Monuments of idolatry are to be destroyed, 1-3. The place of God's service to be kept, 4-14. Blood is forbidden, 15, 16, 20-25. Holy things must be eaten in the holy place, 17, 18, 26-28. The Levite is not to be forsaken, 19. Idolatry is not to be inquired after, 29-32.
1 "These are the statutes and judgments which you shall observe to do in the land which the LORD God of your fathers gives you to possess it, all the days that you live upon the earth. 2 You shall utterly destroy all the places in which the nations which you shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, upon the hills, and under every green tree. 3 And you shall overthrow their altars, break their pillars, and burn their groves with fire. And you shall hew down the engraved images of their gods and destroy their names out of that place. 4 You shall not do so to the LORD your God. 5 But the place which the LORD your God chooses out of all your tribes to put his name there, even his habitation you shall seek, and there you shall come. 6 And there you shall bring your burnt-offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, heave-offerings of your hand, your vows, your voluntary-offerings, and the first-born of your herds and of your flocks. 7 And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to—you and your households—in which the LORD your God has blessed you.
8 "You shall not do according to all the things that we do here this day, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes. 9 For you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the LORD your God gives you. 10 But when you go over the 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 on every side so that you dwell in safety, 11 There shall be a place which the LORD your God chooses to cause his name to dwell there. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt-offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave-offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to the LORD. 12 And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God—you, your sons, your daughters, your men-servants, your women-servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, because he has no part nor inheritance with you.
13 "Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt-offerings in every place that you see. 14 But in the place which the LORD chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt-offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.
15 "However, you may kill and eat flesh in all your gates, whatever your soul desires, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which he has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer. 16 Only you shall not eat the blood. You shall pour it upon the earth as water. 17 You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, of your wine, of your oil, or the first-born of your herds or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your voluntary-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 chooses—you, your son, your daughter, your man-servant, your woman-servant, and the Levite who is within your gates. And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God in all that you put your hands to. 19 Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live upon the earth.
20 "When the LORD your God enlarges your border, as he has promised you, and you say, 'I will eat flesh,' because your soul longs to eat flesh, you may eat flesh, whatever your soul desires. 21 If the place which the LORD your God has chosen to put his name there is too far from you, then you shall kill from your herd and from your flock which the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you, and you shall eat in your gates whatever your soul desires. 22 Even as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you shall eat them. The unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike. 23 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you may not eat the life with the flesh. 24 You shall not eat it. You shall pour it upon the earth as water. 25 You shall not eat it, so that it may be well with you and with your children after you, when you do that which is right in the sight of the LORD. 26 You shall take only your holy things which you have and your vows, and go to the place which the LORD chooses, 27 And you shall offer 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, so that it may be well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.
29 "When the LORD your God cuts off the nations from before you, where you go to possess them, and you succeed them and dwell in their land, 30 Take heed to yourself that you are not snared by following them after they are destroyed from before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods? Even so I will do likewise.' 31 You shall not do so to the LORD your God, for every abomination to the LORD which he hates they have done to their gods. For even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
32 "Whatever thing I command you, observe to do it. You shall not add to it, nor diminish from it."
Matthew Henry Commentary - Deuteronomy, Chapter 12[➚]
[v.28] - "all these words" - "We are to note and listen to the revealed will of the Lord, giving our attention not to portions of it, but to 'all these words.' There must be no picking and choosing, but an impartial respect to all that God has commanded." —Charles Spurgeon