Deuteronomy

These are the laws and rules that you must carefully observe in the land that יהוה, God of your ancestors, is giving you to possess, as long as you live on earth.

You must destroy all the sites at which the nations you are to dispossess worshiped their gods, whether on lofty mountains and on hills or under any luxuriant tree.

Tear down their altars, smash their pillars, put their sacred posts to the fire, and cut down the images of their gods, obliterating their name from that site.

Do not worship your God יהוה in like manner,

but look only to the site that your God יהוה will choose amidst all your tribes as God’s habitation, to establish the divine name there. There you are to go,

and there you are to bring your burnt offerings and other sacrifices, your tithes and contributions, ” your votive and freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and flocks.

Together with your households, Together with your households Moses couches both the celebration and allocation of harvests in terms of Israelite society’s basic social and economic unit. The phrasing of vv. 12, 18 conspicuously omits mention of the householder’s (primary) wife. This means that she is authorized to carry out such activity in case her husband is unavailable. The wording also tacitly includes the case of a woman (typically a widow) whose household is not headed by a man. Cf. 5.14 a

You shall not act at all as we now act here, each of us as we please,

because you have not yet come to the allotted haven that your God יהוה is giving you.

When you cross the Jordan and settle in the land that your God יהוה is allotting to you, and [God] grants you safety from all your enemies around you and you live in security,

then you must bring everything that I command you to the site where your God יהוה will choose to establish the divine name: your burnt offerings and other sacrifices, your tithes and contributions, your … contributions See note at v. 6. and all the choice votive offerings that you vow to יהוה.

And you you See note at v. 7. shall rejoice before your God יהוה with your sons and daughters and with your male and female slaves, along with the [family of the] Levite in your settlements, for he has no territorial allotment among you.

Take care not to sacrifice your burnt offerings in any place you like,

but only in the place that יהוה will choose in one of your tribal territories. There you you See note at v. 7. shall sacrifice your burnt offerings and there you shall observe all that I enjoin upon you.

But whenever you desire, you may slaughter and eat meat in any of your settlements, according to the blessing that your God יהוה has granted you. The impure and the pure alike may partake of it, as of the gazelle and the deer. gazelle … deer I.e., animals that may be eaten (cf. 14.5; Lev. 11.1ff.), but not specified (Lev. 1.1ff.).

But you must not partake of the blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

You may not partake in your settlements of the tithes of your new grain or wine or oil, or of the firstlings of your herds and flocks, or of any of the votive offerings that you vow, or of your freewill offerings, or of your contributions. your contributions See note at v. 6.

These you must consume before your God יהוה in the place that your God יהוה will choose—you you See note at v. 7. and your sons and your daughters, your male and female slaves, and the [family of the] Levite in your settlements—happy before your God יהוה in all your undertakings.

Be sure not to neglect the [family of the] Levite as long as you live in your land.

When יהוה enlarges your territory, as promised, and you say, “I shall eat some meat,” for you have the urge to eat meat, you may eat meat whenever you wish.

If the place where יהוה has chosen to establish the divine name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of the cattle or sheep that יהוה gives you, as I have instructed you; and you may eat to your heart’s content in your settlements.

Eat it, however, as the gazelle and the deer are eaten: the impure may eat it together with the pure.

But make sure that you do not partake of the blood; for the blood is the life, and you must not consume the life with the flesh.

You must not partake of it; you must pour it out on the ground like water:

you must not partake of it, in order that it may go well with you and with your descendants to come, for you will be doing what is right in the sight of יהוה.

But such sacred and votive donations as you may have shall be taken by you ” to the site that יהוה will choose.

You You See note at v. 7. shall offer your burnt offerings, both the flesh and the blood, on the altar of your God יהוה; and of your other sacrifices, the blood shall be poured out on the altar of your God יהוה, and you shall eat the flesh.

Be careful to heed all these commandments that I enjoin upon you; thus it will go well with you and with your descendants after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of your God יהוה.

When your God יהוה has cut down before you the nations that you are about to enter and dispossess, and you have dispossessed them and settled in their land,

beware of being lured into their ways after they have been wiped out before you! Do not inquire about their gods, saying, “How did those nations worship their gods? I too will follow those practices.”

You shall not act thus toward your God יהוה, for they perform for their gods every abhorrent act that יהוה detests; they even offer up their sons and daughters in fire to their gods.