Deuteronomy 12:1-Deuteronomy 26:19 - Detailed Stipulations: Purity And Unity

¹ These are the statutes and the judgments which ye observe to do in the land which Jehovah, God of thy fathers, hath given to thee to possess it, all the days that ye are living on the ground: ² ye do utterly destroy all the places where the nations which ye are dispossessing served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the heights, and under every green tree; ³ and ye have broken down their altars, and shivered their standing pillars, and their shrines ye burn with fire, and graven images of their gods ye cut down, and have destroyed their name out of that place. ⁴ 'Ye do not do so to Jehovah your God; ⁵ but unto the place which Jehovah your God doth choose out of all your tribes to put His name there, to His tabernacle ye seek, and thou hast entered thither, ⁶ and hast brought in thither your burnt-offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the heave-offering of your hand, and your vows, and your free-will offerings, and the firstlings of your herd and of your flock; ⁷ and ye have eaten there before Jehovah your God, and have rejoiced in every putting forth of your hand, ye and your households, with which Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee.

⁸ 'Ye do not do according to all that we are doing here to-day, each anything that is right in his own eyes, ⁹ for ye have not come in hitherto unto the rest, and unto the inheritance, which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee; ¹⁰ and ye have passed over the Jordan, and have dwelt in the land which Jehovah your God is causing you to inherit, and He hath given rest to you from all your enemies round about, and ye have dwelt confidently: ¹¹ 'And it hath been, the place on which Jehovah your God doth fix to cause His name to tabernacle there, thither ye bring in all that which I am commanding you, your burnt-offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave-offering of your hand, and all the choice of your vows which ye vow to Jehovah; ¹² and ye have rejoiced before Jehovah your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your men-servants, and your handmaids, and the Levite who is within your gates, for he hath no part and inheritance with you. ¹³ 'Take heed to thee, lest thou cause thy burnt-offerings to ascend in any place which thou seest, ¹⁴ except in the place which Jehovah doth choose in one of thy tribes, there thou dost cause thy burnt-offerings to ascend, and there thou dost do all that which I am commanding thee.

¹⁵ 'Only, with all the desire of thy soul thou dost sacrifice, and hast eaten flesh according to the blessing of Jehovah thy God which He hath given to thee, in all thy gates; the unclean and the clean do eat it, as of the roe, and as of the hart. ¹⁶ Only, the blood ye do not eat -- on the earth thou dost pour it as water; ¹⁷ thou art not able to eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, and of thy new wine, and thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herd and of thy flock, and any of thy vows which thou vowest, and thy free-will offerings, and heave-offering of thy hand; ¹⁸ but before Jehovah thy God thou dost eat it, in the place which Jehovah thy God doth fix on, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy handmaid, and the Levite who is within thy gates, and thou hast rejoiced before Jehovah thy God in every putting forth of thy hand; ¹⁹ take heed to thee lest thou forsake the Levite all thy days on thy ground.

²⁰ When Jehovah thy God doth enlarge thy border, as He hath spoken to thee, and thou hast said, Let me eat flesh -- for thy soul desireth to eat flesh -- of all the desire of thy soul thou dost eat flesh. ²¹ 'When the place is far from thee which Jehovah thy God doth choose to put His name there, then thou hast sacrificed of thy herd and of thy flock which Jehovah hath given to thee, as I have commanded thee, and hast eaten within thy gates, of all the desire of thy soul; ²² only, as the roe and the hart is eaten, so dost thou eat it; the unclean and the clean doth alike eat it. ²³ Only, be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and thou dost not eat the life with the flesh; ²⁴ thou dost not eat it, on the earth thou dost pour it as water; ²⁵ thou dost not eat it, in order that it may be well with thee, and with thy sons after thee, when thou dost that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah.

²⁶ 'Only, thy holy things which thou hast, and thy vows, thou dost take up, and hast gone in unto the place which Jehovah doth choose, ²⁷ and thou hast made thy burnt-offerings -- the flesh and the blood -- on the altar of Jehovah thy God; and the blood of thy sacrifices is poured out by the altar of Jehovah thy God, and the flesh thou dost eat. ²⁸ Observe, and thou hast obeyed all these words which I am commanding thee, in order that it may be well with thee and with thy sons after thee -- to the age, when thou dost that which is good and right in the eyes of Jehovah thy God.

²⁹ When Jehovah thy God doth cut off the nations -- whither thou art going in to possess them -- from thy presence, and thou hast possessed them, and hast dwelt in their land -- ³⁰ take heed to thee, lest thou be snared after them, after their being destroyed out of thy presence, and lest thou enquire about their gods, saying, How do these nations serve their gods, and I do so -- even I? ³¹ 'Thou dost not do so to Jehovah thy God; for every abomination of Jehovah which He is hating they have done to their gods, for even their sons and their daughters they burn with fire to their gods. ³² The whole thing which I am commanding you -- it ye observe to do; thou dost not add unto it, nor diminish from it.

