Deuteronomy Capítulo 12
Moses delivered three farewell speeches just before he died. In them he recapitulated, with the people, all the laws of God for the Israelites. The name of the book expresses this "recap" or "second law".
A Conservative Version
12 : 1 These are the statutes and the ordinances which ye shall observe to do in the land which Jehovah, the God of thy fathers, has given thee to possess it all the days that ye live upon the earth.
12 : 2 Ye shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that ye shall dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree.
12 : 3 And ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire. And ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and ye shall destroy their name out of that place.
12 : 4 Ye shall not do so to Jehovah your God.
12 : 5 But to the place which Jehovah your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even to his habitation ye shall seek, and there thou shall come.
12 : 6 And there ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herd and of your flock.
12 : 7 And there ye shall eat before Jehovah your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand to, ye and your households, in which Jehovah thy God has blessed thee.
12 : 8 Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatever is right in his own eyes.
12 : 9 For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which Jehovah thy God gives thee.
12 : 10 But when ye go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which Jehovah your God causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety,
12 : 11 then it shall come to pass that to the place which Jehovah your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there, there ye shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow to Jehovah.
12 : 12 And ye shall rejoice before Jehovah your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and the Levite who is within your gates-inasmuch as he has no portion nor inheritance with you.
12 : 13 Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou see,
12 : 14 but in the place which Jehovah shall choose in one of thy tribes. There thou shall offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shall do all that I command thee.
12 : 15 Notwithstanding, thou may kill and eat flesh within all thy gates, after all the desire of thy soul, according to the blessing of Jehovah thy God which he has given thee, the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle, and as of the hart.
12 : 16 Only ye shall not eat the blood. Thou shall pour it out upon the ground as water.
12 : 17 Thou may not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy grain, or of thy new wine, or of thine oil, or the firstlings of thy herd or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vow, nor thy freewill offerings, nor the heave offering of thy hand.
12 : 18 But thou shall eat them before Jehovah thy God in the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite who is within thy gates. And thou shall rejoice before Jehovah thy God in all that thou put thy hand to.
12 : 19 Take heed to thyself that thou not forsake the Levite as long as thou live in thy land.
12 : 20 When Jehovah thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he has promised thee, and thou shall say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul desires to eat flesh, thou may eat flesh, after all the desire of thy soul.
12 : 21 If the place which Jehovah thy God shall choose, to put his name there, be too far from thee, then thou shall kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which Jehovah has given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou may eat within thy gates, according to all the desire of thy soul.
12 : 22 Even as the gazelle and as the hart is eaten, so thou shall eat of it. The unclean and the clean may eat of it alike.
12 : 23 Only be sure that thou not eat the blood. For the blood is the life, and thou shall not eat the life with the flesh.
12 : 24 Thou shall not eat it. Thou shall pour it out upon the ground as water.
12 : 25 Thou shall not eat it, that it may go well with thee, and with thy sons after thee, when thou shall do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah.
12 : 26 Only thy holy things which thou have, and thy vows, thou shall take, and go to the place which Jehovah shall choose.
12 : 27 And thou shall offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of Jehovah thy God, and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of Jehovah thy God, and thou shall eat the flesh.
12 : 28 Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy sons after thee forever, when thou do that which is good and right in the eyes of Jehovah thy God.
12 : 29 When Jehovah thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, where thou go in to dispossess them, and thou dispossess them, and dwell in their land,
12 : 30 take heed to thyself that thou be not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed from before thee, and that thou not inquire after their gods, saying, How do these nations serve their gods? Even so I will do likewise.
12 : 31 Thou shall not do so to Jehovah thy God. For every abomination to Jehovah, which he hates, they have done to their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
12 : 32 Whatever thing I command you, that shall ye observe to do. Thou shall not add to it, nor diminish from it.