CHAPTER 12
1 These be the behests and dooms, which ye owe to do, in the land which the Lord God of thy fathers shall give to thee, that thou wield it, in all days in which thou shalt go upon [the] earth.
2 Destroy ye all the places wherein [the] heathen men which ye shall wield, worshipped their gods, on high mountains, and little hills, and under each tree full of boughs.
3 Destroy ye their altars, and break their images; and burn ye the woods with fire, and all-break ye the idols; destroy ye their names from the places.
4 Ye shall not do so to your Lord God;
5 but ye shall come to the place which your Lord God choose of all your lineages, that he put his name there, and dwell therein;
6 and ye shall come thither, and offer in that place your burnt sacrifices, and slain sacrifices, the tithes, and first fruits of your hands, and avows [or vows], and gifts, and the first engendered things of your oxen, and of sheep.
7 And ye and your houses shall eat there in the sight of your Lord God; and ye shall be glad in all things to which ye put the hand, in which your Lord God hath blessed you.
8 Ye shall not do there those things which we do here today, each man that that seemeth rightful [or right] to himself.
9 For unto the time that is now, ye came not to rest, and to [the] pos-session, which the Lord God shall give to you.
10 Ye shall pass over Jordan, and ye shall dwell in the land which your Lord God shall give to you, that ye rest from all enemies about, and that ye dwell without any dread.
11 In the place which your Lord God choose that his name be therein. Thither ye shall bear all things, which I command to you, burnt sacrifices, and sacrifices, and the tithes, and the first fruits of your hands, and whatever is the best thing in gifts, which ye avow to the Lord.
12 There ye shall eat before your Lord God, ye, and your sons, and daughters, your menservants, and womenservants, and the deacons [or Levites], that dwell in your cities; for they have none other part and possession among you.
13 Be thou ware lest thou offer thy burnt sacrifices in each place that thou seest,
14 but in that place which the Lord [shall] choose in one of thy lineages, thou shalt offer sacrifices, and thou shalt do whatever things I command to thee.
15 For if thou wilt eat, and the eating of flesh delighteth thee, slay thou, and eat, by the blessing of thy Lord God, that he hath given to thee in thy cities, whether it is unclean, that is, spotted, either wemmed, and feeble, either clean, and without wem, that is, whole in each member, which is leaveful to be offered, thou shalt eat those, as a capret, and an hart;
16 only without eating of [the] blood, which thou shalt shed [or pour] out as water upon the earth.
17 Thou shalt not be able to eat in thy cities the tithes of thy wheat, thy wine, and of thine oil, nor the first engendered things of thy droves, and of thy sheep, and all things which thou hast avowed, and wilt offer by free will, and the first fruits of thine hands;
18 but thou shalt eat those things before thy Lord God, in the place which thy Lord God choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy manservant, and thy womanservant, and the deacon [or Levite] that dwelleth in thy cities; and thou shalt be glad, and thou shalt be fulfilled before thy Lord God in all things to which thou holdest forth thine hand.
19 Be thou ware lest thou forsake the deacon [or the Levite] in all time, in which thou livest in earth.
20 When thy Lord God hath alarged thy terms, as he spake to thee, and thou wilt eat flesh, which thy soul desireth,
21 forsooth if the place is far, which thy Lord God choose, that his name be there, thou shalt slay of thine oxen, and sheep, which thou hast, as the Lord commanded to thee; and thou shalt eat in thy cities as it pleaseth thee.
22 As a capret and an hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat those [or them]; both a clean man and an unclean shall eat thereof in common.
23 Only eschew thou this, that thou eat not blood; for the blood of those beasts is for the life, and therefore thou owest not eat the life with fleshes,
24 but thou shalt pour it out as water upon the earth,
25 that it be well to thee, and to thy sons after thee, when thou hast done that, that pleaseth in the sight of the Lord.
26 Soothly thou shalt take that that thou hast avowed, and hallowed to the Lord, and thou shalt come to the place which the Lord choose;
27 and thou shalt offer there thine offerings, and flesh, and blood, upon the altar of thy Lord God; thou shalt pour in the altar the blood of the sacrifices; but thou shalt eat the flesh.
28 Keep thou and hear all things which I command to thee, that it be well to thee, and to thy sons after thee, without end, when thou hast done that, that is good and pleasing in the sight of thy Lord God.
29 When thy Lord God hath destroyed before thy face [the] folks, to which thou shalt enter and wield, and when thou hast wielded those folks, and hast dwelled in their land,
30 be thou ware lest thou pursue [or follow] them, after that they be destroyed, when thou enterest, and thou seek their ceremonies, and say, As these folks worshipped their gods, so and I shall worship.
31 Thou shalt not do in like manner to thy Lord God; for they did to their gods all the abominations which the Lord loatheth, and they offered their sons and their daughters, and they burnt them with fire.
32 Do thou to the Lord this thing only which I command to thee, neither add thou anything, neither abate.