CHAPTER 12
1 These be the behests and dooms (or These be the statutes and laws, or judgements), which ye ought to do, in the land which the Lord God of thy fathers shall give to thee, that thou wield it, in all (the) 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 (sacred) woods with fire, and all-break ye the idols; destroy ye their names from (all) the places.
4 Ye shall not do so to your Lord God; (Ye shall not worship the Lord your God in those ways;)
5 but ye shall come to the (one) place which your Lord God (shall) choose (out) 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, and gifts, and the first engendered things of your oxen, and of (your) sheep. (and ye shall come there, and offer in that place your burnt sacrifices, and slain sacrifices, your tithes, and the first fruits of your hands, and your vows, and gifts, and the first-born males of your oxen, and of your 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. (And ye and your households, or your families, shall eat there before the Lord your God; and ye shall be glad in all the things to which ye put your hands, because the Lord your God hath blessed you.)
8 Ye shall not do there those things which we do here today, each man that that seemeth rightful to himself.
9 For unto the time that is now, ye came not to (the) rest, and to [the] possession, which the Lord God shall give to you.
10 Ye shall pass (the) Jordan (or Ye shall cross over the Jordan River), and ye shall dwell in the land which your Lord God shall give to you, that ye rest from all (your) enemies about, and that ye dwell without any dread.
11 In the place which your Lord God (shall) 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, that dwell in your cities; for they have none other part and possession among you. (And ye shall eat there before the Lord your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, your slaves, and your slave-girls, and the Levites who live in your cities, because the Levites have no other portion or possession among you.)
13 Be thou ware lest thou offer thy burnt sacrifices in each place that thou seest, (Be thou careful, lest thou offer thy burnt sacrifices in any 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. (but rather, only at that place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes, shalt thou offer thy sacrifices, and thou shalt do whatever I command 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, (that) which is leaveful to be offered, thou shalt eat those, as (of) a capret, and an hart; (But if thou art hungry, and the eating of flesh delighteth thee, kill thou, and eat, whatever he hath given thee, wherever thou may live, with the blessing of the Lord thy God; yea, whether ye be clean, or unclean, ye can eat it, as you would eat the meat of a gazelle, or a deer;)
16 only without eating of [the] blood, which thou shalt shed out as water upon the earth. (but thou shalt not eat the blood; thou shalt pour it out like water onto the ground.)
17 Thou shalt not be able to eat in thy cities the tithes of thy wheat, (of) 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; (Thou shalt not eat in thy cities the tithes of thy corn, or thy wine, or thy oil, or the first-born of thy herds, or of thy sheep, or anything which thou hast vowed, or wilt offer by free will, or the first fruits of thy 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 that dwelleth in thy cities, (or but thou shalt eat those things before the Lord thy God, in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy slave, and thy slave-girl, and the Levite who liveth in thy cities); and thou shalt be glad, and thou shalt be fulfilled before thy Lord God in all (the) things to which thou holdest forth thine hand (to do).
19 Be thou ware lest thou forsake the deacon in all time, in which thou livest in (the) earth. (Be thou careful, lest thou forget the Levite at any time in which thou livest on the earth.)
20 When thy Lord God hath alarged thy terms, as he spake to thee, (or When the Lord thy God hath enlarged thy borders, as he hath promised thee), and thou wilt eat (some) 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. (but if the place is too far from thee, which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name be there, thou shalt kill some of thy oxen, or of thy sheep, which thou hast, as the Lord commanded thee; and thou shalt eat it in thy cities as it pleaseth thee.)
22 As (the meat of) a capret and an hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat those; both a clean man and an unclean (man) shall eat thereof in common. (Thou shalt eat it, like thou would the meat of a gazelle, or a deer; both a clean person and an unclean person shall eat it in common.)
23 Only eschew thou this, that thou eat not (the) blood; for the blood of those beasts is for the life, and therefore thou oughtest not eat the life with fleshes, (or and so thou ought not to eat the life with the flesh, or with the meat),
24 but thou shalt pour it out as water upon the earth, (but thou shalt pour it out like water onto the ground,)
25 that it be well to thee, and to thy sons after thee, (or that it be well with thee, and with thy children 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; (And thou shalt take what thou hast vowed, and dedicated to the Lord, and thou shalt come to the place which the Lord shall choose;)
27 and thou shalt offer there thine offerings, and flesh, and blood, upon the altar of thy Lord God; thou shalt pour (out) in the altar the blood of the sacrifices; but thou shalt eat the flesh. (for thy burnt sacrifice, thou shalt offer both the flesh, and the blood, on the altar of the Lord thy God; and for thy peace offering, thou shalt pour the blood of the offering on the altar, but thou shalt eat its 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, [into] without end, when thou hast done that, that is good and pleasing in the sight of thy Lord God. (Hear thou and obey all the things which I command to thee, so that it be well with thee, and with thy children, forevermore, when thou hast done what is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God.)
29 When thy Lord God hath destroyed before thy face [the] folks, to which thou shalt enter and wield, (or When the Lord thy God hath destroyed the nations before thy face, to whom thou shalt enter in to take), and when thou hast wielded those folks, and hast dwelled in their land,
30 be thou ware lest thou 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. (be thou careful, after that thou hast entered, and they be destroyed, lest thou follow them; do not thou seek out their ceremonies, saying, As these nations worshipped their gods, so we shall worship our God.)
31 Thou shalt not do in like manner to thy Lord God (or Thou shalt not worship the Lord thy God in like manner); for they did (un)to their gods all the abominations which the Lord loatheth, and they offered (up) 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. (Do thou to the Lord only the things which I command to thee, neither add thou anything, nor abate thou anything.)