Deuteronomy 12–13

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. 

13TH CHAPTER^a

How Israel Is to Deal with False Prophets

¹One of your people, claiming to be a prophet or to have prophetic dreams, may predict a miraculous sign or an amazing thing. ²What he predicts may even take place. But don’t listen to that prophet or dreamer^bif he says, “Let’s worship and serve other gods.” (Those gods may be gods you’ve never heard of.) ³The Lord your God is testing you to find out if you really love him with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴Worship the Lord your God, fear him, obey his commands, listen to what he says, serve him, and be loyal to him. ⁵That prophet or dreamer must be put to death because he preached rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and freed you from slavery. He was trying to lead you away from following the directions the Lord your God gave you. You must get rid of this evil. 

⁶Your own brother, son, or daughter, the wife you love, or your best friend may secretly tempt you, saying, “Let’s go worship other gods.” (Those gods may be gods that you and your ancestors never knew. ⁷They may be the gods of the people around you, who live near or far, from one end of the land to the other.) ⁸Don’t be influenced by any of these people or listen to them. Have no pity on them. Don’t feel sorry for them or protect them. ⁹You must put them to death. You must start the execution. Then all the other people will join you in putting them to death. ¹⁰Stone them to death because they were trying to lead you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery in Egypt. ¹¹All Israel will hear about it and be afraid. Then no one among you will ever do such a wicked thing again. 

¹²You may hear that the residents in one of the cities which the Lord your God is giving you to live in ¹³have been led away from the Lord your God by worthless people. You may hear that these people have been saying, “Let’s worship other gods.” (Those gods may be gods you’ve never heard of.) ¹⁴Then make a thorough investigation. If it is true, and you can prove that this disgusting thing has been done among you, ¹⁵you must kill the residents of that city with swords and destroy that city and everyone in it, including the animals, because they are claimed by God. ¹⁶Gather their goods into the middle of the city square. Then burn their city and all their goods as a burnt offering to the Lord your God. It must remain a mound of ruins and never be rebuilt. ¹⁷Don’t ever take any of the things claimed for destruction. Then the Lord will stop being angry and will show you mercy. In his mercy he will make your population increase, as he swore to your ancestors. ¹⁸The Lord your God will do this if you listen to him, obey all the commands that I’m giving you today, and do what he considers right.