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. 2 cYou 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. 3 And 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. 4 You 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. 6 iThere 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. 7 And 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—9 for as yet you have not come to the nrest 5and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. 10 But 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, 11 then 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. 12 And 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. 13 Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; 14 but 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.

15 “However, ryou may slaughter and eat meat within all your gates, whatever your heart desires, according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you; sthe unclean and the clean may eat of it, tof the gazelle and the deer alike. 16 uOnly you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 17 You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain or your new wine or your oil, of the firstborn of your herd or your flock, of any of your offerings which you vow, of your freewill offerings, or of the 6heave offering of your hand. 18 But you must eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God chooses, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in 7all to which you put your hands. 19 8Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.

20 “When the Lord your God venlarges your border as He has promised you, and you say, ‘Let me eat meat,’ because you long to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires. 21 If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from wyou, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which the Lord has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires. 22 Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them. 23 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, xfor the blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat. 24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it on the earth like water. 25 You shall not eat it, ythat it may go well with you and your children after you, zwhen you do what is right in the sight of the Lord. 26 Only the aholy things which you have, and your vowed offerings, you shall take and go to the place which the Lord chooses. 27 And byou shall offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall eat the meat. 28 Observe and obey all these words which I command you, cthat it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.