Deuteronomy

These are the precepts, the norms, and the laws that you shall endeavor to practice all the days of your life in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you.

The Centralized Cult

Destroy all the places where the people you will drive away had worshiped their gods. Do this in the high mountains, the hills, and under every green tree.

Destroy their altars, smash their pedestals, burn their sacred pillars, and break into pieces the images of their gods. Wipe out in those places, even the name of their gods.

Do not build similar Sanctuaries for the Lord,

for he has already chosen a place among all the tribes to put his Name there and dwell in it. There you will go and look for the Lord.

You will bring your burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, and offerings to that place. There, you will present the offerings you promised to God and those you voluntarily offer, as well as the firstlings of your cattle and sheep.

There, you shall eat in the presence of the Lord and feast with your families, enjoying everything you have reaped through the blessing of the Lord.

You shall not do there as we do here. Everyone does what seems best for him for now,

because we have not yet come to the place of rest, the land the Lord is giving you as your inheritance.

When you cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord will give you, when he has delivered you from all your enemies, you will finally find rest.

Then you shall bring to the place chosen by the Lord as a dwelling place for his Name, everything which I commanded: the burnt offerings, the sacrifices, the tithes and the first fruits of the work of your hand, and the selected offerings which you promised by vow to the Lord:

There you shall celebrate your banquets before the Lord: you and your children, your servants as well as the Levites who live among you since they have no portion or inheritance as you have.

Be careful not to offer your holocaust in any place.

Only in the place chosen by the Lord, in the land of one of your tribes, are you to offer your holocaust, and only there will you do all that I command you.

However, in all your cities, you may slaughter and eat meat, as much as you like, of the animals the Lord has blessed you with. The clean and the unclean may eat it, just as you would eat gazelle or deer.

You must not eat the blood, but pour it upon the earth like water.

You may not eat the tithes of your wheat, wine, and oil in your cities, the firstlings of your herd or your flock, or any of the things you have offered to the Lord either freely or by vow.

You are to eat before the Lord in the place the Lord has chosen, together with your children and your servants, and you will feast before the Lord, your God, enjoying the fruit of your labor.

Be careful not to forget the Levite as long as you live.

When the Lord has extended your boundaries as he promised you, and you would like to eat meat, you may do so whenever you like.

If the place chosen by the Lord for his dwelling is too far, then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the Lord has given you, in the manner that I have prescribed for you.

You may eat it within your cities as much as you like, but you shall eat it just as the gazelle or the deer is eaten: all may equally eat of it—the clean and the unclean.

Only take care not to eat the blood because blood and life are one, and you must not eat the life with the flesh.

Do not eat it, but pour it as water is poured upon the land,

that all may go well with you and your children after you, doing what is pleasing in the eyes of the Lord.

In turn, you shall bring the things you have consecrated and offered by vow to the Lord and go to the place chosen by the Lord.

There you will sacrifice your holocausts, the flesh as well as the blood, on the altar of the Lord, your God. Pour out the blood on the altar, and then eat the flesh.

Be careful to obey all that I command you, and all shall always be well with you and with your children after you, for doing what is right and good in the eyes of the Lord.

Warning Against Idolatrous Practices

The Lord, your God, will destroy before you the nations you drive away. When you have destroyed them and dwell in their land, be careful after having destroyed them.

Let it not be that you fall into the trap and follow their example. Do not look at their gods saying: “How did this nation serve their gods? We will do the same.”

This you shall not do, even to honor the Lord your God, since to honor their gods,

they have done everything that the Lord abhors, including burning their children in honor of their gods.