Deuteronomy 12:13

13 "Take care for yourself so that you do not offer your burnt offerings at [just] any place that you happen to see,

Deuteronomy 12:13 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 12:13

Take heed to thyself, that thou offer not thy burnt offerings,
&c.] And so any other, this is put for all the rest:

in every place that thou seest;
which might take with their fancy, seem pleasant, and so a proper and suitable place to sacrifice in, as on high places, and under green trees; but they were not to indulge their own fancies and imaginations, or follow the customs of others, but keep to the rules prescribed them by the Lord, and to the place fixed by him for his worship.

Deuteronomy 12:13 In-Context

11 {and then} [at] the place that Yahweh your God will choose, to let his name dwell there, there you shall bring all [the things] I [am] commanding you, your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and {your donations}, and all [of] the choice [things], your votive gifts that you vow to Yahweh.

12 And you shall rejoice {before} Yahweh your God, you and your sons and your daughters and your slaves and your slave women and the Levite who [is] in your {towns}, because there is not for him a plot of ground and an inheritance with you.

13 "Take care for yourself so that you do not offer your burnt offerings at [just] any place that you happen to see,

14 {but only} at the place that Yahweh will choose among one of your tribes; there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all [the things] that I [am] commanding you.

15 "But {whenever you desire} you may slaughter, and you may eat meat according to the blessing of Yahweh your God that he has given to you in all [of] your {towns}; the unclean and the clean may eat it [just] as [they would] the gazelle and as the deer.