Deuteronomy 12

1 “(I will now tell you again/These, [again], are) the rules and regulations that you must faithfully obey in the land that Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors [worshiped], is giving to you to occupy. You must obey these laws all the time that you are alive.

These are the rules and regulations you must make sure to follow the whole time you live in the land that the Lord, the God of your forefathers, has given you to own.

2 You must destroy all the places where the people-groups that you will expel worship their gods, on the tops of mountains and hills and under big green trees.

You are to completely destroy all the pagan shrines where the nations you're driving out worshiped their gods: on the top of high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.

3 You must tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. Completely burn the statues of their goddess Asherah in fires, and chop down their wooden idols, in order that no one will ever worship them [MTY] in those places again.

Tear down their altars, knock down their idolatrous pillars, burn down their Asherah poles, and cut down the idols of their gods. Remove any trace of them from everywhere.

4 “Do not worship Yahweh like [the people in Canaan worship their gods].

You are not to worship the Lord your God in the way that they did.

5 Instead, you must go to the place that Yahweh will choose. It will be in the area where one of your tribes will live. That is where you must go to worship Yahweh.

No, you must go to the place the Lord your God will choose from the territory of all your tribes to set up a place where he will live with you. That's where you must go.

6 That is the place where you must bring your sacrifices that will be completely burned on the altar, and your other sacrifices, (your tithes/ten percent of all of your crops), other offerings that you decide to give, and the firstborn animals from your cattle and sheep.

You'll take there your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and all your offerings—your freewill offerings and offerings to fulfill a promise, along with the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

7 There, in the presence of Yahweh our God, who has [greatly] blessed you, you and your families will eat the good things that you have worked to produce, and you will be happy.

That's where, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families will eat and celebrate everything you've worked for, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

8 “[When you are in that land], you must not do some of the things that we have been doing. Until now, you have all been worshiping [Yahweh] the way you wanted to,

You're not to do like we're doing here today. At the moment everyone does what they think is right,

9 because you have not yet arrived in the land which Yahweh is giving to you, where you will be able to live peacefully.

because you haven't arrived in the land you will own that the Lord your God is giving you and where you will be at peace.

10 But when you cross the Jordan [River], you will start to live in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you. He will protect you from all your enemies that will surround you, and you will live peacefully/safely.

After you cross the Jordan and settle down in the country that the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and he lets you rest from fighting all your enemies and you live in safety,

11 “Yahweh will choose one place where he wants you to worship him. That is the place to which you must bring all the offerings that I command you to bring: The sacrifices that must be completely burned [on the altar], your other sacrifices, other offerings that you yourselves decide to give, (your tithes/ten percent of all your crops), and all the special offerings that you will solemnly promise to give to Yahweh.

then the Lord your God will choose a place where he will live with you. That's where you are to bring everything I've order you to do—your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and freewill offerings, and all the special gifts you promise to give to the Lord.

12 Rejoice there in the presence of Yahweh, along with your children, your male and female servants, and the descendants of Levi who live in your towns. Do not forget that the descendants of Levi will not have their own land, like you will have.

You will celebrate there in the presence of the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites living in your towns, because they don't have any share in the allotment of land.

13 Be sure that you do not offer sacrifices anywhere you want to.

Make sure you don't present your burnt offerings just anywhere you want.

14 You must offer them only in the place that Yahweh will choose for you, in an area that belongs to one of your tribes. That is the only place where he wants you to offer sacrifices that will be completely burned [on the altar], and to do the other things that I am commanding you to do [when you worship him].

You are to offer them only in the place the Lord will choose in the territory of one of your tribes. That's where you are to do everything that I order you to do.

15 “However, you will be permitted to kill and eat the meat of your animals in the places where you live. As often as you want to, you may eat the meat of the animals that Yahweh our God will bless you by giving them to you. Those who have done things that cause them to become unacceptable to God and those who have not done things like that may all eat that meat, just like you would eat the meat of a deer or an antelope.

Of course you can slaughter and eat meat wherever you are, anytime you want, depending on how much the Lord your God has blessed you. All of you, whether you're ceremonially clean or not, can it eat it just like you would a gazelle or a deer,

16 But you must not eat the blood [of any animals]; you must let the blood drain onto the ground [before you cook the meat].

but you are not to eat the blood—pour that out on the ground.

