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1 These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall observe to do in the land which Adonai, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess it, all the days that you live on the earth. 2 * You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess abad ·served· their deities, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree. 3 You shall break down their altars, and dash their pillars in pieces, and burn their Asherah poles with fire. You shall cut down the engraved images of their deities. You shall destroy their name out of that place. 4 † You shall not do so to Adonai your God. 5 ‡ But to the place which Adonai your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, you shall seek his habitation, and there you shall come. 6 There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the wave offering of your hand, your vows, your free will offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. 7 There you shall eat before Adonai your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which Adonai your God has blessed you. 8 You shall not do after all the things that we do here today, every man whatever is right in his own eyes; 9 for you haven’t yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which Adonai your God gives you. 10 But when you go over the Jordan [Descender], and dwell in the land which Adonai your God causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies around you, so that you dwell in safety; (2) 11 § then it shall happen that to the place which Adonai your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, there you shall bring all that I enjoin you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the wave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to Adonai. 12 You shall rejoice before Adonai your God, you, and your sons, your daughters, your male servants, your female servants, and the Levite [Descendant of United with] who is within your gates, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you. 13 * Be careful that you don’t offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; 14 but in the place which Adonai chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I enjoin you. 15 †
Notwithstanding, you may kill and eat meat within all your gates, after all the desire of your soul, according to Adonai your God’s blessing which he has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle, and as of the deer. 16 Only you shall not eat the blood. You shall pour it out on the earth like water. 17 ‡ § You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, * or of your new wine, † or of your oil, ‡ § or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, * nor any of your vows which you vow, † nor your free will offerings, nor the wave offering of your hand; 18 but you shall eat them before Adonai your God in the place which Adonai your God shall choose, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, and the Levite [Descendant of United with] who is within your gates. You shall rejoice before Adonai your God in all that you put your hand to. 19 ‡ Be careful that you don’t forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.
20 When Adonai your God enlarges your border, as he has promised you, and you shall say, “I want to eat meat,” because your soul desires to eat meat; you may eat meat, after all the desire of your soul. 21 § If the place which Adonai your God shall choose, to put his name there, is too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock, which Adonai has given you, as I have enjoined you; and you may eat within your gates, after all the desire of your soul. 22 Even as the gazelle and as the deer is eaten, so you shall eat of it. The unclean and the clean may eat of it alike. 23 *
Only be sure that you don’t eat the blood; for the blood is the life. You shall not eat the life with the meat. 24 You shall not eat it. You shall pour it out on the earth like water. 25 You shall not eat it; that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, when you shall do that which is right in Adonai’s eyes. 26 † Only your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take, and go to the place which Adonai shall choose. 27 You shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on Adonai your God’s altar; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on Adonai your God’s altar; and you shall eat the meat. 28 Observe and sh'ma ·hear obey· all these words which I enjoin you, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you forever, when you do that which is good and right in Adonai your God’s eyes.
