Deuteronomy 11–12

11TH CHAPTER

¹Love the Lord your God, and do what he wants you to do. Always obey his laws, rules, and commands. ²Remember today the discipline you learned from the Lord your God. (⸤I’m not talking⸥ to your children. They didn’t see or experience any of this.) You saw and experienced his great power—his mighty hand and powerful arm. ³You saw the miraculous signs and deeds he did in Egypt to Pharaoh (the king of Egypt) and to his whole country. ⁴You saw what he did to the Egyptian army, its horses and chariots. He drowned them in the Red Sea when they pursued you. So the Lord destroyed them forever. ⁵You saw what he did for you in the desert until you came here. ⁶You also saw what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, from the tribe of Reuben. In the middle of all the Israelites the ground opened up and swallowed them, their families, their tents, and every living creature with them. ⁷You saw with your own eyes all these spectacular things that the Lord did. 

⁸Obey all the commands I’m giving you today. Then you will have the strength to enter and take possession of the land once you’ve crossed ⸤the Jordan River⸥. ⁹Then you will also live for a long time in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors and their descendants—a land flowing with milk and honey. 

¹⁰The land you’re about to enter and take possession of isn’t like the land you left in Egypt. There you used to plant your seed, and you had to water it like a vegetable garden. ¹¹The land you’re about to enter is a land with hills and valleys, watered by rain from the sky. ¹²It is a land the Lord your God cares about. He watches over it all year long. 

¹³If you faithfully obey the commands that I’m giving you today, love the Lord your God, and serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹⁴I will send rain on your land at the right time, both in the fall and in the spring. Then you will gather your own grain, new wine, and olive oil. ¹⁵I will provide grass in the fields for your animals, and you will be able to eat all you want. 

¹⁶Be careful, or you’ll be tempted to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. ¹⁷The Lord will become angry with you. He’ll shut the sky so that there’ll be no rain. Then the ground won’t grow any crops, and you’ll quickly disappear from this good land the Lord is giving you. 

¹⁸Take these words of mine to heart and keep them in mind. ⸤Write them down,⸥ tie them around your wrist, and wear them as headbands as a reminder. ¹⁹Teach them to your children, and talk about them when you’re at home or away, when you lie down or get up. ²⁰Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. ²¹Then you and your children will live for a long time in this land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors—as long as there’s a sky above the earth. 

²²Faithfully obey all these commands I’m giving you. Love the Lord your God, follow all his directions, and be loyal to him. ²³Then the Lord will force all these people out of your way. Then you will take possession of ⸤the land belonging to⸥ people taller and stronger than you. ²⁴I will give you every place on which you set foot. Your borders will be from the desert to Lebanon, from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea. ²⁵No one will be able to stop you. As the Lord your God promised, he will make people terrified of you wherever you go in this land. 

Choose the Blessing or the Curse

²⁶Today I’m giving you the choice of a blessing or a curse. ²⁷You’ll be blessed if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I’m giving you today. ²⁸You’ll be cursed if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God, if you turn from the way I’m commanding you to live today, and if you worship other gods you never knew. ²⁹When the Lord your God brings you into the land you’re about to enter, recite the blessing from Mount Gerizim and the curse from Mount Ebal. ³⁰(These mountains are on the west side of the Jordan, beyond the road that goes west, in the region of the Canaanites who live on the plains facing Gilgal, next to the oak trees of Moreh.) ³¹You’re about to cross the Jordan River to enter and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you take possession of it and live there, ³²be careful to obey all the laws and rules I’m giving you today. 

12TH CHAPTER

The Proper Place to Worship

¹Here are the laws and rules you must faithfully obey in the land that the Lord God of your ancestors is giving you as your own. You must obey them as long as you live in the land. 

²Completely destroy all the worship sites on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every large tree. The people you’re forcing out worship their gods in these places. ³Tear down their altars, crush their sacred stones, burn their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah, cut down their idols, and wipe out the names of their gods from those places. 

⁴Never worship the Lord your God in the way they worship their gods. ⁵The Lord your God will choose a place out of all your tribes to live and put his name. Go there and worship him. ⁶Bring him your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, one-tenth of your income, your contributions, the offerings you vow to bring, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, and goats. ⁷There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your families will eat and enjoy everything you’ve worked for, because the Lord your God has blessed you. 

⁸Never worship in the way that it’s being done here today, where everyone does whatever he considers right. ⁹Up until now you haven’t come to your place of rest, the property the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁰But you will cross the Jordan River and settle in the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own property. He will give you peace from all your enemies around you so that you will live securely. ¹¹Then the Lord your God will choose a place where his name will live. You must bring everything I command you to that place. Bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, one-tenth of your income, your contributions, and all the best offerings you vow to bring to the Lord. ¹²Enjoy yourselves in the presence of the Lord your God along with your sons, daughters, male and female slaves, and the Levites. (The Levites live in your cities because they have no land of their own as you have.) ¹³Be careful that you don’t sacrifice your burnt offerings wherever you want. ¹⁴Instead, sacrifice them ⸤only⸥ at the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes. There you must do everything I command you. 

¹⁵In whatever city you live, you may slaughter and eat as much meat as you want from what the Lord your God has blessed you with. Clean and unclean^apeople may eat it as if they were eating a gazelle or a deer. ¹⁶But never eat the blood. Pour it on the ground like water. ¹⁷You may not eat ⸤the Lord’s offerings⸥ in your cities. Those offerings are: one-tenth of your grain, new wine, and olive oil; the firstborn of your cattle, sheep, or goats; the offerings you vow to bring; your freewill offerings; and your contributions. ¹⁸Instead, you, your sons and daughters, male and female slaves, and the Levites who live in your cities must eat these in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose. There in the presence of the Lord your God enjoy everything you’ve worked for. ¹⁹Don’t forget to take care of the Levites as long as you live in your land. 

²⁰The Lord your God will expand your ⸤country’s⸥ borders as he promised. You will say, “I’m hungry for meat.” Then eat as much meat as you want. ²¹If the place the Lord your God chooses to put his name is too far away from you, you may slaughter an animal from the herds or flocks that the Lord has given you. Eat as much as you want in your city. I have commanded you to do this. ²²Eat it as you would eat a gazelle or a deer: Clean and unclean people may eat it together. ²³However, be sure you never eat blood, because blood contains life. Never eat the life with the meat. ²⁴Never eat blood. Pour it on the ground like water. ²⁵If you don’t eat blood, things will go well for you and your descendants. You will be doing what the Lord considers right. 

²⁶Take the holy things and the offerings you have vowed to bring, and go to the place the Lord will choose. ²⁷Sacrifice the meat and the blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your sacrifices is to be poured out beside the altar of the Lord your God, but you may eat the meat. ²⁸Be sure you obey all these instructions I’m giving you. Then things will always go well for you and your descendants because you will be doing what the Lord your God considers good and right. 

²⁹The Lord your God will destroy the nations where you’re going and force them out of your way. You will take possession of their land and live there. ³⁰After they’ve been destroyed, be careful you aren’t tempted to follow their customs. Don’t even ask about their gods and say, “How did these people worship their gods? We want to do what they did.” ³¹Never worship the Lord your God in the way they worship their gods, because everything they do for their gods is disgusting to the Lord. He hates it! They even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods.^b

³²Be sure to do everything I command you. Never add anything to it or take anything away from it.