Deuteronomy 12:5-7

12:5 But you must seek only the place he ¹  chooses from all your tribes to establish his name as his place of residence, ²  and you must go there. 12:6 And there you must take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, ³  your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 12:7 Both you and your families ⁴  must feast there before the Lord your God and rejoice in all the output of your labor with which he ⁵  has blessed you.

Deuteronomy 12:11-15

12:11 Then you must come to the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to reside, bringing ⁶  everything I am commanding you – your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, ⁷  and all your choice votive offerings which you devote to him. ⁸  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 ⁹  (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you). ¹⁰  12:13 Make sure you do not offer burnt offerings in any place you wish, 12:14 for you may do so ¹¹  only in the place the Lord chooses in one of your tribal areas – there you may do everything I am commanding you. ¹² 

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 ¹³  in all your villages. ¹⁴  Both the ritually pure and impure may eat it, whether it is a gazelle or an ibex.

Deuteronomy 12:20-22

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,” ¹⁵  you may do so as you wish. ¹⁶  12:21 If the place he ¹⁷  chooses to locate his name is too far for you, you may slaughter any of your herd and flock he ¹⁸  has given you just as I have stipulated; you may eat them in your villages ¹⁹  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.

Deuteronomy 12:26-27

12:26 Only the holy things and votive offerings that belong to you, you must pick up and take to the place the Lord will choose. ²⁰  12:27 You must offer your burnt offerings, both meat and blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; the blood of your other sacrifices ²¹  you must pour out on his ²²  altar while you eat the meat.

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¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

² tc Some scholars, on the basis of v. 11, emend the MT reading שִׁכְנוֹ (shikhno, “his residence”) to the infinitive construct לְשָׁכֵן (lÿshakhen, “to make [his name] to dwell”), perhaps with the 3rd person masculine singular sf לְשַׁכְּנוֹ (lÿshakÿno, “to cause it to dwell”). Though the presupposed nounשֵׁכֶן (shekhen) is nowhere else attested, the parallel here with שַׁמָּה (shammah, “there”) favors retaining the MT as it stands.

³ tn Heb “heave offerings of your hand.”

⁴ tn Heb “and your houses,” referring to entire households. The pronouns “you” and “your” are plural in the Hebrew text.

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

⁶ tn Heb “and it will be (to) the place where the Lord your God chooses to cause his name to dwell you will bring.”

⁷ tn Heb “heave offerings of your hand.”

⁸ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 12:5.

⁹ tn Heb “within your gates” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “who belongs to your community.”

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

¹¹ tn Heb “offer burnt offerings.” The expression “do so” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

¹² 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).

¹³ 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.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “gates” (so KJV, NASB; likewise in vv. 17, 18).

¹⁵ tn Heb “for my soul desires to eat meat.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “according to all the desire of your soul you may eat meat.”

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

¹⁸ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 12:5.

¹⁹ tn Heb “gates” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “in your own community.”

²⁰ tc Again, to complete a commonly attested wording the LXX adds after “choose” the phrase “to place his name there.” This shows insensitivity to deliberate departures from literary stereotypes. The MT reading is to be preferred.

²¹ sn These other sacrifices would be so-called peace or fellowship offerings whose ritual required a different use of the blood from that of burnt (sin and trespass) offerings (cf. Lev 3; 7:11-14, 19-21).

²² tn Heb “on the altar of the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.