Immerse: Beginnings Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 304
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IMMERSE
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BEGINNINGS
12:7-22
offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your sacred offerings, your offerings
to fulfill a vow, your voluntary offerings, and your offerings of the firstborn
animals of your herds and flocks. There you and your families will feast in
the presence of the Lord your God, and you will rejoice in all you have
accomplished because the Lord your God has blessed you.
“Your pattern of worship will change. Today all of you are doing as you
please, because you have not yet arrived at the place of rest, the land the
Lord your God is giving you as your special possession. But you will soon
cross the Jordan River and live in the land the Lord your God is giving
you. When he gives you rest from all your enemies and you’re living safely
in the land, you must bring everything I command you—your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your sacred offerings, and your offerings
to fulfill a vow—to the designated place of worship, the place the Lord
your God chooses for his name to be honored.
“You must celebrate there in the presence of the Lord your God with
your sons and daughters and all your servants. And remember to include
the Levites who live in your towns, for they will receive no allotment of
land among you. Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings just anywhere you like. You may do so only at the place the Lord will choose
within one of your tribal territories. There you must offer your burnt offerings and do everything I command you.
“But you may butcher your animals and eat their meat in any town
whenever you want. You may freely eat the animals with which the Lord
your God blesses you. All of you, whether ceremonially clean or unclean,
may eat that meat, just as you now eat gazelle and deer. But you must not
consume the blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water.
“But you may not eat your offerings in your hometown—neither the
tithe of your grain and new wine and olive oil, nor the firstborn of your
flocks and herds, nor any offering to fulfill a vow, nor your voluntary offerings, nor your sacred offerings. You must eat these in the presence of
the Lord your God at the place he will choose. Eat them there with your
children, your servants, and the Levites who live in your towns, celebrating
in the presence of the Lord your God in all you do. And be very careful
never to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.
“When the Lord your God expands your territory as he has promised,
and you have the urge to eat meat, you may freely eat meat whenever you
want. It might happen that the designated place of w
orship—the place
the Lord your God chooses for his name to be h onored—is a long way
from your home. If so, you may butcher any of the cattle, sheep, or goats
the Lord has given you, and you may freely eat the meat in your hometown, as I have commanded you. Anyone, whether ceremonially clean
or unclean, may eat that meat, just as you do now with gazelle and deer.
