The Lord will show them where to sacrifice
1Moses said: ‘Here are the laws that you must obey in the land that the Lord your God, the God of your forefathers, gives you. You must take the land for yourselves and you must do what the laws say as long as you live here on earth.
2You will take this land from the people who live there now. The people served their gods on the high mountains, on the hills and under every tree which always has leaves. You must destroy all of those places. 3You must destroy their altars, break down their sacred_pillars, burn their sacred poles and cut down the images of their gods. No one in that town must remember who the gods were. 4Do not serve the Lord your God like those people served their gods. 5No, the Lord will choose a place from all the tribes and He will live there. You must ask the Lord where that place is and you must go there. 6You must sacrifice burnt-offerings and other offerings there. Give your 10ths and your gifts, your vow-offerings to God and the offerings that you want to give and the first calves and lambs.
7The Lord your God will be with you. You and your families must eat and rejoice there because the Lord your God has blessed you and has given you everything.
8Don't do the same in this land as you are doing now. Everyone now does what he thinks is right, 9because you have not yet come to your homes, and you have not yet gone into the land that the Lord your God gives you. 10But you will go through the Jordan River and you will live in the land that the Lord your God gives you. The land will belong to you. The Lord will help you defeat all the enemies around you, so they will not attack you and you will live there safely. 11Then the Lord your God will choose a place where you must worship Him. You must take everything that I tell you to bring to that place: your burnt-offerings and other offerings, your 10ths and your gifts and the best things that you have promised to give to the Lord. 12The Lord will be with you and you must rejoice and celebrate, you and your children, your slaves and your slave girls and the Levites who live among you, because they do not have their own land like you.
13You must be careful not to sacrifice your burnt-offerings anywhere you want to. 14You may sacrifice your burnt-offerings only at the place that the Lord chooses in the land of one of the tribes and there you must do everything that I tell you.
15When you are hungry, you may kill some of the animals that God gave you when He blessed you where you live. People who are pure and people who are impure may eat that meat, like they eat the meat of a gazelle or deer. 16But you may not eat blood. You must pour the blood out onto the ground like you pour out water. 17You may not eat the 10ths of your grain at your homes, or the 10ths of your wine and olive oil, or the first calves and lambs, or your vow-offerings, or the offerings that you want to give, or the gifts that you give to the Lord. 18When you eat them, go to the place that the Lord your God will choose. You must do this with your children, your slaves and the Levites who live with you. The Lord your God will be with you. You must celebrate before the Lord in everything that you do. 19Be careful not to forget the Levites as long as you live in the land.
20The Lord your God promised that He will give you more land. When He does that and you want to eat meat because you are hungry, then you may eat meat at any time. 21If you are far from the place that the Lord your God has chosen where you must worship, you may kill some of your cattle, sheep or goats, but you must do it as I told you, and then you may eat it in the towns where you live. 22Yes, you may eat this meat like you eat the meat of a gazelle or deer. People who are pure and people who are impure may eat this meat. 23But you must make sure that you do not eat blood, because the life of the animal is in the blood and you may eat only the meat. 24You may not eat the blood. You must pour it out onto the ground like you pour out water. 25If you do not eat the blood then you are doing what the Lord wants and all will be well with you and your children who come after you.
26But take your holy gifts and your vow-offerings to the place that the Lord chooses. 27You must sacrifice your burnt-offerings on the altar of the Lord your God with the meat and the blood. You must pour out the blood against the altar of the Lord your God and you may eat the meat.
28You must do everything that I am telling you today, then all will be well with you and your children who come after you, because then you will be doing what is good and right like the Lord your God wants.’
Worship the Lord as He tells you to
29‘You are now going to take the land of other nations for yourselves. When the Lord your God causes those people in the land to die, you will take their land and go and live there. 30Then you must be careful that you do not fall into a trap like a bird, because that is what will happen to you if you ask: “How did those people worship their gods? We also want to worship their gods like they did.” If you do that, the Lord will destroy you like He destroyed them.
31Do not worship the Lord your God like they have worshipped their gods. They have done bad things for their gods, things which the Lord hates. They have even burnt their children for their gods.
32You must do everything that I tell you. Do not put anything new into these laws and do not take anything out of them.’
