²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you^[a] say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”^(A)

¹² “When you have crossed over the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.^(A)

⁵ But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes as his habitation to put his name there. You shall go there,^{(A) 6} bringing there your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your donations, your votive gifts, your freewill offerings, and the firstlings of your herds and flocks. ⁷ And you shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your households together, rejoicing in all the undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you.^(B)

⁸ “You shall not act as we are acting here today, all of us according to our own desires, ⁹ for you have not yet come into the rest and the possession that the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁰ When you cross over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is allotting to you, and when he gives you rest from your enemies all around so that you live in safety,^{(C) 11} then you shall bring everything that I command you to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his name: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and your donations, and all your choice votive gifts that you vow to the Lord.^(D)

²⁹ “When the Lord your God has brought you into the land that you are entering to occupy, you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.^(A)

Jacob Reaches Shechem

¹⁸ Jacob came safely to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, on his way from Paddan-aram, and he camped before the city.^{(A) 19} And from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, he bought for one hundred pieces of money^[a] the plot of land on which he had pitched his tent.^{(B) 20} There he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-Israel.^[b]

⁶ Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak^[a] of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.^{(A) 7} Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.^(B)

God’s Second Appearance to Solomon

¹² Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.^(A)

⁵³ but they did not receive him because his face was set toward Jerusalem.

Psalm 87

The Joy of Living in Zion

Of the Korahites. A Psalm. A Song.