F R t 12:1. These are the statutes.
u 12:2-14:29. Sacred places and meats.
S1 15:1-16:17. Ecclesiastical laws (Sabbath &c.).
T v 16:18–17:13. Laws. Civil.
w 17:14-20. The KING.
S2 18:1-8. Laws. Ecclesiastical (Levites &c.).
T w 18:9-22. The PROPHET.
v 19:1-25:19. Laws. Civil.
S3 26:1-15. Laws. Ecclesiastical (First-fruits).
R t 26:16-19. These statutes.
u 27:1-10. Sacred places and worship.
Deuteronomy 12)
1: These are the statutes and judgments (= ordinances, duties and punishments, see 4:1), which you all shall observe to do in the land, which the Lord God of your fathers gives you to possess it, all the days that you all live upon the ground.
u U1 12:2-32. Places. U2 13:1-18. Idolatry. U3 14:1-29. Meats.
U1 x 2,3. False gods. Destruction of places.
y 4-28. Yehovah: "Not so."
x 29,30. False gods. Destruction of worship.
y 31,32. Yehovah: "Not so."
2: You all shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which you all shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree (= verdant, new, Fig. prosperous. Heb. z‘anan):
3: And you all shall overthrow their altars, and smash their pillars (these "menhirs" constantly dug up today), and burn their groves (= the 'ashęrah) with fire; and you all shall hew down the sculptures of their gods (as in 7:25), and destroy (= cause to perish) the names of them out of that place (cp. Ex. 23:24; 34:13. Judg. 2:2; 6:28. 2 Kings 10:19; 11:1. Ezek. 6:3).
y a 4. Command. General (negative).
b 5-14. Restrictions.
c e 15. Exception.
f 16. Prohibition of foods.
d 17-19. Tenths.
c e 20-22. Exceptions.
f 23-25. Prohibition on foods.
b 26,27. Restrictions.
a 28. Commands. General (positive).
4: You all shall not do so to the Lord your God.
5: But unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there (only in the Land could these laws be carried out. Cp. Ex. 20:24), even unto His habitation shall you all seek, and to that place you shall come:
6: And to that place you all shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the first-lings of your herds and of your flocks:
7: And there you all shall eat before the Lord your God, and you all shall rejoice in all that you all put your hand unto (put for the whole works done by it), all you and your households, wherein the Lord your God has blessed you.
8: You all shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.
9: For you all are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance (cp. Josh. 23:1. Deut. 25:19. 1 Kings 8:56), which the Lord your God gives you.
10: But when you all go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your God gives you to inherit, and when He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you all dwell in safety;
11: Then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause His name to dwell there (the ark of the covenant would be the place until the temple was built); to that place shall you all bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you all vow to the Lord:
12: And you all shall rejoice before the Lord your God (cp. Lev. 23:40), all you, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates (put for the whole city); forasmuch as he has no part nor inheritance with you (cp. Num. 10:8,9. Num. 3:11-13).
13: Take heed to yourself that you offer not your burnt offerings in every place that you see:
14: But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.
15: Notwithstanding you may kill and eat flesh in all your cities, whatsoever your soul (yourself) lusts after, according to (notice this condition) the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof (this regarding the persons, not the food), as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.
16: Only you all shall not eat the blood (purifies very quickly); you all shall pour it upon the earth as water.
17: You may not eat within your cities the tithe of your corn, or of your new wine, or of your oil, or the first-lings of your herds or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your freewill offerings, or heave offering of your hand:
18: But you must eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God shall choose, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your manservant, and your maidservant, and the Levite that is within your gates: and you shall rejoice before the the Lord your God in all that you put your hands to.
19: Take heed to yourself that you forsake not the Levite as long as you live upon the earth (Heb. = all the days).
20: When the Lord your God shall enlarge your border, according as He has promised you, and you shall say, ‘I will eat flesh, because thy soul (yourself) longs to eat flesh; you may eat flesh, whatsoever yourself longs for.
21: If the place which the Lord your God has chosen to put His name there be too far from you, then you shall kill in sacrifice of your herd and of your flock (cp. 1 Sam. 16:5 ["sacrifice"]), which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and you shall eat in your cities whatsoever yourself longs for.
22: Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so you shall eat them: the unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike.
23: Only be sure that you eat not the blood: for the blood is the life (Heb. "the blood it is the soul". Cp. Lev. 17:11,14 and v.16 above); and you may not eat the life (= soul, Heb. nephesh) with the flesh.
24: You shall not eat it (repeated in v.25 for emphasis); you shall pour it upon the earth as water.
25: You shall not eat it; that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, when you shall do that which is right in the sight of the Lord.
26: Only your holy (= set apart, separate) things which you have, and your vows, you shall take, and go to the place which the Lord shall choose:
27: And you shall prepare your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the Lord your God: and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall eat the flesh.
28: Observe and hear all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you for ever, when you do that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
29: When the Lord your God shall cut off the nations from before you, to which place you go to possess them, and you succeed them, and dwelled in their land;
30: Take heed to yourself that you be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before you; and that you inquire not after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.'
31: You shall not do so to the Lord your God: for every abomination to the Lord, which He hates, have they done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
32: What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: you shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it.