One Place for Worship

1These are the statutes and ordinances, which ye shall take heed to do in the land, which Jehovah the God of thy fathers is giving thee to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth. 2Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall dispossess have served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree; 3and ye shall break down their altars, and shatter their statues, and burn their Asherahs with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and ye shall destroy the names of them out of that place. 4Ye shall not do so unto Jehovah your God; 5but unto the place which Jehovah your God will choose out of all your tribes to set his name there, his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come; 6and thither ye shall bring your burnt-offerings and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the heave-offering of your hand, and your vows, and your voluntary-offerings, and the firstlings of your kine and of your sheep; 7and ye shall eat there before Jehovah your God, and ye shall rejoice, ye and your households, in all the business of your hand, wherein Jehovah thy God hath blessed thee.

8Ye shall not do after all that we do here this day, each one whatever is right in his own eyes. 9For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which Jehovah thy God giveth thee. 10But when ye have gone over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which Jehovah your God causeth you to inherit, and when he hath given you rest from all your enemies round about, and ye dwell in safety, 11then there shall be a place which Jehovah your God will choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you: your burnt-offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave-offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye shall vow to Jehovah. 12And ye shall rejoice before Jehovah your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your bondmen, and your handmaids, and the Levite that is within your gates; for he hath no portion nor inheritance with you.

13Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest; 14but in the place which Jehovah will choose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt-offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.

15Nevertheless, according to all the desire of thy soul thou mayest slay and eat flesh in all thy gates, according to the blessing of Jehovah thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the gazelle, and the hart. 16Only, ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water. 17Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corn, or of thy new wine, or of thine oil, or the firstlings of thy kine or of thy sheep, nor any of thy vows which thou vowest, nor thy voluntary-offerings, nor the heave-offering of thy hand; 18but before Jehovah thy God shalt thou eat them in the place which Jehovah thy God will choose, thou and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy bondman, and thy handmaid, and the Levite that is within thy gates; and thou shalt rejoice before Jehovah thy God in all the business of thy hand. 19Take heed to thyself that thou forsake not the Levite all the days thou shalt be in thy land.

20When Jehovah thy God shall enlarge thy border, as he promised thee, and thou say, I will eat flesh, because thy soul longeth to eat flesh, thou mayest eat flesh, according to all the desire of thy soul. 21If the place which Jehovah thy God will choose to set his name there be too far from thee, then thou shalt slay of thy kine and of thy sheep which Jehovah hath given thee, as I have commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates according to all the desire of thy soul. 22Even as the gazelle and the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat them: the unclean and the clean alike may eat of them. 23Only, be sure that thou eat not the blood; for the blood is the life, and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh; 24thou shalt not eat it; thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water: 25thou shalt not eat it; that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt do what is right in the eyes of Jehovah. 26But thy hallowed things which thou hast, and what thou hast vowed, thou shalt take, and come to the place which Jehovah will choose; 27and thou shalt offer thy burnt-offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of Jehovah thy God; and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of Jehovah thy God, and the flesh shalt thou eat.

28Take heed to hear all these words which I command thee, that it may be well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest what is good and right in the eyes of Jehovah thy God.

Warning against Idolatry

(Deuteronomy 4:15-31; Ezekiel 6:1-7)

29When Jehovah thy God cutteth off from before thee the nations whither thou goest, to take possession of them, and thou hast dispossessed them, and dwellest in their land, 30take heed to thyself that thou be not ensnared [to follow] after them, after that they are destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. 31Thou shalt not do so to Jehovah thy God; for every [thing that is] abomination to Jehovah, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters have they burned in the fire to their gods.

32Everything that I command you, ye shall take heed to do it; thou shalt not add thereto, nor take from it.