Deuteronomy 12:13

THE MESSAGE

Be extra careful: Don't offer your Absolution-Offerings just any place that strikes your fancy. Offer your Absolution-Offerings only in the place that God chooses in one of your tribal regions. There and only there are you to bring all that I command you.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in all the sacred places you see.

Hebrew Names Version
Take heed to yourself that you don't offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see;

King James Version
Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:

Lexham English Bible
"Take care for yourself so that you do not offer your burnt offerings at just any place that you happen to see,

English Standard Version
Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see,

New Century Version
Be careful that you don't sacrifice your burnt offerings just anywhere you please.

New English Translation
Make sure you do not offer burnt offerings in any place you wish,

Amplified Bible
"Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every [cultic] place you see,

New American Standard Bible
"Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in any cultic place that you see,

Geneva Bible (1587)
Take heede that thou offer not thy burnt offrings in euery place that thou seest:

Legacy Standard Bible
"Beware, lest you offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see,

Complete Jewish Bible
"Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings just anywhere you see,

Darby Translation
Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest;

Easy-to-Read Version
Be sure you don't offer your burnt offerings in just any place you see.

George Lamsa Translation
Take heed to yourselves that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you please;

Good News Translation
You are not to offer your sacrifices wherever you choose;

Literal Translation
Take heed to yourself that you not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Take hede vnto thy selfe, that thou offer not thy burntofferynges in what so euer place thou seyst:

American Standard Version
Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest;

Bible in Basic English
Take care that you do not make your burned offerings in any place you see:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Take heede that thou offer not thy burnt offeringes in euery place that thou seest:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest;

King James Version (1611)
Take heed to thy selfe, that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in euery place that thou seest:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy whole-burnt-offerings in any place which thou shalt see;

English Revised Version
Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest:

Berean Standard Bible
Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in just any place you see;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Be thou war lest thou offre thi brent sacrifices in ech place which thou seest,

Young's Literal Translation
`Take heed to thee, lest thou cause thy burnt-offerings to ascend in any place which thou seest,

Update Bible Version
You be careful not to offer your burnt-offerings in every place that you see;

Webster's Bible Translation
Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest:

World English Bible
Take heed to yourself that you don't offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see;

New King James Version
Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see;

New Living Translation
Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings just anywhere you like.

New Life Bible
Be careful that you do not give your burnt gifts in just any place you see.

New Revised Standard
Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place you happen to see.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Take heed to thyself, lest thou cause thine ascending-sacrifice to go up in just any place which thou shalt see;

Douay-Rheims Bible
Beware lest thou offer thy holocausts in every place that thou shalt see:

Revised Standard Version
Take heed that you do not offer your burnt offerings at every place that you see;

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Be careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see,