¹ 'When there ariseth in your midst a prophet, or a dreamer of a dream, and he hath given unto thee a sign or wonder, ² and the sign and the wonder hath come which he hath spoken of unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods (which thou hast not known), and serve them, ³ thou dost not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of the dream, for Jehovah your God is trying you, to know whether ye are loving Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul; ⁴ after Jehovah your God ye walk, and Him ye fear, and His commands ye keep, and to His voice ye hearken, and Him ye serve, and to Him ye cleave. ⁵ 'And that prophet, or that dreamer of the dream, is put to death, for he hath spoken apostasy against Jehovah your God (who is bringing you out of the land of Egypt, and hath ransomed you out of a house of servants), to drive you out of the way in which Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee to walk, and thou hast put away the evil thing from thy midst.

⁶ When thy brother -- son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend who is as thine own soul -- doth move thee, in secret, saying, Let us go and serve other gods -- (which thou hast not known, thou and thy fathers, ⁷ of the gods of the peoples who are round about you, who are near unto thee, or who are far off from thee, from the end of the earth even unto the end of the earth) -- ⁸ thou dost not consent to him, nor hearken unto him, nor doth thine eye have pity on him, nor dost thou spare, nor dost thou cover him over. ⁹ 'But thou dost surely kill him; thy hand is on him, in the first place, to put him to death, and the hand of all the people last; ¹⁰ and thou hast stoned him with stones, and he hath died, for he hath sought to drive thee away from Jehovah thy God, who is bringing thee out of the land of Egypt, out of a house of servants; ¹¹ and all Israel do hear and fear, and add not to do like this evil thing in thy midst.

¹² When thou hearest, in one of thy cities which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee to dwell there, one saying, ¹³ Men, sons of worthlessness, have gone out of thy midst, and they force away the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known -- ¹⁴ and thou hast enquired, and searched, and asked diligently, and lo, truth; the thing is established; this abomination hath been done in thy midst: ¹⁵ Thou dost surely smite the inhabitants of that city by the mouth of the sword; devoting it, and all that is in it, even its cattle, by the mouth of the sword; ¹⁶ and all its spoil thou dost gather unto the midst of its broad place, and hast burned with fire the city and all its spoil completely, before Jehovah thy God, and it hath been a heap age-during, it is not built any more; ¹⁷ and there doth not cleave to thy hand any of the devoted thing, so that Jehovah doth turn back from the fierceness of His anger, and hath given to thee mercies, and loved thee, and multiplied thee, as He hath sworn to thy fathers, ¹⁸ when thou dost hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to keep all his commands which I am commanding thee to-day, to do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah thy God.

¹ Sons ye are to Jehovah your God; ye do not cut yourselves, nor make baldness between your eyes for the dead; ² for a holy people art thou to Jehovah thy God, and on thee hath Jehovah fixed to be to Him for a people, a peculiar treasure, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the ground.

³ 'Thou dost not eat any abominable thing; ⁴ this is the beast which ye do eat: ox, lamb of the sheep, or kid of the goats, ⁵ hart, and roe, and fallow deer, and wild goat, and pygarg, and wild ox, and chamois;

⁶ and every beast dividing the hoof, and cleaving the cleft into two hoofs, bringing up the cud, among the beasts -- it ye do eat. ⁷ Only, this ye do not eat, of those bringing up the cud, and of those dividing the cloven hoof: the camel, and the hare, and the rabbit, for they are bringing up the cud but the hoof have not divided; unclean they are to you; ⁸ and the sow, for it is dividing the hoof, and not bringing up the cud, unclean it is to you; of their flesh ye do not eat, and against their carcase ye do not come.

⁹ This ye do eat of all that are in the waters; all that hath fins and scales ye do eat; ¹⁰ and anything which hath not fins and scales ye do not eat; unclean it is to you. ¹¹ 'Any clean bird ye do eat; ¹² and these are they of which ye do not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray, ¹³ and the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after its kind, ¹⁴ and every raven after its kind; ¹⁵ and the owl, and the night-hawk, and the cuckoo, and the hawk after its kind; ¹⁶ the little owl, and the great owl, and the swan, ¹⁷ and the pelican, and the gier-eagle, and the cormorant, ¹⁸ and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the lapwing, and the bat;

¹⁹ and every teeming thing which is flying, unclean it is to you; they are not eaten; ²⁰ any clean fowl ye do eat.

