Deuteronomy 12:1–14

Laws of the Sanctuary

¹“These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall carefully observe in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess ^1aas long as you live on the ²earth.

²“You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the ^ahigh mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.

³“^aYou shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their ¹Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and ^bobliterate their name from that place.

⁴“You shall not act like this toward the Lord your God.

⁵“^aBut you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come.

⁶“There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, ^ayour tithes, the ¹contribution of your hand, your votive offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.

⁷“There also you and your households shall eat before the Lord your God, and ^arejoice in all ¹your undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

⁸“You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes;

⁹for you have not as yet come to ^athe resting place and the ^binheritance which the Lord your God is giving you.

¹⁰“When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and ^aHe gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security,

^11athen it shall come about that the place in which the Lord your God will choose for His name to dwell, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the ¹contribution of your hand, and all your choice votive offerings which you will vow to the Lord.

¹²“And you shall ^arejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the ^bLevite who is within your gates, since ^che has no portion or inheritance with you.

¹³“^aBe careful that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every cultic place you see,

¹⁴but in the place which the Lord chooses in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.