Dual PanelLaws delivered by Moses
1THESE are the statutes and laws which you must be careful to observe in the land which the LORD the God of your forefathers is giving you to occupy all your earthly life.
2You are to demolish completely all the sanctuaries where the nations whom you are dispossessing worship their gods, whether on high mountains or on hills or under every spreading tree.
3Pull down their altars, 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 the place.
4You must not adopt such practices in the worship of the LORD your God;
5instead you are to 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. Come there
6and bring your whole-offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and contributions, your vows and freewill-offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
7You are to eat there before the LORD your God; so you will find joy in whatever you undertake, you and your families, because the LORD your God has blessed you.
8You are not to act as we act here today, everyone doing as he pleases,
9for till now you have not reached the resting-place, the territory which the LORD your God is giving you.
10When you cross the Jordan and settle in the land which the LORD your God allots you as your holding, when he grants you peace from all your enemies on every side, and you live in security,
11then you must bring everything that I command you to the place which the LORD your God chooses 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.
12You will rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God with your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levites who live in your settlements because they have no holding, no ancestral portion among you.
13See that you do not offer your whole-offerings in any sanctuary at random,
14but 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.
15On the other hand, you may freely slaughter for food in any of 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 deer.
16But on no account may you partake of the blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.
17In your settlements you may not eat the tithe of your grain and new wine and oil, any of the firstborn of your cattle and sheep, any of the gifts that you vow, or any of your freewill-offerings and contributions;
18these you must eat in the presence of 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 living in your settlements; so you will find joy before the LORD your God in all that you undertake.
19Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.
20When the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he has promised, and you say to yourselves, “I should like to eat meat,” because you have a craving for it, then you may freely eat it.
21If the place where the LORD your God will choose to set his name is too 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 settlements as I command you.
22You may eat it as you would the meat of gazelle or deer; both clean and unclean alike may eat it.
23But you must strictly refrain from partaking of the blood, because the blood is the life; you must not eat the life with the flesh.
24You must not consume it; you must pour it out on the ground like water.
25If you abstain from 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.
26But such holy-gifts as you may have and the gifts you have vowed you must bring to the place which the LORD will choose.
27You 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 are to eat the flesh, while the blood is to be poured on the altar of the LORD your God.
28See that you listen, and do 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.
29When, as you advance, the LORD your God exterminates the nations whose country you are entering to occupy, you will take their place and settle in their land.
30After they have been destroyed, take care that you are not ensnared into their ways. Do not enquire about their gods, saying, “How used these nations to serve their gods? I too shall do the same.”
31You 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. Even their sons and their daughters they burn in honour of their gods.
32See that you carry out exactly what I command you: you must not add anything to it or take anything away from it.