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The One Place of Worship

12 These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land, which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. You must utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you will possess served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree. And you shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their Asherah poles[a] with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods, and eliminate their names out of that place.

You shall not act this way toward the Lord your God.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 12:3 Wooden symbols of a female deity.

Detailed Stipulations: Purity and Unity

12 “These are the rules and the regulations that you must diligently observe[a] in the land that Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,[b] has given to you to take possession of it, during all the days that you are living on the land.

You must completely demolish all of the places there where they served their gods, that is, the nations whom you are about to dispossess, on the high mountains, and on the hills and under each leafy green tree.[c] And you shall break down their altars, and you shall smash their stone pillars, and their Asherah poles you must burn with fire, and the images of their gods you shall hew down, and you shall blot out their names from that place. You shall not worship Yahweh your God like this.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 12:1 Literally “that you must observe to do”
  2. Deuteronomy 12:1 Or “fathers”
  3. Deuteronomy 12:2 Or “spreading tree”