Deuteronomy:12-15

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* These are the statutes and judgments , which ye shall observe to do in the land , which the LORD God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it , all the days that ye live upon the earth . * Ye shall utterly destroy all the places , wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods , upon the high mountains , and upon the hills , and under every green tree : * And ye shall overthrow their altars , and break their pillars , and burn their groves with fire ; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods , and destroy the names of them out of that place . * Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God . * But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there , even unto his habitation shall ye seek , and thither thou shalt come : * And thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings , and your sacrifices , and your tithes , and heave offerings of your hand , and your vows , and your freewill offerings , and the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks : * And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God , and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto , ye and your households , wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed thee . * Ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day , every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes . * For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance , which the LORD your God giveth you . * But when ye go over Jordan , and dwell in the land which the LORD your God giveth you to inherit , and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about , so that ye dwell in safety ; * Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there ; thither shall ye bring all that I command you ; your burnt offerings , and your sacrifices , your tithes , and the heave offering of your hand , and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the LORD : * And ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God , ye , and your sons , and your daughters , and your menservants , and your maidservants , and the Levite that is within your gates ; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you . * Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest : * But in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of thy tribes , there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings , and there thou shalt do all that I command thee . * Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates , whatsoever thy soul lusteth after , according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee : the unclean and the clean may eat thereof , as of the roebuck , and as of the hart . * Only ye shall not eat the blood ; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water . * Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn , or of thy wine , or of thy oil , or the firstlings of thy herds or of thy flock , nor any of thy vows which thou vowest , nor thy freewill offerings , or heave offering of thine hand : * But thou must eat them before the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose , thou , and thy son , and thy daughter , and thy manservant , and thy maidservant , and the Levite that is within thy gates : and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto . * Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite as long as thou livest upon the earth . * When the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy border , as he hath promised thee , and thou shalt say , I will eat flesh , because thy soul longeth to eat flesh ; thou mayest eat flesh , whatsoever thy soul lusteth after . * If the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to put his name there be too far from thee , then thou shalt kill of thy herd and of thy flock , which the LORD hath given thee , as I have commanded thee , and thou shalt eat in thy gates whatsoever thy soul lusteth after . * Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten , so thou shalt eat them : the unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike . * Only be sure that thou eat not the blood : for the blood is the life ; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh . * Thou shalt not eat it ; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water . * Thou shalt not eat it ; that it may go well with thee , and with thy children after thee , when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD . * Only thy holy things which thou hast , and thy vows , thou shalt take , and go unto the place which the LORD shall choose : * And thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings , the flesh and the blood , upon the altar of the LORD thy God : and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the LORD thy God , and thou shalt eat the flesh . * Observe and hear all these words which I command thee , that it may go well with thee , and with thy children after thee for ever , when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God . * When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee , whither thou goest to possess them , and thou succeedest them , and dwellest in their land ; * Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them , after that they be destroyed from before thee ; and that thou enquire not after their gods , saying , How did these nations serve their gods ? even so will I do likewise . * Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God : for every abomination to the LORD , which he hateth , have they done unto their gods ; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods . * What thing soever I command you , observe to do it : thou shalt not add thereto , nor diminish from it . * If there arise among you a prophet , or a dreamer of dreams , and giveth thee a sign or a wonder , * And the sign or the wonder come to pass , whereof he spake unto thee , saying , Let us go after other gods , which thou hast not known , and let us serve them ; * Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet , or that dreamer of dreams : for the LORD your God proveth you , to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul . * Ye shall walk after the LORD your God , and fear him , and keep his commandments , and obey his voice , and ye shall serve him , and cleave unto him . * And that prophet , or that dreamer of dreams , shall be put to death ; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God , which brought you out of the land of Egypt , and redeemed you out of the house of bondage , to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in . So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee . * If thy brother , the son of thy mother , or thy son , or thy daughter , or the wife of thy bosom , or thy friend , which is as thine own soul , entice thee secretly , saying , Let us go and serve other gods , which thou hast not known , thou , nor thy fathers ; * Namely , of the gods of the people which are round about you , nigh unto thee , or far off from thee , from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth ; * Thou shalt not consent unto him , nor hearken unto him ; neither shall thine eye pity him , neither shalt thou spare , neither shalt thou conceal him : * But thou shalt surely kill him ; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death , and afterwards the hand of all the people . * And thou shalt stone him with stones , that he die ; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God , which brought thee out of the land of Egypt , from the house of bondage . * And all Israel shall hear , and fear , and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you . * If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities , which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there , saying , * Certain men , the children of Belial , are gone out from among you , and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city , saying , Let us go and serve other gods , which ye have not known ; * Then shalt thou enquire , and make search , and ask diligently ; and , behold , if it be truth , and the thing certain , that such abomination is wrought among you ; * Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword , destroying it utterly , and all that is therein , and the cattle thereof , with the edge of the sword . * And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into the midst of the street thereof , and shalt burn with fire the city , and all the spoil thereof every whit , for the LORD thy God : and it shall be an heap for ever ; it shall not be built again . * And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand : that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger , and shew thee mercy , and have compassion upon thee , and multiply thee , as he hath sworn unto thy fathers ; * When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God , to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day , to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God . * Ye are the children of the LORD your God : ye shall not cut yourselves , nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead . * For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God , and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself , above all the nations that are upon the earth . * Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing . * These are the beasts which ye shall eat : the ox , the sheep , and the goat , * The hart , and the roebuck , and the fallow deer , and the wild goat , and the pygarg , and the wild ox , and the chamois . * And every beast that parteth the hoof , and cleaveth the cleft into two claws , and cheweth the cud among the beasts , that ye shall eat . * Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cud , or of them that divide the cloven hoof ; as the camel , and the hare , and the coney : for they chew the cud , but divide not the hoof ; therefore they are unclean unto you . * And the swine , because it divideth the hoof , yet cheweth not the cud , it is unclean unto you : ye shall not eat of their flesh , nor touch their dead carcase . * These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters : all that have fins and scales shall ye eat : * And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat ; it is unclean unto you . * Of all clean birds ye shall eat . * But these are they of which ye shall not eat : the eagle , and the ossifrage , and the ospray , * And the glede , and the kite , and the vulture after his kind , * And every raven after his kind , * And the owl , and the night hawk , and the cuckow , and the hawk after his kind , * The little owl , and the great owl , and the swan , * And the pelican , and the gier eagle , and the cormorant , * And the stork , and the heron after her kind , and the lapwing , and the bat . * And every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you : they shall not be eaten . * But of all clean fowls ye may eat . * Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself : thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates , that he may eat it ; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien : for thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God . Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother 's milk . * Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed , that the field bringeth forth year by year . * And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God , in the place which he shall choose to place his name there , the tithe of thy corn , of thy wine , and of thine oil , and the firstlings of thy herds and of thy flocks ; that thou mayest learn to fear the LORD thy God always . * And if the way be too long for thee , so that thou art not able to carry it ; or if the place be too far from thee , which the LORD thy God shall choose to set his name there , when the LORD thy God hath blessed thee : * Then shalt thou turn it into money , and bind up the money in thine hand , and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose : * And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after , for oxen , or for sheep , or for wine , or for strong drink , or for whatsoever thy soul desireth : and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God , and thou shalt rejoice , thou , and thine household , * And the Levite that is within thy gates ; thou shalt not forsake him ; for he hath no part nor inheritance with thee . * At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year , and shalt lay it up within thy gates : * And the Levite , (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee ,) and the stranger , and the fatherless , and the widow , which are within thy gates , shall come , and shall eat and be satisfied ; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest . * At the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release . * And this is the manner of the release : Every creditor that lendeth ought unto his neighbour shall release it ; he shall not exact it of his neighbour , or of his brother ; because it is called the LORD 'S release . * Of a foreigner thou mayest exact it again : but that which is thine with thy brother thine hand shall release ; * Save when there shall be no poor among you ; for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it : * Only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God , to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day . * For the LORD thy God blesseth thee , as he promised thee : and thou shalt lend unto many nations , but thou shalt not borrow ; and thou shalt reign over many nations , but they shall not reign over thee . * If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee , thou shalt not harden thine heart , nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother : * But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him , and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need , in that which he wanteth . * Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart , saying , The seventh year , the year of release , is at hand ; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother , and thou givest him nought ; and he cry unto the LORD against thee , and it be sin unto thee . * Thou shalt surely give him , and thine heart shall not be grieved when thou givest unto him : because that for this thing the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thy works , and in all that thou puttest thine hand unto . * For the poor shall never cease out of the land : therefore I command thee , saying , Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother , to thy poor , and to thy needy , in thy land . * And if thy brother , an Hebrew man , or an Hebrew woman , be sold unto thee , and serve thee six years ; then in the seventh year thou shalt let him go free from thee . * And when thou sendest him out free from thee , thou shalt not let him go away empty : * Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock , and out of thy floor , and out of thy winepress : of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him . * And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt , and the LORD thy God redeemed thee : therefore I command thee this thing to day . * And it shall be , if he say unto thee , I will not go away from thee ; because he loveth thee and thine house , because he is well with thee ; * Then thou shalt take an aul , and thrust it through his ear unto the door , and he shall be thy servant for ever . And also unto thy maidservant thou shalt do likewise . * It shall not seem hard unto thee , when thou sendest him away free from thee ; for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee , in serving thee six years : and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest . * All the firstling males that come of thy herd and of thy flock thou shalt sanctify unto the LORD thy God : thou shalt do no work with the firstling of thy bullock , nor shear the firstling of thy sheep . * Thou shalt eat it before the LORD thy God year by year in the place which the LORD shall choose , thou and thy household . * And if there be any blemish therein , as if it be lame , or blind , or have any ill blemish , thou shalt not sacrifice it unto the LORD thy God . * Thou shalt eat it within thy gates : the unclean and the clean person shall eat it alike , as the roebuck , and as the hart . * Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof ; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water . * Observe the month of Abib , and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God : for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night .

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