Deuteronomy 12:6-16

6 and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, ¹your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the ²firstborn of your herd and of your flock.

7 And ³there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and ⁴you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

8 “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, ⁵everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes,

9 for you have not as yet come to ⁶the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you.

10 But when ⁷you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, ⁸and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety,

11 then to ⁹the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, ¹⁰your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord.

12 And ¹¹you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since ¹²he has no portion or inheritance with you.

13 ¹³Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see,

14 but at ¹⁴the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you.

15 “However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you desire, ¹⁵according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. ¹⁶The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer.

16 ¹⁷Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth like water.

Deuteronomy 12:6-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 12

In this chapter orders are given to destroy all altars, pillars, groves, and images, made for the worship of idols in the land of Canaan, De 12:1-3 and to bring all sacrifices and holy things unto the place which the Lord should choose for his habitation, and not do as they then did, not being come to their rest, De 12:4-14, flesh for their common food might be killed and eaten in their own houses, provided they did not eat the blood, but poured it out upon the earth, De 12:15-25, tithes, vows, and freewill offerings, were to be eaten in the holy place, De 12:17-19 and burnt offerings to be offered on the altar of the Lord and the blood of them to be poured out upon the altar, De 12:26-28, all which they were carefully to observe, De 12:29, and they are cautioned against idolatry, and inquiring after the manner of it, as practised by the old inhabitants of the land, and introducing their customs into the service of God, De 12:30-32.

Cross References

• 1. 12:6 ch. 14:22, 23; 15:19, 20
• 2. 12:6 ch. 14:23
• 3. 12:7 ch. 14:23, 26; 15:20
• 4. 12:7 ch. 14:26; 16:11, 14, 15; 26:11; 27:7; 28:8; Lev. 23:40
• 5. 12:8 Judg. 17:6; 21:25
• 6. 12:9 1 Kgs. 8:56; Ps. 95:11; [Heb. 4:8]
• 7. 12:10 See ch. 11:31
• 8. 12:10 ch. 25:19; Josh. 23:1; [2 Sam. 7:1; 1 Kgs. 5:4]
• 9. 12:11 [See ver. 5 above]
• 10. 12:11 [See ver. 6 above]
• 11. 12:12 [See ver. 7 above]
• 12. 12:12 See Num. 18:20
• 13. 12:13 Lev. 17:3, 4; [1 Kgs. 12:28, 33]
• 14. 12:14 [See ver. 5 above]
• 15. 12:15 ch. 16:17
• 16. 12:15 ch. 14:5; 15:22
• 17. 12:16 See Lev. 3:17