Deuteronomy 12:6

6 Bring to that place your Absolution-Offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and Tribute-Offerings, your Vow-Offerings, your Freewill-Offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

Deuteronomy 12:6 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 12:6

And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings
For the daily sacrifice, and upon any other account whatsoever; this was before ordered to be brought to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and now to the place where that should be fixed, ( Leviticus 17:8 Leviticus 17:9 )

and your sacrifices:
all other distinct from burnt offerings, as sin offerings, trespass offerings, and peace offerings, especially the latter. Jarchi interprets them of peace offerings of debt, such as a man was obliged to bring; but as the distance of some persons from Jerusalem was very great, and it was troublesome and expensive, they might, according to the Jewish writers, bring them the next grand festival, when all the males were obliged to appear there; so says Maimonides ^F3, all offerings of a man, whether by obligation (such as he was bound to bring) or freewill offerings, he must bring at the first feast that comes; and another of their writers observes ^F4, that if only one feast has passed, and he has not brought his vow, he transgresses an affirmative precept, ( Deuteronomy 12:6 ) the first feast on which thou comest thither, thou must needs bring it; and if three have passed, he transgresses a negative precept, ( Deuteronomy 23:21 )

and your tithes;
tithes of beasts, and the second tithes, according to Jarchi:

and heave offerings of your hand;
these according to the same writer were the firstfruits, and so it is rendered in the Septuagint version; and thus Maimonides ^F5 says, the firstfruits are called Trumot, or heave offerings; see ( Exodus 22:29 )

and your vows and your freewill offerings;
which were a type of peace offerings, ( Leviticus 7:16 )

and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks;
which were sanctified and devoted to the Lord, ( Exodus 13:2 ) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

F3 Praefat. ad Yad Chazakah.
F4 Bartenora in Misn. Roshhashanah, c. 1. sect. 1. & in Misn. Ediot, c. 7. sect. 6.
F5 In Misn. Meilah, c. 4. sect. 2.

Deuteronomy 12:6 In-Context

4 Stay clear of those places - don't let what went on there contaminate the worship of God, your God.

5 Instead find the site that God, your God, will choose and mark it with his name as a common center for all the tribes of Israel. Assemble there.

6 Bring to that place your Absolution-Offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and Tribute-Offerings, your Vow-Offerings, your Freewill-Offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

7 Feast there in the Presence of God, your God. Celebrate everything that you and your families have accomplished under the blessing of God, your God.

8 Don't continue doing things the way we're doing them at present, each of us doing as we wish.