²¹ Ye do not eat of any carcase; to the sojourner who is within thy gates thou dost give it, and he hath eaten it; or sell it to a stranger; for a holy people thou art to Jehovah thy God; thou dost not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

²² 'Thou dost certainly tithe all the increase of thy seed which the field is bringing forth year by year; ²³ and thou hast eaten before Jehovah thy God, in the place where He doth choose to cause His name to tabernacle, the tithe of thy corn, of thy new wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herd, and of thy flock, so that thou dost learn to fear Jehovah thy God all the days. ²⁴ And when the way is too much for thee, that thou art not able to carry it -- when the place is too far off from thee which Jehovah thy God doth choose to put His name there, when Jehovah thy God doth bless thee; -- ²⁵ then thou hast given it in money, and hast bound up the money in thy hand, and gone unto the place on which Jehovah thy God doth fix; ²⁶ and thou hast given the money for any thing which thy soul desireth, for oxen, and for sheep, and for wine, and for strong drink, and for any thing which thy soul asketh, and thou hast eaten there before Jehovah thy God, and thou hast rejoiced, thou and thy house. ²⁷ As to the Levite who is within thy gates, thou dost not forsake him, for he hath no portion and inheritance with thee.

²⁸ At the end of three years thou dost bring out all the tithe of thine increase in that year, and hast placed it within thy gates; ²⁹ and come in hath the Levite (for he hath no part and inheritance with thee), and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within thy gates, and they have eaten, and been satisfied, so that Jehovah thy God doth bless thee in all the work of thy hand which thou dost.

¹ 'At the end of seven years thou dost make a release, ² and this is the matter of the release: Every owner of a loan is to release his hand which he doth lift up against his neighbour, he doth not exact of his neighbour and of his brother, but hath proclaimed a release to Jehovah; ³ of the stranger thou mayest exact, and that which is thine with thy brother doth thy hand release;

⁴ only when there is no needy one with thee, for Jehovah doth greatly bless thee in the land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee -- an inheritance to possess it. ⁵ 'Only, if thou dost diligently hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do all this command which I am commanding thee to-day, ⁶ for Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee as He hath spoken to thee; and thou hast lent to many nations, and thou hast not borrowed; and thou hast ruled over many nations, and over thee they do not rule.

⁷ 'When there is with thee any needy one of one of thy brethren, in one of thy cities, in thy land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee, thou dost not harden thy heart, nor shut thy hand from thy needy brother; ⁸ for thou dost certainly open thy hand to him, and dost certainly lend him sufficient for his lack which he lacketh. ⁹ Take heed to thee lest there be a word in thy heart -- worthless, saying, Near is the seventh year, the year of release; and thine eye is evil against thy needy brother, and thou dost not give to him, and he hath called concerning thee unto Jehovah, and it hath been in thee sin; ¹⁰ thou dost certainly give to him, and thy heart is not sad in thy giving to him, for because of this thing doth Jehovah thy God bless thee in all thy works, and in every putting forth of thy hand; ¹¹ because the needy one doth not cease out of the land, therefore I am commanding thee, saying, Thou dost certainly open thy hand to thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy one, in thy land.

¹² When thy brother is sold to thee, a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, and he hath served thee six years -- then in the seventh year thou dost send him away free from thee. ¹³ And when thou dost send him away free from thee, thou dost not send him away empty; ¹⁴ thou dost certainly encircle him out of thy flock, and out of thy threshing-floor, and out of thy wine-vat; of that which Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee thou dost give to him, ¹⁵ and thou hast remembered that a servant thou hast been in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God doth ransom thee; therefore I am commanding thee this thing to-day. ¹⁶ And it hath been, when he saith unto thee, I go not out from thee -- because he hath loved thee, and thy house, because it is good for him with thee -- ¹⁷ then thou hast taken the awl, and hast put it through his ear, and through the door, and he hath been to thee a servant age-during; and also to thy handmaid thou dost do so. ¹⁸ 'It is not hard in thine eyes, in thy sending him away free from thee; for the double of the hire of an hireling he hath served thee six years, and Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee in all that thou dost.

¹⁹ Every firstling that is born in thy herd and in thy flock -- the male thou dost sanctify to Jehovah thy God; thou dost not work with the firstling of thine ox, nor shear the firstling of thy flock; ²⁰ before Jehovah thy God thou dost eat it year by year, in the place which Jehovah doth choose, thou and thy house. ²¹ 'And when there is in it a blemish, lame, or blind, any evil blemish, thou dost not sacrifice it to Jehovah thy God; ²² within thy gates thou dost eat it, the unclean and the clean alike, as the roe, and as the hart.