17 In the places where you live, you must not eat the things that you are offering [to Yahweh]: You must not eat the (tithes/ten percent) of your grain or of your wine, or of your [olive] oil, or the firstborn of your cattle and sheep, or the offerings that you yourselves decide to give to Yahweh, or any other offerings.

In your towns you must not eat the tithe of your grain or new wine or olive oil, the firstborn of your herds or flocks, any of the offerings that you give to fulfill a promise, your freewill offerings, or your special gifts.

18 Instead, you and your children and your male and female servants and the descendants of Levi who live in your towns must go to the place that he has chosen and eat those things there in the presence of Yahweh. And you should rejoice in the presence of Yahweh about everything that you do.

No, you must eat them in the presence of the Lord your God at the place the Lord your God will choose— you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites living in your towns. Celebrate in the presence of the Lord your God in everything you do,

19 Be sure that you take care of the descendants of Levi all during the time that you live in your land.

and make sure you don't forget about the Levites as the whole time you live in your land.

20 “When Yahweh our God gives you much more land [than you will have when you first occupy it], which is what he has promised to do, and you say ‘I would like some meat to eat’ because you are craving/wanting some meat, you will be permitted to eat meat whenever you want to.

When the Lord your God gives you more land as he promised, and you feel like some meat, and say, “I want to have some meat,” you may can it whenever you want.

21 If the place that Yahweh our God chooses to be the place for you to worship him is far [from where you live], you are permitted to kill some of your cattle or sheep that Yahweh has given to you, and you may eat that meat at the places where you live, just like I have told you to do.

If the place where the Lord your God chooses to live with you is a long way away, then you can slaughter any animal from the herd or flock he has given you, following the regulations I have given you, and you can eat it in your town whenever you want.

22 Those who have done things that cause them to become unacceptable to God, and those who have not done things like that, are all permitted to all eat that meat, just like you would eat the meat of a deer or an antelope.

In fact you can eat it like you would eat a gazelle or deer—whether you're ceremonially clean or not, you can eat it.

23 But be sure that you do not eat the blood [of any animal], because it is the blood that sustains life in living beings, and so you must not eat the life along with the meat.

Just make sure you don't eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.

24 Do not eat the blood; instead, let it drain onto the ground.

You must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground.

25 If you obey this command and do what Yahweh says is right [for you to do], things will go well for you and for your descendants.

Don't eat it, so that all will go well with you and your children, because you will be doing what is right in the Lord's sight.

26 “But the sacred offerings that Yahweh has told you to give and the other offerings that you yourselves decide to give, you must take to the place that Yahweh will choose.

Take your holy sacrifices and the offerings to fulfill your vows and go to the place the Lord will choose.

27 You must offer there the sacrifices that will be completely burned [on Yahweh’s altar]. You must also offer there the sacrifices from which you may eat some of meat after you [kill the animals and] drain out the blood and some of it is thrown on the [sides of the] altar.

Present your burnt offerings, the meat and blood, on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your other sacrifices is to be poured out beside the altar of the Lord your God, but you are allowed to eat the meat.

28 Faithfully obey all these things that I have commanded you. If you do that, things will go well forever for you and your descendants, because you will be doing what Yahweh our God says is right [for you to do] and what pleases him.

Make sure you obey everything I'm commanding you, so that it may always go well with you and your children, because you will be following what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

29 “When you enter the land that you will occupy, as you advance, Yahweh our God will get rid of the people-groups that live there.

When the Lord your God destroys the nations ahead of you as you enter the country to possess, and you drive them out and settle down in their land,

30 After he does that, be sure that you do not [worship the gods] that they have been worshiping, because if you do that, you will be caught in the same trap [that they were caught in] [MET]. Do not ask anyone about those gods, saying, ‘Tell me how they worshiped their gods, in order that I can [worship them] also.’

make sure you don't fall into the trap of following their ways after they have been destroyed right in front of you. Don't try and find out about their gods, asking, “I wonder how these people worship their gods? I'll do like they did.”

31 Do not try to worship Yahweh our God like they have worshiped their gods, because when they worship them, they do disgusting things, things that Yahweh hates. [The worst thing that they do is] that they sacrifice their own children and burn them [on their altars].

You must not worship the Lord your God like this, because when they worship their gods they do every kind of abominable thing that the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods!

32 “Be sure to do everything that I have commanded you to do. Do not add anything to these commands, and do not take anything away from them.”

Be careful to do everything I order you to do. Don't add or take away anything from these instructions.