The Lord's Chosen Place of Worship
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b "These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, c all the days that you live on the earth.
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d You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, e on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.
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You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces f their pillars and burn their g Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and h destroy their name out of that place.
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i You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way.
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But you shall seek j the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go,
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and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, k your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the l firstborn of your herd and of your flock.
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And m there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and n you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
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"You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, o everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes,
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for you have not as yet come to p the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you.
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But when q you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, r and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety,
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then to j the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, k your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord.
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And n you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since s he has no portion or inheritance with you.
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t Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see,
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but at j the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you.
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"However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you desire, u according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. v The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer.
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w Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth like water.
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You may not eat within your towns k the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings or the contribution that you present,
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but m you shall eat them before the Lord your God in j the place that the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns. And n you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all that you undertake.
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x Take care that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.
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"When the Lord your God y enlarges your territory, z as he has promised you, and you say, 'I will eat meat,' because you crave meat, you may eat meat whenever you desire.
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If a the place that the Lord your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, b then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns whenever you desire.
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Just c as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. c The unclean and the clean alike may eat of it.
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d Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, e for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.
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You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth like water.
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You shall not eat it, f that all may go well with you and with your children after you, g when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.
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But the h holy things that are due from you, and i your vow offerings, you shall take, and you shall go to a the place that the Lord will choose,
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and j offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, but the flesh you may eat.
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Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, f that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 6:1
Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 4:10
How on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, 'Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 7:5
But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire.
Exodus 34:13
You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim
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Cross References
1 Kings 14:23
For they also built for themselves high places and pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree.
2 Kings 16:4
And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.
2 Kings 17:10
They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree.
Jeremiah 3:6
The Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah: "Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore?
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 16:22
And you shall not set up a pillar, which the Lord your God hates.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 16:21
You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God that you shall make.
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Cross References
Zephaniah 1:4
I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal and the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests.
Zechariah 13:2
And on that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that they shall be remembered no more. And also I will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 12:31
You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 16:2
And you shall offer the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, from the flock or the herd, at the place that the Lord will choose, to make his name dwell there.
Deuteronomy 26:2
You shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there.
1 Kings 8:29
That your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, 'My name shall be there,' that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place.
2 Chronicles 7:12
Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.
Joshua 18:1
Then the whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. The land lay subdued before them.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 14:22 - 23
You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year.
Deuteronomy 15:19 - 20
All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the Lord your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 14:23
And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 14:23
And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.
Deuteronomy 14:26
And spend the money for whatever you desire - oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.
Deuteronomy 15:20
You shall eat it, you and your household, before the Lord your God year by year at the place that the Lord will choose.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 14:26
And spend the money for whatever you desire - o...
Deuteronomy 16:11
And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God,...
Deuteronomy 16:14 - 15
You shall rejoice in your feast, you and your s...
Deuteronomy 26:11
And you shall rejoice in all the good that the ...
Deuteronomy 27:7
And you shall sacrifice peace offerings and sha...
Deuteronomy 28:8
The Lord will command the blessing on you in yo...
Leviticus 23:40
And you shall take on the first day the fruit o...
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Cross References
Judges 17:6
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Judges 21:25
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
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Cross References
1 Kings 8:56
Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant.
Psalms 95:11
Therefore I swore in my wrath, "They shall not enter my rest.
Hebrews 4:8
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 11:31
For you are to cross over the Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you. And when you possess it and live in it.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 25:19
Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.
Joshua 23:1
A long time afterward, when the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years.
2 Samuel 7:1
Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies.
1 Kings 5:4
But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 12:5
But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 12:6
And there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 12:7
And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
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Cross References
Numbers 18:20
And the Lord said to Aaron, "You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.
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Cross References
Leviticus 17:3 - 4
If any one of the house of Israel kills an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or kills it outside the camp.
1 Kings 12:28
So the king took counsel and made two calves of gold. And he said to the people, "You have gone up to Jerusalem long enough. Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
1 Kings 12:33
He went up to the altar that he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he had devised from his own heart. And he instituted a feast for the people of Israel and went up to the altar to make offerings.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 12:5
But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 16:17
Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 14:5
The deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.
Deuteronomy 15:22
You shall eat it within your towns. The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer.
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Cross References
Leviticus 3:17
It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 12:6
And there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 12:7
And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 12:5
But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 12:7
And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 14:27
And you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.
2 Chronicles 31:4
And he commanded the people who lived in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, that they might give themselves to the Law of the Lord.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 19:8
And if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers -
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 11:24
Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your territory shall be from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea.
Deuteronomy 19:8 - 9
And if the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he has sworn to your fathers, and gives you all the land that he promised to give to your fathers -
Genesis 28:14
Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
Exodus 34:24
For I will cast out nations before you and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land, when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 12:5
But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation there. There you shall go.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 12:15
However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you desire, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 14:5
The deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.
Deuteronomy 15:22
You shall eat it within your towns. The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 14:5
The deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.
Deuteronomy 15:22
You shall eat it within your towns. The unclean and the clean alike may eat it, as though it were a gazelle or a deer.
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Cross References
Leviticus 3:17
It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.
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Cross References
Genesis 9:4
But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 4:40
Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.
Ecclesiastes 8:12
Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and prolongs his life, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, because they fear before him.
Isaiah 3:10
Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 6:18
And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers
Deuteronomy 13:18
If you obey the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all his commandments that I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.
Exodus 15:26
Saying, "If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer.
1 Kings 11:38
And if you will listen to all that I command you, and will walk in my ways, and do what is right in my eyes by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, I will be with you and will build you a sure house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.
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Cross References
Numbers 5:9 - 10
And every contribution, all the holy donations of the people of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his.
Numbers 18:19
All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the Lord I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due. It is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord for you and for your offspring with you.
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Cross References
1 Samuel 1:21
The man Elkanah and all his house went up to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and to pay his vow.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 12:21
If the place that the Lord your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns whenever you desire.
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Cross References
Leviticus 1:5
Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron's sons the priests shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
Leviticus 1:9
But its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
Leviticus 1:13
But the entrails and the legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall offer all of it and burn it on the altar; it is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
Leviticus 17:11
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.
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Cross References
Deuteronomy 12:25
You shall not eat it, that all may go well with you and with your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.