Deuteronomy 11:29–12:14

²⁹Now it shall be, when the Lord your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the ^kblessing on Mount Gerizim and the ^lcurse on Mount Ebal. ³⁰Are they not on the other side of the Jordan, toward the setting sun, in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the plain opposite Gilgal, ^mbeside the terebinth trees of Moreh? ³¹For you will cross over the Jordan and go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you will possess it and dwell in it. ³²And you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgments which I set before you today.

A Prescribed Place of Worship

12“These ^aare the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, ^ball ¹the days that you live on the earth. ^2cYou shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, ^don the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. ³And ^eyou shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their ²wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. ⁴You shall not ^fworship the Lord your God with such things.

⁵“But you shall seek the ^gplace where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His ^hdwelling ³place; and there you shall go. ⁶ⁱThere you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the ^jfirstborn of your herds and flocks. ⁷And ^kthere you shall eat before the Lord your God, and ^lyou shall rejoice in ⁴all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

⁸“You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—^mevery man doing whatever is right in his own eyes—⁹for as yet you have not come to the ⁿrest ⁵and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁰But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you ^orest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, ¹¹then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord. ¹²And ^pyou shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the ^qLevite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you. ¹³Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that 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.