One Place for Worship 1 UDB "I will now tell you the rules and decrees that you must faithfully obey in the land that Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors worshiped, is giving to you to occupy. You must obey these laws all the time that you are alive. BSB BSB: These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to follow all the days you live in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess.
2 UDB When you drive out those peoples whose land you will take, you must destroy all the places where they worshiped their gods, places on the tops of mountains and hills and beside large trees. BSB BSB: Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.
3 UDB You must tear down their altars and smash their pillars. Burn the statues of their goddess Asherah and chop down their carved figures, in order that no one will ever worship them in those places again. BSB BSB: Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.
4 UDB Do not worship Yahweh like the people in Canaan worship their gods. BSB BSB: You shall not worship the LORD your God in this way.
5 UDB Instead, you must go to the place that Yahweh will choose. It will be in the area where one of your tribes will live. That is where you must enter Yahweh's presence and worship him. BSB BSB: Instead, you must seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to establish as a dwelling for His Name, and there you must go.
6 UDB That is the place where you must bring your sacrifices that the priests will burn whole on the altar, and your other sacrifices that your yourselves present to me, your tithes, other offerings that you promise to give me, the firstborn animals from your cattle and sheep, or any other kind of offering. BSB BSB: To that place you are to bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and heave offerings, your vow offerings and freewill offerings, as well as the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
7 UDB There, in the presence of Yahweh our God, you and your families will eat the good things that you have worked to produce, and you will be happy because he has blessed you very much. BSB BSB: There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your households shall eat and rejoice in all you do, because the LORD your God has blessed you.
8 UDB When you are in that land, you must not do some of the things that we have been doing. Until now, you have all been worshiping Yahweh the way you want to BSB BSB: You are not to do as we are doing here today, where everyone does what seems right in his own eyes.
9 UDB because you have not yet arrived in the land which he will allow you to permanently possess, where you will be able to live peacefully. BSB BSB: For you have not yet come to the resting place and the inheritance that the LORD your God is giving you.
10 UDB But when you cross the Jordan River, you will start to live in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you. He will protect you from all your enemies that will surround you, and you will live peacefully. BSB BSB: When you cross the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and He gives you rest from all the enemies around you and you dwell securely,
11 UDB Yahweh will choose one place where he wants you to worship him. That is the place to which you must bring all the offerings that I command you to bring: the sacrifices that the priests will burn whole on the altar, your other sacrifices, other offerings that you yourselves decide to present, your tithes, and all the special offerings that you will solemnly promise to give to Yahweh. BSB BSB: then the LORD your God will choose a dwelling for His Name. And there you are to bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the choice offerings you vow to the LORD.
12 UDB Rejoice there in the presence of Yahweh, along with your children, your male and female servants, and the descendants of Levi who live in your towns. Do not forget that the descendants of Levi will not have their own land, like you do. BSB BSB: And you shall rejoice before the LORD your God—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.
13 UDB Be sure that you do not burn animals as sacrifices anywhere you want to. BSB BSB: Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings in just any place you see;
14 UDB You must offer them only in the place that Yahweh will choose for you, in an area that belongs to one of your tribes. That is the only place where he wants you to offer sacrifices that the priests will burn whole on the altar, and to do the other things that I am commanding you to do when you worship him. BSB BSB: you must offer them only in the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribal territories, and there you shall do all that I command you.
15 UDB However, God will permit you to kill and eat the meat of your animals in the places where you live. As often as you want to, you may eat meat from the animals that Yahweh our God will bless you by giving them to you. Those who are at that time clean or unclean may all eat that meat, just like you would eat the meat of a deer or an antelope. BSB BSB: But whenever you want, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you. Both the ceremonially clean and unclean may eat it as they would a gazelle or deer,
16 UDB But you must not eat the blood of any animal; you must let the blood drain onto the ground before you cook the meat. BSB BSB: but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
17 UDB In the places where you live, you must not eat the things that you are offering to Yahweh: You must not eat the tithes of your grain or of your wine, or of your olive oil, or the firstborn of your cattle and sheep, or the offerings that you yourselves decide to present to Yahweh, or any other offerings. BSB BSB: Within your gates you must not eat the tithe of your grain or new wine or oil, the firstborn of your herds or flocks, any of the offerings that you have vowed to give, or your freewill offerings or special gifts.
18 UDB Instead, you and your children and your male and female servants and the descendants of Levi who live in your towns must eat those things in the presence of Yahweh in the place that he chooses. And you should be happy about everything that you have done. BSB BSB: Instead, you must eat them in the presence of the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God will choose—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite within your gates. Rejoice before the LORD your God in all you do,
19 UDB Be sure that you take care of the descendants of Levi all during the time that you live in your land. BSB BSB: and be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.
20 UDB When Yahweh our God gives you much more land than you will have at first—and he has promised to do this, and when you say, 'I would like some meat to eat,' you are permitted to eat meat whenever you want to. BSB BSB: When the LORD your God expands your territory as He has promised, and you crave meat and say, “I want to eat meat,” you may eat it whenever you want.
21 UDB If the place that Yahweh our God chooses to be the place for you to worship him is far from where you live, you are permitted to kill some of your cattle or sheep that Yahweh has given to you, and you may eat that meat in the town where you live, just like I have told you to do. BSB BSB: If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His Name is too far from you, then you may slaughter any of the herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want.
22 UDB Those who are either clean or unclean at the time may eat that meat, just like you would eat the meat of a deer or an antelope. BSB BSB: Indeed, you may eat it as you would eat a gazelle or deer; both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it.
23 UDB But be sure that you do not eat the blood of any animal, because it is the blood that sustains life in living beings. You must not eat the life along with the meat. BSB BSB: Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.
24 UDB Do not eat the blood; instead, let it drain onto the ground. BSB BSB: You must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
25 UDB If you obey this command and do what Yahweh says is right for you to do, things will go well for you and for your descendants. BSB BSB: Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD.
26 UDB But the offerings that Yahweh has told you to set aside for him, and the other offerings that you yourselves decide to give, you must take to the place that he will choose. BSB BSB: But you are to take your holy things and your vow offerings and go to the place the LORD will choose.
27 UDB There the priest will burn those offerings on Yahweh's altar. He will kill the animals, drain out the blood, and throw some of it onto the sides of the altar. And you may eat some of that meat. BSB BSB: Present the meat and blood of your burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your other sacrifices must be poured out beside the altar of the LORD your God, but you may eat the meat.
28 UDB Faithfully obey all these things that I have commanded you. If you do that, things will go well forever for you and your descendants because you will be doing what Yahweh our God says is right for you to do and what pleases him. BSB BSB: Be careful to obey all these things I command you, so that it may always go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God.
A Warning against Idolatry (Deuteronomy 4:15–31; Ezekiel 6:1–7)
29 UDB When you enter the land that you will occupy, as you advance, Yahweh our God will destroy the peoples that live there. BSB BSB: When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations you are entering to dispossess, and you drive them out and live in their land,
30 UDB After he does that, be sure that you do not worship the gods that they have been worshiping, because if you do that, it will be like a trap that will catch you. Do not ask anyone about those gods, saying, 'Tell me how they worshiped their gods, in order that I can worship Yahweh in the same way.' BSB BSB: be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.”
32 UDB Be sure to do everything that I have commanded you to do. Do not add anything to these commands, and do not take anything away from them. BSB BSB: See that you do everything I command you; do not add to it or subtract from it.
Select verses for actions: Enter goes to them and Escape comes back.