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Deuteronomy 12 :: New International Version (NIV)

The One Place of Worship

Deu 12:1

Deu 12:1These are the decrees and laws you must be careful to follow in the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has given you to possess—as long as you live in the land.

Deu 12:2

Deu 12:2Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods.

Deu 12:3

Deu 12:3Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places.

Deu 12:4

Deu 12:4You must not worship the LORD your God in their way.

Deu 12:5

Deu 12:5But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go;

Deu 12:6

Deu 12:6there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

Deu 12:7

Deu 12:7There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD your God has blessed you.

Deu 12:8

Deu 12:8You are not to do as we do here today, everyone doing as they see fit,

Deu 12:9

Deu 12:9since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the LORD your God is giving you.

Deu 12:10

Deu 12:10But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety.

Deu 12:11

Deu 12:11Then to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name—there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice possessions you have vowed to the LORD.

Deu 12:12

Deu 12:12And there rejoice before the LORD your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no allotment or inheritance of their own.

Deu 12:13

Deu 12:13Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please.

Deu 12:14

Deu 12:14Offer them only at the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribes, and there observe everything I command you.

Deu 12:15

Deu 12:15Nevertheless, you may slaughter your animals in any of your towns and eat as much of the meat as you want, as if it were gazelle or deer, according to the blessing the LORD your God gives you. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it.

Deu 12:16

Deu 12:16But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.

Deu 12:17

Deu 12:17You must not eat in your own towns the tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, or the firstborn of your herds and flocks, or whatever you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts.

Deu 12:18

Deu 12:18Instead, you are to 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 servants, and the Levites from your towns—and you are to rejoice before the LORD your God in everything you put your hand to.

Deu 12:19

Deu 12:19Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.

Deu 12:20

Deu 12:20When the LORD your God has enlarged your territory as he promised you, and you crave meat and say, “I would like some meat,” then you may eat as much of it as you want.

Deu 12:21

Deu 12:21If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put his Name is too far away from you, you may slaughter animals from the herds and flocks the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you, and in your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want.

Deu 12:22

Deu 12:22Eat them as you would gazelle or deer. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat.

Deu 12:23

Deu 12:23But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.

Deu 12:24

Deu 12:24You must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.

Deu 12:25

Deu 12:25Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD.

Deu 12:26

Deu 12:26But take your consecrated things and whatever you have vowed to give, and go to the place the LORD will choose.

Deu 12:27

Deu 12:27Present your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God, both the meat and the blood. The blood of your sacrifices must be poured beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat.

Deu 12:28

Deu 12:28Be careful to obey all these regulations I am giving you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God.

Deu 12:29

Deu 12:29The LORD your God will cut off before you the nations you are about to invade and dispossess. But when you have driven them out and settled in their land,

Deu 12:30

Deu 12:30and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, “How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same.”

Deu 12:31

Deu 12:31You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.

Deu 12:32

Deu 12:32See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.[fn]
See the NIV Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NIV Footnotes
In Hebrew texts this verse (12:32) is numbered 13:1.
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Deuteronomy Chapter 12 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New Living Translation English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras