rsv Deuteronomy:12:1-32 SEEK
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These are the statutes and ordinances which you shall be careful to do in the land which the LORD ,
the God of your fathers ,
has given you to possess ,
all the days that you live upon the earth .
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You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods ,
upon the high mountains and upon the hills and under every green tree ;
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you shall tear down their altars ,
and dash in pieces their pillars ,
and burn their Ashe '
rim with fire ;
you shall hew down the graven images of their gods ,
and destroy their name out of that place .
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You shall not do so to the LORD your God .
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But you shall seek the place which the LORD your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there ;
thither you shall go ,
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and thither you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices ,
your tithes and the offering that you present ,
your votive offerings ,
your freewill offerings ,
and the firstlings of your herd and of your flock ;
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and there you shall eat before the LORD your God ,
and you shall rejoice ,
you and your households ,
in all that you undertake ,
in which the LORD your God has blessed you .
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You shall not do according to all that we are doing here this day ,
every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes ;
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for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the LORD your God gives you .
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But when you go over the Jordan ,
and live in the land which the LORD your God gives you to inherit ,
and when he gives you rest from all your enemies round about ,
so that you live in safety ,
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then to the place which the LORD your God will choose ,
to make his name dwell there ,
thither you shall bring all that I command you :
your burnt offerings and your sacrifices ,
your tithes and the offering that you present ,
and all your votive offerings which you vow to the LORD .
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And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God ,
you and your sons and your daughters ,
your menservants and your maidservants ,
and the Levite that is within your towns ,
since he has no portion or inheritance with you .
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Take heed that you do not offer your burnt offerings at every place that you see ;
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but at the place which 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 .
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However ,
you may slaughter and eat flesh within any of your towns ,
as much as you desire ,
according to the blessing of the LORD your God which he has given you ;
the unclean and the clean may eat of it ,
as of the gazelle and as of the hart .
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Only you shall not eat the blood ;
you shall pour it out upon the earth like water .
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You may not eat within your towns the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil ,
or the firstlings of your herd or of your flock ,
or any of your votive offerings which you vow ,
or your freewill offerings ,
or the offering that you present ;
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but you shall eat them before the LORD your God in the place which the LORD your God will choose ,
you and your son and your daughter ,
your manservant and your maidservant ,
and the Levite who is within your towns ;
and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all that you undertake .
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Take heed that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land .
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When the LORD your God enlarges your territory ,
as he has promised you ,
and you say , `
I will eat flesh ,'
because you crave flesh ,
you may eat as much flesh as you desire .
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If the place which the LORD your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you ,
then you may kill any of your herd or your flock ,
which the LORD has given you ,
as I have commanded you ;
and you may eat within your towns as much as you desire .
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Just as the gazelle or the hart is eaten ,
so you may eat of it ;
the unclean and the clean alike may eat of it .
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Only be sure that you do not eat the blood ;
for the blood is the life ,
and you shall not eat the life with the flesh .
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You shall not eat it ;
you shall pour it out upon the earth like water .
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You shall not eat it ;
that all may go well with you and with your children after you ,
when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD .
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But the holy things which are due from you ,
and your votive offerings ,
you shall take ,
and you shall go to the place which the LORD will choose ,
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and offer your burnt offerings ,
the flesh and the blood ,
on the altar of the LORD your God ;
the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God ,
but the flesh you may eat .
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Be careful to heed all these words which I command you ,
that it may go well with you and with your children after you for ever ,
when you do what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God .
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When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess ,
and you dispossess them and dwell in their land ,
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take heed that you be not ensnared to follow them ,
after they have been destroyed before you ,
and that you do not inquire about their gods ,
saying , `
How did these nations serve their gods ?--
that I also may do likewise .'
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You shall not do so to the LORD your God ;
for every abominable thing which the LORD hates they have done for their gods ;
for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods .
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Everything that I command you you shall be careful to do ;
you shall not add to it or take from it .