Deuteronomy 12:15-28
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Profane and Sacred Slaughter. 15 [a]However, in any of your communities you may slaughter and eat meat freely, according to the blessing that the Lord, your God, has given you; the unclean as well as the clean may eat it, as they do the gazelle or the deer.(A) 16 [b]Only, you shall not eat of the blood, but must pour it out on the ground like water.(B) 17 Moreover, you may not, in your own communities, partake of your tithe of grain or wine or oil, of the firstborn of your herd or flock, of any offering you have vowed, of your voluntary offerings, or of your personal contributions. 18 These you must eat in the presence of the Lord, your God, in the place that the Lord, your God, chooses, along with your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and the Levite within your gates; and there, in the presence of the Lord, you shall rejoice in all your undertakings. 19 Be careful, also, that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.(C)
20 (D)After the Lord, your God, has enlarged your territory, as he promised you,(E) and you think, “I will eat meat,” as it is your desire to eat meat, you may eat it freely; 21 and if the place where the Lord, your God, chooses to put his name is too far, you may slaughter in the manner I have commanded you any of your herd or flock that the Lord has given you, and eat it freely in your own community. 22 You may eat it as you would the gazelle or the deer: the unclean and the clean eating it together. 23 (F)But make sure that you do not eat of the blood; for blood is life; you shall not eat that life with the flesh. 24 Do not eat of the blood, therefore, but pour it out on the ground like water. 25 Do not eat of it, that you and your children after you may prosper for doing what is right in the sight of the Lord. 26 However, any sacred gifts or votive offerings that you may have, you shall bring with you to the place which the Lord chooses, 27 and there you must sacrifice your burnt offerings, both the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord, your God; of your other sacrifices the blood indeed must be poured out against the altar of the Lord, your God,(G) but their flesh you may eat.
28 Be careful to heed all these words I command you today, that you and your descendants after you may forever prosper for doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord, your God.(H)
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