Contextual Overview

⁵Instead find the site that God , your God, will choose and mark it with his name as a common center for all the tribes of Israel. Assemble there. Bring to that place your Absolution-Offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and Tribute-Offerings, your Vow-Offerings, your Freewill-Offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. Feast there in the Presence of God , your God. Celebrate everything that you and your families have accomplished under the blessing of God , your God. ⁸Don't continue doing things the way we're doing them at present, each of us doing as we wish. Until now you haven't arrived at the goal, the resting place, the inheritance that God , your God, is giving you. But the minute you cross the Jordan River and settle into the land God , your God, is enabling you to inherit, he'll give you rest from all your surrounding enemies. You'll be able to settle down and live in safety. ¹¹From then on, at the place that God , your God, chooses to mark with his name as the place where you can meet him, bring everything that I command you: your Absolution-Offerings and sacrifices, tithes and Tribute-Offerings, and the best of your Vow-Offerings that you vow to God . Celebrate there in the Presence of God , your God, you and your sons and daughters, your servants and maids, including the Levite living in your neighborhood because he has no place of his own in your inheritance. ¹³Be extra careful: Don't offer your Absolution-Offerings just any place that strikes your fancy. Offer your Absolution-Offerings only in the place that God chooses in one of your tribal regions. There and only there are you to bring all that I command you. ¹⁵ It's permissible to slaughter your nonsacrificial animals like gazelle and deer in your towns and eat all you want from them with the blessing of God , your God. Both the ritually clean and unclean may eat. ¹⁶But you may not eat the blood. Pour the blood out on the ground like water. Nor may you eat there the tithe of your grain, new wine, or olive oil; nor the firstborn of your herds and flocks; nor any of the Vow-Offerings that you vow; nor your Freewill-Offerings and Tribute-Offerings. All these you must eat in the Presence of God , your God, in the place God , your God, chooses—you, your son and daughter, your servant and maid, and the Levite who lives in your neighborhood. You are to celebrate in the Presence of God , your God, all the things you've been able to accomplish. ¹⁹ And make sure that for as long as you live on your land you never, never neglect the Levite. ²⁰When God , your God, expands your territory as he promised he would do, and you say, "I'm hungry for meat," because you happen to be craving meat at the time, go ahead and eat as much meat as you want. If you're too far away from the place that God , your God, has marked with his name, it's all right to slaughter animals from your herds and flocks that God has given you, as I've commanded you. In your own towns you may eat as much of them as you want. Just as the nonsacrificial animals like the gazelle and deer are eaten, you may eat them; the ritually unclean and clean may eat them at the same table. ²³Only this: Absolutely no blood. Don't eat the blood. Blood is life; don't eat the life with the meat. Don't eat it; pour it out on the ground like water. Don't eat it; then you'll have a good life, you and your children after you. By all means, do the right thing in God 's eyes. ²⁶And this: Lift high your Holy-Offerings and your Vow-Offerings and bring them to the place God designates. Sacrifice your Absolution-Offerings, the meat and blood, on the Altar of God , your God; pour out the blood of the Absolution-Offering on the Altar of God , your God; then you can go ahead and eat the meat.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

This was directly opposed to the customs of the heathen idolaters, in offering their sacrifices on the tops of hills and mountains. Deuteronomy 12:6, Leviticus 17:2-5, 1 Kings 12:28-32, 1 Kings 15:34, 2 Chronicles 15:17

Reciprocal: Leviticus 1:3 - at the Leviticus 17:4 - bringeth Joshua 22:15 - General Joshua 22:29 - to build 2 Chronicles 11:16 - to sacrifice 2 Chronicles 32:12 - Ye shall worship Isaiah 36:7 - is it not

Cross-References

Genesis 11:29
Abram and Nahor each got married. Abram's wife was Sarai; Nahor's wife was Milcah, the daughter of his brother Haran. Haran had two daughters, Milcah and Iscah.

Genesis 12:8
He moved on from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent between Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. He built an altar there and prayed to God .

Genesis 26:7
The men of the place questioned him about his wife. He said, "She's my sister." He was afraid to say "She's my wife." He was thinking, "These men might kill me to get Rebekah, she's so beautiful."

Isaiah 57:11
"Who talked you into the pursuit of this nonsense, leaving me high and dry, forgetting you ever knew me? Because I don't yell and make a scene do you think I don't exist? I'll go over, detail by detail, all your ‘righteous' attempts at religion, and expose the absurdity of it all. Go ahead, cry for help to your collection of no-gods: A good wind will blow them away. They're smoke, nothing but smoke. "But anyone who runs to me for help will inherit the land, will end up owning my holy mountain!"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Take heed to thyself, that thou offer not thy burnt offerings,.... And so any other, this is put for all the rest:

in every place that thou seest; which might take with their fancy, seem pleasant, and so a proper and suitable place to sacrifice in, as on high places, and under green trees; but they were not to indulge their own fancies and imaginations, or follow the customs of others, but keep to the rules prescribed them by the Lord, and to the place fixed by him for his worship.