Which offerings must Israel bring to the Lord’s chosen place, and what meat may it eat in its own cities?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The named sacrifices, tithes, firstfruits, vows, gifts, and firstborn animals belong at the place the Lord chooses. The chapter also permits killing and eating meat in the cities, and repeats that permission when the chosen place is far away. Blood must not be eaten. Israel must include the named household members and Levite in meals at the chosen place and must not forsake the Levite.

Chapter breakdown

These are precepts and judgments to carry out in the land the Lord, the God of their fathers, will give them, for all their days on earth. Israel must destroy every place where the nations it will possess worshiped gods: on high mountains, hills, and under every shady tree. It must overthrow altars, break statues, burn groves, break idols into pieces, and remove their names from those places. Israel must not do so to the Lord. Instead it must come to the place he chooses from all its tribes to put his name and dwell there. There it must offer holocausts—burnt offerings—and victims, tithes—tenth portions—and firstfruits of its hands, the first produce of its work. It must also bring vows, gifts, and the firstborn of herds and sheep. Israel and its households must eat before the Lord and rejoice in all they put their hands to, in which he has blessed them.

They must not do there what they do that day, each person doing what seems good to himself. They have not yet reached the rest and possession the Lord will give. They will cross the Jordan and dwell in the land, with rest from surrounding enemies and without fear. At the place chosen for the Lord’s name they must bring all he commands: burnt offerings, victims, tithes, firstfruits of their hands, and the choicest gifts vowed to him. They must feast before him with their sons, daughters, menservants, maidservants, and the Levite living in their cities. The Levite has no other part or possession among them. They must not offer burnt offerings at every place they see. They must offer sacrifices and do all that is commanded at the place the Lord chooses in one of their tribes.

If they desire to eat meat, they may kill and eat in their cities according to the Lord’s blessing. The animals may be unclean, here explained as having a blemish or defect, or clean, sound and without blemish, such as may be offered. They may eat as they eat the roe and hart, kinds of deer. They must not eat the blood, but pour it on the earth like water. They may not eat in their towns the tithes of corn, wine, and oil, the firstborn of herds and cattle, anything vowed, anything offered voluntarily, or firstfruits of their hands. They must eat these before the Lord at his chosen place, with son, daughter, manservant, maidservant, and the Levite living in their cities. They must rejoice and be refreshed before the Lord in all they put their hands to. They must not forsake the Levite for all the time they live in the land.

When the Lord enlarges their borders as he has said, and they desire meat, they may kill from their herds and flocks if the chosen place for his name is far away. They must do this as commanded and may eat in their towns as they please. As with the roe and hart, both clean and unclean persons may eat alike. They must not eat blood: the stated reason is that blood is for the soul, and they must not eat the soul with the flesh. They must pour the blood on the earth like water, so it may go well with them and their children after them when they do what pleases the Lord.

They must take the things sanctified and vowed to the Lord and come to his chosen place. They must offer their offerings, the flesh and blood, on the Lord’s altar; they must pour the victims’ blood on the altar and themselves eat the flesh. They must observe and hear everything commanded, so it may go well with them and their children after them forever, when they do what is good and pleasing in the Lord’s sight.

When the Lord has destroyed the nations Israel will possess, and Israel possesses them and dwells in their land, it must beware of imitating them. It must not seek their ceremonies and say it will worship as they worshiped their gods. Israel must not do likewise to the Lord, because those nations did the abominations he abhors, offering their sons and daughters and burning them with fire. Israel must do to the Lord only what he commands, adding nothing and taking nothing away. Challoner’s separate note explains that they are forbidden to follow the heathens’ ceremonies or make alterations in the divine ordinances—the instructions governing worship.

The story inside

The chapter distinguishes offerings for the chosen place from meat eaten in the cities. Moses lists the offerings that must be brought before the Lord, names the household members and Levite who must share the meals there, and forbids offering burnt offerings wherever a person happens to see a place. He then permits killing and eating in the cities and addresses the case where enlarged borders make the chosen place far away. That permission does not move the listed tithes, firstborns, vows, or firstfruits into meals at home. Nor does it permit eating blood. Blood from such meat is poured on the earth like water, while victims’ blood at the Lord’s altar is poured on the altar. The final warning tells Israel not to copy the nations’ ceremonies, including their burning of sons and daughters, and to keep the Lord’s instructions without adding or taking away.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The chosen place governs the named offerings. Moses lists them more than once and tells Israel not to offer burnt offerings at every place it sees. The permission to eat meat in the cities preserves this distinction.
2
Blood must not be eaten. The chapter states that blood is for the soul and forbids eating the soul with the flesh. It gives separate directions for blood poured on the earth and blood poured on the altar.
3
The feast roster includes the Levite. Sons, daughters, menservants, and maidservants are named alongside him; the text explains that he has no other part or possession among them and commands Israel not to forsake him throughout its life in the land.

