Deuteronomy 12

Deuteronomy Chapter 12 KJV

1Monuments of idolatry must be destroyed. 4The service of God must be attended upon in the place of his choosing. 15, 20Flesh for common food may be killed and eaten elsewhere, only without the blood; 17, 26but all holy things must be brought and eaten in the holy place. 19The Levite not to be forsaken. 29Idolatrous practices not to be enquired after.
1 These are the 1statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to do 2in the land, which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it, 3all the days that ye live upon the earth.
2 Ye 1shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall apossess served their gods, upon the high 2mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:
3 And ye shall aoverthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, 1and destroy the names of them out of that place.
4 Ye 1shall not do so unto the Lord your God.
5 But 1unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his 2habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:
6 And 1thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks:
7 And there ye 1shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye 2shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee.
8 Ye shall 1not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.
9 For ye are not as yet come to the rest 1and to the inheritance, which the Lord your God giveth you.
10 But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that 1ye dwell in safety;
11 Then there shall be 1a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all ayour choice vows which ye vow unto the Lord:
12 And ye shall 1rejoice before the Lord your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he hath 2no part nor inheritance with you.
13 Take 1heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:
14 But 1in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.
15 Notwithstanding 1thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee: 2the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, 3as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.
16 Only 1ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.
17 ¶ Thou 1mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy wine, or of thy oil, or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy freewill offerings, or heave offering of thine hand:
18 But 1thou must eat them before the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and 2the Levite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.
19 1Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite aas long as thou livest upon the earth.
20 ¶ When the Lord thy God 1shall enlarge thy border, 2as he hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh; thou mayest eat flesh, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.
21 If the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to put his name there be too far from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock, which the Lord hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates whatsoever thy soul lusteth after.
22 Even 1as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat them: the unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike.
23 Only abe sure that 1thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.
24 Thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water.
25 Thou shalt not eat it; that it may go 1well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord.
26 Only 1thy holy things which thou hast, and 2thy vows, thou shalt take, and go unto the place which the Lord shall choose:
27 And thou 1shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the Lord thy God: and the blood of thy 2sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the Lord thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh.
28 Observe 1and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord thy God.
29 ¶ When 1the Lord thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou asucceedest them, and dwellest in their land;
30 Take 1heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following athem, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
31 Thou 1shalt not do so unto the Lord thy God: for every aabomination to the Lord, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have 2burnt in the fire to their gods.
32 What 1thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
Deuteronomy 12