Deuteronomychapter 12

A.One place he chooses to put his namevv. 1-14

1 These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to follow all the days you live in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess. 2 Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree. 3 Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place. 4 You shall not worship the LORD your God in this way. 5 Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go. 6 To that place you are to bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and heave offerings, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, as well as the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your households shall eat and rejoice in all you do, because the LORD your God has blessed you. 8 You are not to do as we are doing here today, where everyone does what seems right in his own eyes. 9 For you have not yet come to the resting place and the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you. 10 When you cross the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and He gives you rest from all the enemies around you and you dwell securely, 11 then the LORD your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the LORD. 12 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you. 13 Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in just any place you see; 14 you must offer them only in the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribal territories, and there you shall do all that I command you.

B.Eat freely, but pour out the bloodvv. 15-28

15 But whenever you want, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you. Both the ceremonially clean and unclean may eat it as they would a gazelle or deer, 16 but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water. 17 Within your gates you must not eat the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, the firstborn of your herds or flocks, any of the offerings that you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts. 18 Instead, you must eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God will choose—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates. Rejoice before the LORD your God in all you do, 19 and be careful not 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 crave meat and say, “I want to eat meat,” you may eat it whenever you want. 21 If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His Name is too far from you, then you may slaughter any of the herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want. 22 Indeed, you may eat it as you would eat a gazelle or deer; both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it. 23 Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. 24 You must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water. 25 Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD. 26 But you are to take your holy things and your vow offerings and go to the place the LORD will choose. 27 Present 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 beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat. 28 Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God.

C.Never ask how they served their godsvv. 29-32

29 When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations you are entering to dispossess, and you drive them out and live in their land, 30 be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.” 31 You must not worship the LORD your God in this way, because they practice for their gods every abomination which the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods. 32 See that you do everything I command you; do not add to it or subtract from it.

Commentary on this chapter: read the Exposition

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Chapter summary

One place of worship.

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One place of worship. ‘Destroy utterly’ the altars and pillars and groves of the nations; do not worship the LORD in their manner. He will choose a place to set his name there. Thither thou shalt come, thither shalt thou bring thy burnt offerings and sacrifices and tithes and vows and freewill offerings and the firstlings of thy herds and flocks. Eat of them before the LORD and rejoice. Blood not eaten; poured on the earth as water. ‘Take heed … that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods?’ The religion of Israel is worship at the LORD's altar, not imitation of the surrounding altars.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary, John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and John Calvin, Commentaries.

Context

Law · Moses — Deuteronomy overview

A. 1–14 One place he chooses to put his name
B. 15–28 Eat freely, but pour out the blood
C. 29–32 Never ask how they served their gods

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

Deuteronomy 128 verses
- Deuteronomy 12:5Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.
- Deuteronomy 12:6To that place you are to bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and heave offerings, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, as well as the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
- Deuteronomy 12:7There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your households shall eat and rejoice in all you do, because the LORD your God has blessed you.
- Deuteronomy 12:11then the LORD your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the LORD.
- Deuteronomy 12:15But whenever you want, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you. Both the ceremonially clean and unclean may eat it as they would a gazelle or deer,
- Deuteronomy 12:18Instead, you must eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God will choose—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates. Rejoice before the LORD your God in all you do,
- Read Deuteronomy 12: 2 more there →
Deuteronomy 164 verses
- Deuteronomy 16:2You are to offer to the LORD your God the Passover sacrifice from the herd or flock in the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for His Name.
- Deuteronomy 16:6You must only offer the Passover sacrifice at the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name. Do this in the evening as the sun sets, at the same time you departed from Egypt.
- Deuteronomy 16:11and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.
- Deuteronomy 16:21Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole next to the altar you will build for the LORD your God,
- Read Deuteronomy 16 →
Deuteronomy 154 verses
- Deuteronomy 15:19You must set apart to the LORD your God every firstborn male produced by your herds and flocks. You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work, nor are you to shear the firstborn of your flock.
- Deuteronomy 15:20Each year you and your household are to eat it before the LORD your God in the place the LORD will choose.
- Deuteronomy 15:22Eat it within your gates; both the ceremonially unclean and clean may eat it as they would a gazelle or a deer.
- Deuteronomy 15:23But you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
- Read Deuteronomy 15 →
Deuteronomy 144 verses
- Deuteronomy 14:5the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.
- Deuteronomy 14:22You must be sure to set aside a tenth of all the produce brought forth each year from your fields.
- Deuteronomy 14:23And you are to eat a tenth of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks, in the presence of the LORD your God at the place He will choose as a dwelling for His Name, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.
- Deuteronomy 14:26Then you may spend the money on anything you desire: cattle, sheep, wine, strong drink, or anything you wish. You are to feast there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice with your household.
- Read Deuteronomy 14 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Deuteronomy 263 verses
- Deuteronomy 26:2you are to take some of the firstfruits of all your produce from the soil of the land that the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name,
- Deuteronomy 26:12When you have finished laying aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you are to give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat and be filled within your gates.
- Deuteronomy 26:14I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while in mourning, or removed any of it while unclean, or offered any of it for the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God; I have done everything You commanded me.
- Read Deuteronomy 26 →
Deuteronomy 43 verses
- Deuteronomy 4:2You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you.
- Deuteronomy 4:22For I will not be crossing the Jordan, because I must die in this land. But you shall cross over and take possession of that good land.
- Deuteronomy 4:40Keep His statutes and commandments, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.
- Read Deuteronomy 4 →
Leviticus 172 verses
- Leviticus 17:11For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for your souls upon the altar; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.
- Leviticus 17:13And if any Israelite or foreigner living among them hunts down a wild animal or bird that may be eaten, he must drain its blood and cover it with dirt.
- Read Leviticus 17 →
1 Kings 82 verses
- 1 Kings 8:40so that they may fear You all the days they live in the land that You gave to our fathers.
- 1 Kings 8:56“Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to His people Israel according to all that He promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises He made through His servant Moses.
- Read 1 Kings 8 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.