Test your recall

What reason does the chapter give for forbidding eating blood with the flesh?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 19883–19912
Deuteronomy Chapter 12 All idolatry must be extirpated: sacrifices, tithes, and firstfruits must be offered in one only place: all eating of blood is prohibited. 12:1. These are the precepts and judgments, that you must do in the land, which the Lord the God of thy fathers will give thee, to possess it all the days that thou shalt walk upon the earth. 12:2. Destroy all the places in which the nations, that you shall possess, worshipped their gods upon high mountains, and hills, and under every shady tree: 12:3. Overthrow their altars, and break down their statues, burn their groves with fire, and break their idols in pieces: destroy their names out of those places. 12:4. You shall not do so to the Lord your God: 12:5. But you shall come to the place, which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, and to dwell in it: 12:6. And you shall offer in that place your holocausts and victims, the tithes and firstfruits of your hands and your vows and gifts, the firstborn of your herds and your sheep. 12:7. And you shall eat there in the sight of the Lord your God: and you shall rejoice in all things, whereunto you shall put your hand, you and your houses wherein the Lord your God hath blessed you.
Lines 19914–19940
12:8. You shall not do there the things we do here this day, every man that which seemeth good to himself. 12:9. For until this present time you are not come to rest, and to the possession, which the Lord your God will give you. 12:10. You shall pass over the Jordan, and shall dwell in the land which the Lord your God will give you, that you may have rest from all enemies round about: and may dwell without any fear, 12:11. In the place, which the Lord your God shall choose, that his name may be therein. Thither shall you bring all the things that I command you, holocausts, and victims, and tithes, and the firstfruits of your hands: and whatsoever is the choicest in the gifts which you shall vow to the Lord. 12:12. There shall you feast before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite that dwelleth in your cities. For he hath no other part and possession among you. 12:13. Beware lest thou offer thy holocausts in every place that thou shalt see: 12:14. But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes shalt thou offer sacrifices, and shalt do all that I command thee.
Lines 19942–19964
12:15. But if thou desirest to eat, and the eating of flesh delight thee, kill, and eat according to the blessing of the Lord thy God, which he hath given thee, in thy cities: whether it be unclean, that is to say, having blemish or defect: or clean, that is to say, sound and without blemish, such as may be offered, as the roe, and the hart, shalt thou eat it: 12:16. Only the blood thou shalt not eat, but thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water. 12:17. Thou mayst not eat in thy towns the tithes of thy corn, and thy wine, and thy oil, the firstborn of thy herds and thy cattle, nor any thing that thou vowest, and that thou wilt offer voluntarily, and the firstfruits of thy hands: 12:18. But thou shalt 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 maidservant, and the Levite that dwelleth in thy cities: and thou shalt rejoice and be refreshed before the Lord thy God in all things, whereunto thou shalt put thy hand. 12:19. Take heed thou forsake not the Levite all the time that thou livest in the land.
Lines 19966–19985
12:20. When the Lord thy God shall have enlarged thy borders, as he hath spoken to thee, and thou wilt eat the flesh that thy soul desireth: 12:21. And if the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name should be there, be far off, thou shalt kill of thy herds and of thy flocks, as I have commanded thee, and shalt eat in thy towns, as it pleaseth thee. 12:22. Even as the roe and the hart is eaten, so shalt thou eat them: both the clean and unclean shall eat of them alike. 12:23. Only beware of this, that thou eat not the blood, for the blood is for the soul: and therefore thou must not eat the soul with the flesh: 12:24. But thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water, 12:25. That it may be well with thee and thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that which is pleasing in the sight of the Lord.
Lines 19987–19997
12:26. But the things which thou hast sanctified and vowed to the Lord, thou shalt take, and shalt come to the place which the Lord shall choose: 12:27. And shalt offer thy oblations, the flesh and the blood upon the altar of the Lord thy God: the blood of thy victims thou shalt pour on the altar: and the flesh thou thyself shalt eat. 12:28. Observe and hear all the things that I command thee, that it may be well with thee and thy children after thee for ever, when thou shalt do what is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God.
Lines 19999–20018
12:29. When the Lord thy God shall have destroyed before thy face the nations, which thou shalt go in to possess, and when thou shalt possess them, and dwell in their land: 12:30. Beware lest thou imitate them, after they are destroyed at thy coming in, and lest thou seek after their ceremonies, saying: As these nations have worshipped their gods, so will I also worship. 12:31. Thou shalt not do in like manner to the Lord thy God. For they have done to their gods all the abominations which the Lord abhorreth, offering their sons and daughters, and burning them with fire. 12:32. What I command thee, that only do thou to the Lord: neither add any thing, nor diminish. That only do thou, etc.... They are forbid here to follow the ceremonies of the heathens; or to make any alterations in the divine ordinances.