What Does Deuteronomy 12:14 Mean?
But in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your rising offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But in the place which the LORD shall choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.THE KEY
The burnt offering is named for rising, so the verse binds the place the LORD chooses to the upward movement of what is given.
THE MEANING
Your approach to God has both a location and a direction here: the LORD chooses the place, and the burnt offering rises there. What is given and what is commanded meet in one appointed place.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the idea that an offering is defined only by what is handed over, while its place and commanded form are incidental. Here, the appointed location belongs to the act’s meaning.
THE ROOT
עֹלֹתֶיךָ
ʿolotekha
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
go up, rise, ascend
“your rising offerings” in this verse is ʿolotekha. The word translated “burnt offerings” comes from the root for rising or going up. The offering’s name carries its movement: at the chosen place, what is given is pictured as rising toward God.
ALSO GROWS
ʿaliyah: ascent, going up
עֲלִיָּה
This related word keeps the upward movement audible in the offering’s name.
maʿaleh: ascent, rising slope
מַעֲלֶה
It gives the root’s upward movement a concrete shape, deepening the sense of an offering that rises.
מָקוֹם
maqom
GROWS FROM
קום
q-w-m
stand, rise, be established
English “place” can sound like coordinates alone, but maqom is formed from a root meaning to stand or rise. The verse presents the chosen site as an established place for the offering’s ascent.
ALSO GROWS
qam: stood, arose
קָם
This form makes the root’s sense of standing and arising visible within the word for place.
heqim: raised, established
הֵקִים
The place is more than a point on a map: its significance is established through the LORD’s choosing.
יִבְחַר
yivḥar
GROWS FROM
בחר
b-ḥ-r
choose, select
“shall choose” in this verse is yivḥar. The place receives its significance because the LORD chooses it. Its meaning is rooted in that selection, rather than in the site standing apart on its own.
ALSO GROWS
nivḥar: chosen, selected
נִבְחָר
This form makes the place’s defining quality explicit: it is the site selected by the LORD.
mivḥar: choice, choicest selection
מִבְחָר
The same root carries the idea of selection into the word for a choice or the choicest thing.
THE PATTERN
An offering is not only what is given; its place and way of approach are set by God.
But at the place the LORD your God will choose to pitch his name, there you shall slaughter the Passover at evening, as the sun comes in, at the appointed time of your coming out of Egypt.And the LORD was seen by Solomon in the night, and said to him, I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.Through him, then, let us always carry up a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.THE THREAD
Who climbs the mountain of the LORD? Who stands in his set-apart place?The verb יַעֲלֶה (yaʿaleh, “will ascend”) shares the root עלה (ʿ-l-h, “rise, ascend”) with עֹלָה (ʿolah, “burnt offering”). The question links the worshipper’s ascent with the offering’s ascent, opening the verse as movement toward God’s presence.
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