(3) 29 When Adonai your God cuts off the nations from before you, where you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them, and dwell in their land; 30 be careful that you are not ensnared to follow them, after that they are destroyed from before you; and that you not inquire after their deities, saying, “How do these nations abad ·serve· their deities? I will do likewise.” 31 You shall not do so to Adonai your God; for every abomination to Adonai, which he hates, have they done to their deities; for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their deities. 32 Whatever thing I enjoin you, that you shall observe to do. ‡ You shall not add to it, § nor take away from it. *
* 12:2 . Deut 12:2-3 (Deut 11:29-12:3) (#2a.74): To destroy any object of idolatry or idol and its accessory items † 12:4 . Deut 12:4 (Deut 12:1-4) (#2b.170): T. You must not worship Adonai your God the way the idolatrous nations worship their deities / R. Not to destroy objects associated with Adonai’s Name ‡ 12:5 . Deut 12:5-6 (Deut 12:4-9) (#4.342): T. To bring all of a person’s sacrifices, whether obligatory or voluntary to Jerusalem / R. To bring all vowed and free will offerings to the Temple on the first subsequent festival § 12:11 . Deut 12:11 (Duet 12:10-16) (#2b.171): To offer all sacrifices in the Tabernacle or Temple of Adonai * 12:13 . Deut 12:13 (Deut 12:13-14) (#2b.172): T. Not to offer burnt offerings at any place that you please / R. Not to offer sacrifices outside the Sanctuary † 12:15 . Deut 12:15 (Deut 12:13-15) (#10.608): T. You may eat consecrated animals after they have been redeemed / R. To redeem consecrated animals that have disqualifying blemishes, and then they may be eaten R. Note: Oral Tradition teaches that this specifically refers to consecrated animals that have become unfit, they shall be redeemed ‡ 12:17 . Deut 12:17 (Deut 12:13-14) (#2b.173): T. The person vowing shall not eat the sacrifices they give as free will offerings on their own property / R. Not to eat its meat § 12:17 . Deut 12:17 (Deut 12:17-18) (#4.343): T. The person shall not eat the ma'aser sheni ·second tithe· on your own property / R. Not to eat ma'aser sheni ·second tithe· of grains outside Jerusalem * 12:17 . Deut 12:17 (Deut 12:17-18) (#4.344): T. The person shall not eat the ma'aser sheni ·second tithe· of wine on your own property / R. Not to eat ma'aser sheni ·second tithe· of wine products outside Jerusalem † 12:17 . Deut 12:17 (Deut 12:17-18) (#4.345): T. The person shall not eat the ma'aser sheni ·second tithe· of oil on your own property / R. Not to eat ma'aser sheni ·second tithe· of oil outside Jerusalem ‡ 12:17 . Deut 12:17 (Deut 12:13-14, 12:17-18) (#2b.174): T. The person shall not eat a firstborn animal on your own property / R. The Cohenim ·Priests· shall not eat an unblemished firstborn animal outside Jerusalem § 12:17 . Deut 12:17 (Deut 12:17-19) (#4.346): T. This command is not found in the straightforward text / R. That the Cohen ·Priest· shall not eat the first fruits before they are set down in the Courtyard of Adonai / R. The Cohenim ·Priests· must not eat the first fruits outside Jerusalem * 12:17 . Deut 12:17 (Deut 12:13-14, 12:17-18) (#2b.175): T. The person shall not eat their vow offerings on their own property / R. The Cohenim ·Priests· shall not eat the flesh of the sin offering or trespass offering outside the Courtyard † 12:17 . Deut 12:17 (Deut 12:13-14, 12:15-16, 12:17-19) (#2b.176): T. The person shall not eat that which they raise up with their hand (tithe, vow, or voluntary offerings) on their own property / R. The non-Priest shall not eat their own free will offerings, until the animal’s blood has been sprinkled (as an offering to Adonai at the Sanctuary) ‡ 12:19 . Deut 12:19 (Deut 12:13-19) (#8.513): T. Not to forsake the Levites / R. Not to refrain from rejoicing with, and giving gifts to, the Levites § 12:21 . Deut 12:21 (Deut 12:20-25) (#3.244): T. To kill a clean animal before eating it / R. To ritually slaughter an animal before eating it * 12:23 . Deut 12:23 (Deut 12:23-25) (#3.245): T. This command is not found in the straightforward text which reads: “Not to eat the life with the flesh” (v23) / R. Not to eat a limb removed from a living animal T. Directive: You shall pour the blood out on the earth like water (v24) † 12:26 . Deut 12:26 (Deut 12:26-28, 12:21-28) (#2b.177): To bring all the sacrifices from outside the Land of Israel to the Sanctuary ‡ 12:32 . Deut 12:32 [Heb Bible Deut 13:1] (#1.43): T. Not to add to God’s Torah ·Teaching· commandments / R. Not to add to the Torah ·Teaching· commandments, whether in the Written Law or their oral explanations § 12:32 . Deut 12:32 [Heb Bible Deut 13:1] (#1.44): T. Not to subtract from or diminish any of the Torah ·Teaching· commandments / R. Not to diminish from the Torah ·Teaching· any commandments, in whole or in part * 12:32 . Quoted in Rev 22:18