1   These are the statutes and laws that you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord the God of your fathers is giving you to occupy as long as you live on earth. 2   You shall demolish all the sanctuaries where the nations whose place you are taking worship their gods, on mountain-tops and hills and under every spreading tree. 3   You shall pull down their altars and break their sacred pillars, burn their sacred poles and hack down the idols of their gods and thus blot out the name of them from that place.

4   You shall not follow such practices in the worship of the Lord your

God's laws delivered by Moses God, 5   but you shall resort to the place which the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to receive his Name that it may dwell there. 6   There you shall come and bring your whole-offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and contributions, your vows and freewill offerings, and the first-born of your herds and flocks. 7   There you shall eat before the Lord your God; so you shall find joy in whatever you undertake, you and your families, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

8   You shall not act as we act here today, each of us doing what he pleases, 9   for till now you have not reached the place of rest, the patrimony which the Lord your God is giving you. 10   You shall cross the Jordan and settle in the land which the Lord your God allots you as your patrimony; he will grant you peace from all your enemies on every side, and you will live in security. 11   Then you shall bring everything that I command you to the place which the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name—your whole-offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and contributions, and all the choice gifts that you have vowed to the Lord. 12   You shall rejoice before the Lord your God with your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites who live in your settlements ^note because they have no holding or patrimony among you.

13   See that you do not offer your whole-offerings in any place at random, 14   but offer them only at the place which the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, and there you must do all I command you. 15   On the other hand, you may freely kill for food in all your settlements, as the Lord your God blesses you. Clean and unclean alike may eat it, as they would eat the meat of gazelle or buck. 16   But on no account must you eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water. 17   In all your settlements you may not eat any of the tithe of your corn and new wine and oil, or any of the first-born of your cattle and sheep, or any of the gifts that you vow, or any of your freewill offerings and contributions; 18   but you shall eat it before the Lord your God in the place that the Lord your God will choose—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites in your settlements; so you shall find joy before the Lord your God in all that you undertake. 19   Be careful not to neglect the Levites in your land as long as you live.

20   When the Lord your God extends your boundaries, as he has promised you, and you say to yourselves, ‘I would like to eat meat’, because you have a craving for it, then you may freely eat it. 21   If the place that the Lord your God will choose to receive his Name is far away, then you may slaughter a beast from the herds or flocks which the Lord has given you and freely eat it in your own settlements as I command

God's laws delivered by Moses you. 22   You may eat it as you would the meat of gazelle or buck; both clean and unclean alike may eat it. 23   But you must strictly refrain from eating the blood, because the blood is the life; you must not eat the life with the flesh. 24   You must not eat it, you must pour it out on the ground like water. 25   If you do not eat it, all will be well with you and your children after you; for you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord. 26   But such holy-gifts as you may have and the gifts you have vowed, you must bring to the place which the Lord will choose. 27   You must present your whole-offerings, both the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God; but of your shared-offerings you shall eat the flesh, while the blood is to be poured on the altar of the Lord your God. 28   See that you listen and do ^note all that I command you, and then it will go well with you and your children after you for ever; for you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

29   When the Lord your God exterminates, as you advance, the nations whose country you are entering to occupy, you shall take their place and settle in their land. 30   After they have been destroyed, take care that you are not ensnared into their ways. Do not inquire about their gods and say, ‘How do these nations worship their gods? I too will do the same.’ 31   You must not do for the Lord your God what they do, for all that they do for their gods is hateful and abominable to the Lord. As sacrifices for their gods they even burn their sons and their daughters.

32    ^noteSee that you observe everything I command you: you must not add anything to it, nor take anything away from it.

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