Deuteronomy 11:26-12:19

New King James Version

^26 (A)“Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: ^27 (B)the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you today; ²⁸ and the ^(C)curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other gods which you have not known. ²⁹ Now it shall be, when the Lord your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the ^(D)blessing on Mount Gerizim and the ^(E)curse on Mount Ebal. ³⁰ Are 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, ^(F)beside the terebinth trees of Moreh? ³¹ For 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. ³² And you shall be careful to observe all the statutes and judgments which I set before you today.

A Prescribed Place of Worship

12 “These ^(G)are 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, ^(H)all^[a] the days that you live on the earth. ^2 (I)You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, ^(J)on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. ³ And ^(K)you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their ^[b]wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. ⁴ You shall not ^(L)worship the Lord your God with such things.

⁵ “But you shall seek the ^(M)place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His ^(N)dwelling^[c] place; and there you shall go. ^6 (O)There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the ^(P)firstborn of your herds and flocks. ⁷ And ^(Q)there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and ^(R)you shall rejoice in ^[d]all 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—^(S)every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— ⁹ for as yet you have not come to the ^(T)rest^[e] and 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 ^(U)rest 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 ^(V)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the ^(W)Levite 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, ^(X)you 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; ^(Y)the unclean and the clean may eat of it, ^(Z)of the gazelle and the deer alike. ^16 (AA)Only 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 ^[f]heave 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 ^[g]all to which you put your hands. ^19 [h]Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.