Deuteronomy 11:26-12:10

English Standard Version

^26 (A)“See, I am setting 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 ^(C)the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, ^(D)to go after other gods that you have not known. ²⁹ And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set ^(E)the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. ³⁰ Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the ^(F)Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside ^(G)the oak^[a] of Moreh? ³¹ For you are ^(H)to cross over the Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you. And when you possess it and live in it, ³² you shall be careful ^(I)to do all the statutes and the rules that I am setting before you today.

The Lord's Chosen Place of Worship

12 ^(J)“These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, ^(K)all the days that you live on the earth. ^2 (L)You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, ^(M)on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. ³ You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces ^(N)their pillars and burn their ^(O)Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and ^(P)destroy their name out of that place. ^4 (Q)You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. ⁵ But you shall seek ^(R)the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation^[b] there. There you shall go, ⁶ and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, ^(S)your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the ^(T)firstborn of your herd and of your flock. ⁷ And ^(U)there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and ^(V)you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

⁸ “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, ^(W)everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, ⁹ for you have not as yet come to ^(X)the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁰ But when ^(Y)you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, ^(Z)and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety,