Leviticus 17,3-4, Deuteronomy 12,20-21: Exegesis and intertextuality as reflected in the ancient textual witnesses and second temple sources

The relationship of deuteronomic legislation to other legal collections in the Hebrew Bible has long been the subject of scholarly at-tention. One of the areas benefiting from this intense activity concerns Deuteronomy's centralization of the cultus and the social, legal and cultic ramifications of this stance. In particular, scholars have addressed the rela-tionship between Deuteronomy and earlier pentateuchal legal/cultic norms that inform the positions and formulations of Deuteronomy. The present essay addresses one such instance, viz., the laws of animal slaughter in Lev 17 and Deut 12and, more specifically, the claim at Deut 12,20-21 that its laws conform to earlier pentateuchal legislationas understood by the author of 11QT^a and the scribes responsible for LXX (or its Vorlage), the Samaritan Pentateuch (SP), and 4QLev^d.