Parallel Bible results for "deuteronomy 12"

Deuteronomy 12

New Living Translation NLT

1 “These are the decrees and regulations you must be careful to obey when you live in the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. You must obey them as long as you live.

2 “When you drive out the nations that live there, you must destroy all the places where they worship their gods—high on the mountains, up on the hills, and under every green tree.

3 Break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. Burn their Asherah poles and cut down their carved idols. Completely erase the names of their gods!

4 “Do not worship the LORD your God in the way these pagan peoples worship their gods.

5 Rather, you must seek the LORD your God at the place of worship he himself will choose from among all the tribes—the place where his name will be honored.

6 There you will bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your sacred offerings, your offerings to fulfill a vow, your voluntary offerings, and your offerings of the firstborn animals of your herds and flocks.

7 There you and your families will feast in the presence of the LORD your God, and you will rejoice in all you have accomplished because the LORD your God has blessed you.

8 “Your pattern of worship will change. Today all of you are doing as you please,

9 because you have not yet arrived at the place of rest, the land the LORD your God is giving you as your special possession.

10 But you will soon cross the Jordan River and live in the land the LORD your God is giving you. When he gives you rest from all your enemies and you’re living safely in the land,

11 you must bring everything I command you—your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your sacred offerings, and your offerings to fulfill a vow—to the designated place of worship, the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to be honored.

12 “You must celebrate there in the presence of the LORD your God with your sons and daughters and all your servants. And remember to include the Levites who live in your towns, for they will receive no allotment of land among you.

13 Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings just anywhere you like.

14 You may do so only at the place the LORD will choose within one of your tribal territories. There you must offer your burnt offerings and do everything I command you.

15 “But you may butcher your animals and eat their meat in any town whenever you want. You may freely eat the animals with which the LORD your God blesses you. All of you, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat, just as you now eat gazelle and deer.

16 But you must not consume the blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water.

17 “But you may not eat your offerings in your hometown—neither the tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, nor the firstborn of your flocks and herds, nor any offering to fulfill a vow, nor your voluntary offerings, nor your sacred offerings.

18 You must eat these in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose. Eat them there with your children, your servants, and the Levites who live in your towns, celebrating in the presence of the LORD your God in all you do.

19 And be very careful never to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.

20 “When the LORD your God expands your territory as he has promised, and you have the urge to eat meat, you may freely eat meat whenever you want.

21 It might happen that the designated place of worship—the place the LORD your God chooses for his name to be honored—is a long way from your home. If so, you may butcher any of the cattle, sheep, or goats the LORD has given you, and you may freely eat the meat in your hometown, as I have commanded you.

22 Anyone, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat, just as you do now with gazelle and deer.

23 But never consume the blood, for the blood is the life, and you must not consume the lifeblood with the meat.

24 Instead, pour out the blood on the ground like water.

25 Do not consume the blood, so that all may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what pleases the LORD .

26 “Take your sacred gifts and your offerings given to fulfill a vow to the place the LORD chooses.

27 You must offer the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your other sacrifices must be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat.

28 Be careful to obey all my commands, so that all will go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and pleasing to the LORD your God.

29 “When the LORD your God goes ahead of you and destroys the nations and you drive them out and live in their land,

30 do not fall into the trap of following their customs and worshiping their gods. Do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations worship their gods? I want to follow their example.’

31 You must not worship the LORD your God the way the other nations worship their gods, for they perform for their gods every detestable act that the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods.

32 “So be careful to obey all the commands I give you. You must not add anything to them or subtract anything from them.

The Message Bible MSG

1 These are the rules and regulations that you must diligently observe for as long as you live in this country that God, the God-of-Your-Fathers, has given you to possess.

2 Ruthlessly demolish all the sacred shrines where the nations that you're driving out worship their gods - wherever you find them, on hills and mountains or in groves of green trees.

3 Tear apart their altars. Smash their phallic pillars. Burn their sex-and-religion Asherah shrines. Break up their carved gods. Obliterate the names of those god sites.

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.

9 Until now you haven't arrived at the goal, the resting place, the inheritance that God, your God, is giving you.

10 But the minute you cross the Jordan River and settle into the land God, your God, is enabling you to inherit, he'll give you rest from all your surrounding enemies. You'll be able to settle down and live in safety.

11 From then on, at the place that God, your God, chooses to mark with his name as the place where you can meet him, bring everything that I command you: your Absolution-Offerings and sacrifices, tithes and Tribute-Offerings, and the best of your Vow-Offerings that you vow to God.

12 Celebrate there in the Presence of God, your God, you and your sons and daughters, your servants and maids, including the Levite living in your neighborhood because he has no place of his own in your inheritance.

13 Be extra careful: Don't offer your Absolution-Offerings just any place that strikes your fancy.

14 Offer your Absolution-Offerings only in the place that God chooses in one of your tribal regions. There and only there are you to bring all that I command you.

15 It's permissible to slaughter your nonsacrificial animals like gazelle and deer in your towns and eat all you want from them with the blessing of God, your God. Both the ritually clean and unclean may eat.

16 But you may not eat the blood. Pour the blood out on the ground like water.

17 Nor may you eat there the tithe of your grain, new wine, or olive oil; nor the firstborn of your herds and flocks; nor any of the Vow-Offerings that you vow; nor your Freewill-Offerings and Tribute-Offerings.

18 All these you must eat in the Presence of God, your God, in the place God, your God, chooses - you, your son and daughter, your servant and maid, and the Levite who lives in your neighborhood. You are to celebrate in the Presence of God, your God, all the things you've been able to accomplish.

19 And make sure that for as long as you live on your land you never, never neglect the Levite.

20 When God, your God, expands your territory as he promised he would do, and you say, "I'm hungry for meat," because you happen to be craving meat at the time, go ahead and eat as much meat as you want.

21 If you're too far away from the place that God, your God, has marked with his name, it's all right to slaughter animals from your herds and flocks that God has given you, as I've commanded you. In your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want.

22 Just as the nonsacrificial animals like the gazelle and deer are eaten, you may eat them; the ritually unclean and clean may eat them at the same table.

23 Only this: Absolutely no blood. Don't eat the blood. Blood is life; don't eat the life with the meat.

24 Don't eat it; pour it out on the ground like water.

25 Don't eat it; then you'll have a good life, you and your children after you. By all means, do the right thing in God's eyes.

26 And this: Lift high your Holy-Offerings and your Vow-Offerings and bring them to the place God designates.

27 Sacrifice your Absolution-Offerings, the meat and blood, on the Altar of God, your God; pour out the blood of the Absolution-Offering on the Altar of God, your God; then you can go ahead and eat the meat.

28 Be vigilant, listen obediently to these words that I command you so that you'll have a good life, you and your children, for a long, long time, doing what is good and right in the eyes of God, your God.

29 When God, your God, cuts off the nations whose land you are invading, shoves them out of your way so that you displace them and settle in their land,

30 be careful that you don't get curious about them after they've been destroyed before you. Don't get fascinated with their gods, thinking, "I wonder what it was like for them, worshiping their gods. I'd like to try that myself."

31 Don't do this to God, your God. They commit every imaginable abomination with their gods. God hates it all with a passion. Why, they even set their children on fire as offerings to their gods!

32 Diligently do everything I command you, the way I command you: don't add to it; don't subtract from it.