Ulangan 12:7-24

12:7 Both you and your families ¹  must feast there before the Lord your God and rejoice in all the output of your labor with which he ²  has blessed you. 12:8 You must not do like we are doing here today, with everyone ³  doing what seems best to him, 12:9 for you have not yet come to the final stop ⁴  and inheritance the Lord your God is giving you. 12:10 When you do go across the Jordan River ⁵  and settle in the land he ⁶  is granting you as an inheritance and you find relief from all the enemies who surround you, you will live in safety. ⁷  12:11 Then you must come to the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to reside, bringing ⁸  everything I am commanding you – your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, ⁹  and all your choice votive offerings which you devote to him. ¹⁰  12:12 You shall rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God, along with your sons, daughters, male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages ¹¹  (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you). ¹²  12:13 Make sure you do not offer burnt offerings in any place you wish, 12:14 for you may do so ¹³  only in the place the Lord chooses in one of your tribal areas – there you may do everything I am commanding you. ¹⁴ 

Regulations for Profane Slaughter

12:15 On the other hand, you may slaughter and eat meat as you please when the Lord your God blesses you ¹⁵  in all your villages. ¹⁶  Both the ritually pure and impure may eat it, whether it is a gazelle or an ibex. 12:16 However, you must not eat blood – pour it out on the ground like water. 12:17 You will not be allowed to eat in your villages your tithe of grain, new wine, olive oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, any votive offerings you have vowed, or your freewill and personal offerings. 12:18 Only in the presence of the Lord your God may you eat these, in the place he ¹⁷  chooses. This applies to you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, and the Levites ¹⁸  in your villages. In that place you will rejoice before the Lord your God in all the output of your labor. ¹⁹  12:19 Be careful not to overlook the Levites as long as you live in the land.

The Sanctity of Blood

12:20 When the Lord your God extends your borders as he said he would do and you say, “I want to eat meat just as I please,” ²⁰  you may do so as you wish. ²¹  12:21 If the place he ²²  chooses to locate his name is too far for you, you may slaughter any of your herd and flock he ²³  has given you just as I have stipulated; you may eat them in your villages ²⁴  just as you wish. 12:22 Like you eat the gazelle or ibex, so you may eat these; the ritually impure and pure alike may eat them. 12:23 However, by no means eat the blood, for the blood is life itself ²⁵  – you must not eat the life with the meat! 12:24 You must not eat it! You must pour it out on the ground like water.

¹ tn Heb “and your houses,” referring to entire households. The pronouns “you” and “your” are plural in the Hebrew text.

² tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 12:5.

³ tn Heb “a man.”

⁴ tn Heb “rest.”

⁵ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 12:5.

⁷ tn In the Hebrew text vv. 10-11 are one long, complex sentence. For stylistic reasons the translation divides this into two sentences.

⁸ tn Heb “and it will be (to) the place where the Lord your God chooses to cause his name to dwell you will bring.”

⁹ tn Heb “heave offerings of your hand.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 12:5.

¹¹ tn Heb “within your gates” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “who belongs to your community.”

¹² sn They have no allotment or inheritance with you. See note on the word “inheritance” in Deut 10:9.

¹³ tn Heb “offer burnt offerings.” The expression “do so” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

¹⁴ sn This injunction to worship in a single and central sanctuary – one limited and appropriate to the thrice-annual festival celebrations (see Exod 23:14-17; 34:22-24; Lev 23:4-36; Deut 16:16-17) – marks a departure from previous times when worship was carried out at local shrines (cf. Gen 8:20; 12:7; 13:18; 22:9; 26:25; 35:1, 3, 7; Exod 17:15). Apart from the corporate worship of the whole theocratic community, however, worship at local altars would still be permitted as in the past (Deut 16:21; Judg 6:24-27; 13:19-20; 1 Sam 7:17; 10:5, 13; 2 Sam 24:18-25; 1 Kgs 18:30).

¹⁵ tn Heb “only in all the desire of your soul you may sacrifice and eat flesh according to the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given to you.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “gates” (so KJV, NASB; likewise in vv. 17, 18).

¹⁷ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 12:5.

¹⁸ tn See note at Deut 12:12.

¹⁹ tn Heb “in all the sending forth of your hands.”

²⁰ tn Heb “for my soul desires to eat meat.”

²¹ tn Heb “according to all the desire of your soul you may eat meat.”

²² tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 12:5.

²³ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 12:5.

²⁴ tn Heb “gates” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “in your own community.”

²⁵ sn The blood is life itself. This is a figure of speech (metonymy) in which the cause or means (the blood) stands for the result or effect (life). That is, life depends upon the existence and circulation of blood, a truth known empirically but not scientifically tested and proved until the 17th century a.d. (cf. Lev 17:11).