doing here today: each one doing what seems good 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 For even until the present time, you did not arrive at the rest and the possession, which the Lord your God will give to 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 You shall cross over the Jordan, and you shall live in the land which the Lord your God will give to you, so that you may have rest from all the surrounding enemies, and so that you may live without any fear,
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 in the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may be in it. To that place, you shall bring all the things that I instruct you: holocausts, and victims, and tithes, and the first-fruits of your hands, and whatever is best among the gifts that you shall vow 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 In that place, you shall feast before the Lord your God: you, and your sons and daughters, your men and women servants, as well as the Levite who dwells in your cities. For he has no other portion or possession among you.
13 'Take care you do not offer your burnt offerings in al the sacred places you see;	13 Take care that you do not offer your holocausts in any place that 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.	14 Instead, you shall offer sacrifices in the place which the Lord will choose within one of your tribes, and you shall do whatsoever I instruct 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 So, if you wish to eat, and if the eating of flesh pleases you, then kill and eat according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which he has given to you, in your cities: you may eat it whether it is unclean, that is, having blemish or defect, or whether it is clean, that is, whole and without blemish, of the kind which is permitted to be offered, such as the roe deer and the stag.
16 You wil not, however, eat the blood, but wil pour that like water on the ground.	16 Only the blood you shall not eat. Instead, you shall pour it upon 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 You may not eat in your towns the tithes of your crops, and your wine and oil, the firstborn of your herds and your flocks, nor anything which you will vow, or which you will offer spontaneously, nor the first-fruits of your hands.
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 But you shall eat these before the Lord your God, in the place which the Lord your God will choose: you, and your son, and your daughter, and your man servant and woman servant, and the Levite who dwells in your cities. And you shall rejoice and be refreshed in the sight of the Lord your God by all the things to which you will extend your hand.
19 As long as you live on your soil, be careful not to neglect the Levite.	19 Be careful, lest you abandon the Levite, at anytime while you are living 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 When the Lord your God will have enlarged your borders, just as he has spoken to you, and when you would eat the flesh that your soul desires,
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 but if the place which the Lord your God will choose, so that his name may be there, is far away, you may kill, from your herds and your flocks which you will have, in the manner I have instructed to you, and you may eat in your towns, as it pleases you.
22 But you must eat it as you would gazel e or deer; clean and unclean may eat it together.	22 Just as the roe deer and the stag may be eaten, so also may you eat these: you may eat both the clean and the unclean alike.
23 Take care, however, not to eat the blood, since blood is life, and you must not eat the life with themeat.	23 Only beware of this: you may not eat the blood. For their blood is for the soul. And because of this, you must not eat the soul with the flesh.
24 You must not eat it, but must pour it like water on the ground.	24 Instead, you shall pour it upon 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 so that it may be well with you, and with your sons after you, when you will do what is pleasing 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 But the things that you have sanctified and vowed to the Lord, you shall take up and bring to the place which the Lord will choose.
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 you shall offer your oblations of flesh and of blood upon the altar of the Lord your God. You shall poor out the blood of your victims upon the altar. And you yourself shall eat the flesh.
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 Observe and heed all the things that I instruct to you, so that it may be well with you, and with your sons after you, continually, when you will do what is good and pleasing 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 will have abolished before your face the nations, which you shall enter so as to possess them, and when you will possess them and live 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 be careful that you do not imitate them, after they have been overturned at your arrival, and that you do not seek their ceremonies, saying: ‘Just as these nations have worshipped their gods, so also will I worship.’
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 act in like manner toward the Lord your God. For they have done to their gods all the abominations that the Lord spurns, offering their sons and daughters, and burning them with fire.
	32 What I command to you, this only shall you do, for the Lord. You may neither add nor subtract anything.”