Deuteronomy 12:5-6

12:5 But you must seek only the place he ¹  chooses from all your tribes to establish his name as his place of residence, ²  and you must go there. 12:6 And there you must take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, ³  your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

Deuteronomy 12:11

12:11 Then you must come to the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to reside, bringing ⁴  everything I am commanding you – your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, the personal offerings you have prepared, ⁵  and all your choice votive offerings which you devote to him. ⁶ 

Deuteronomy 12:14

12:14 for you may do so ⁷  only in the place the Lord chooses in one of your tribal areas – there you may do everything I am commanding you. ⁸ 

Deuteronomy 12:26

12:26 Only the holy things and votive offerings that belong to you, you must pick up and take to the place the Lord will choose. ⁹ 

¹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

² tc Some scholars, on the basis of v. 11, emend the MT reading שִׁכְנוֹ (shikhno, “his residence”) to the infinitive construct לְשָׁכֵן (lÿshakhen, “to make [his name] to dwell”), perhaps with the 3rd person masculine singular sf לְשַׁכְּנוֹ (lÿshakÿno, “to cause it to dwell”). Though the presupposed nounשֵׁכֶן (shekhen) is nowhere else attested, the parallel here with שַׁמָּה (shammah, “there”) favors retaining the MT as it stands.

³ tn Heb “heave offerings of your hand.”

⁴ tn Heb “and it will be (to) the place where the Lord your God chooses to cause his name to dwell you will bring.”

⁵ tn Heb “heave offerings of your hand.”

⁶ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 12:5.

⁷ tn Heb “offer burnt offerings.” The expression “do so” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

⁸ sn This injunction to worship in a single and central sanctuary – one limited and appropriate to the thrice-annual festival celebrations (see Exod 23:14-17; 34:22-24; Lev 23:4-36; Deut 16:16-17) – marks a departure from previous times when worship was carried out at local shrines (cf. Gen 8:20; 12:7; 13:18; 22:9; 26:25; 35:1, 3, 7; Exod 17:15). Apart from the corporate worship of the whole theocratic community, however, worship at local altars would still be permitted as in the past (Deut 16:21; Judg 6:24-27; 13:19-20; 1 Sam 7:17; 10:5, 13; 2 Sam 24:18-25; 1 Kgs 18:30).

⁹ tc Again, to complete a commonly attested wording the LXX adds after “choose” the phrase “to place his name there.” This shows insensitivity to deliberate departures from literary stereotypes. The MT reading is to be preferred.