12:15 On the other hand, you may slaughter and eat meat as you please when the Lord your God blesses you 1 in all your villages. 2 Both the ritually pure and impure may eat it, whether it is a gazelle or an ibex. 12:16 However, you must not eat blood – pour it out on the ground like water. 12:17 You will not be allowed to eat in your villages your tithe of grain, new wine, olive oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, any votive offerings you have vowed, or your freewill and personal offerings. 12:18 Only in the presence of the Lord your God may you eat these, in the place he 3 chooses. This applies to you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, and the Levites 4 in your villages. In that place you will rejoice before the Lord your God in all the output of your labor. 5 12:19 Be careful not to overlook the Levites as long as you live in the land.
12:20 When the Lord your God extends your borders as he said he would do and you say, “I want to eat meat just as I please,” 6 you may do so as you wish. 7 12:21 If the place he 8 chooses to locate his name is too far for you, you may slaughter any of your herd and flock he 9 has given you just as I have stipulated; you may eat them in your villages 10 just as you wish. 12:22 Like you eat the gazelle or ibex, so you may eat these; the ritually impure and pure alike may eat them. 12:23 However, by no means eat the blood, for the blood is life itself 11 – you must not eat the life with the meat! 12:24 You must not eat it! You must pour it out on the ground like water. 12:25 You must not eat it so that it may go well with you and your children after you; you will be doing what is right in the Lord’s sight. 12 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. 13 12:27 You must offer your burnt offerings, both meat and blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; the blood of your other sacrifices 14 you must pour out on his 15 altar while you eat the meat. 12:28 Pay careful attention to all these things I am commanding you so that it may always go well with you and your children after you when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
1 tn Heb “only in all the desire of your soul you may sacrifice and eat flesh according to the blessing of the Lord your God which he has given to you.”
2 tn Heb “gates” (so KJV, NASB; likewise in vv. 17, 18).
3 tn Heb “the
4 tn See note at Deut 12:12.
5 tn Heb “in all the sending forth of your hands.”
5 tn Heb “for my soul desires to eat meat.”
6 tn Heb “according to all the desire of your soul you may eat meat.”
7 tn Heb “the
8 tn Heb “the
9 tn Heb “gates” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “in your own community.”
9 sn The blood is life itself. This is a figure of speech (metonymy) in which the cause or means (the blood) stands for the result or effect (life). That is, life depends upon the existence and circulation of blood, a truth known empirically but not scientifically tested and proved until the 17th century
11 tc Heb “in the eyes of the
13 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.
15 sn These other sacrifices would be so-called peace or fellowship offerings whose ritual required a different use of the blood from that of burnt (sin and trespass) offerings (cf. Lev 3; 7:11-14, 19-21).
16 tn Heb “on the altar of the