Wipe out their names from that place.
4Don't act like they did toward the LORD your God!
5Instead, you must search for the location the LORD your God will select from all your tribes to put his name there, as his residence, and you must go there. 6You must bring your entirely burned offerings, your sacrifices, your tenth-part gifts, your contributions,v your payments for solemn promises, your spontaneous gifts, and the oldest offspring of your herds and flocks to that place. 7You will have a feast there, each of you and your families, in the LORD your God's presence, and you will celebrate all you have done because the LORD your God has blessed you. 8Don't act like we've been acting here lately--everyone doing what seems right to them--9because up to this point you haven't yet reached the place of rest or the inheritance the LORD your God is giving you. 10But you are about to cross the Jordan River and will settle in the land the LORD your God is giving you as your inheritance. Then he will give you rest from all your enemies on every side so that you live safely and securely. 11At that point, you must bring all that I am commanding you, your entirely burned offerings, your sacrifices, your tenth-part gifts, your contributions, and all your best payments that you solemnly promised to the LORD, to the location the LORD your God selects for his name to reside. 12Then you will rejoice in the LORD your God's presence: each of you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites who dwell in your cities because they have no designated inheritance.
13But watch yourself! Make sure you don't offer up your entirely burned offerings in just any place you see. 14No, only at the location the LORD selects from one of your tribal areas--that's where you must offer up your entirely burned offerings and that's where you must perform everything I'm telling you. 15However, whenever you wish, you may slaughter and eat meat, as the LORD your God sees fit to bless you with such in your cities. People who are polluted and people who are purified can join in the feast, as they would if they were eating gazelle or deer. 16But you must not consume any of the animals' blood. Pour it out on the ground, just like water.
17Within your cities you are not allowed to eat any of the following: your tenth-part gifts of grain, wine, and oil; the oldest offspring of your herds and flocks; any of the payments you have solemnly promised; your spontaneous gifts or your contributions. 18Only in the presence of the LORD your God, at the location the LORD your God selects, can you eat these things--that holds true for you, your son and daughter, your male and female servant, and the Levite who lives in your city. Then celebrate all you have done in the LORD your God's presence. 19But watch yourself: as long as you are on the land, don't forget about the Levites.
20Once the LORD your God has enlarged your territory, as he promised you, and you think to yourself, I'd like to eat some meat (because you have the desire to do so), feel free to do so whenever you want. 21But if the location that the LORD your God will choose to put his name is far away from where you live, then slaughter an animal from your herd or flock that the LORD has given you, just as I have commanded you, and eat it in your cities whenever you wish. 22But be sure to eat it as if it were gazelle or deer. People who are polluted and people who are purified can feast on it together.
23Furthermore, make sure that you don't consume any of the blood, because blood is life. You must not consume the life along with the meat. 24You must not consume any of it. Pour it out on the ground, just like water. 25You must not consume any of it so that things go well for you and for your children later because you did what was right in the LORD's eyes.
26Note that you must bring your sacred offerings and your payments for solemn promises to the location the LORD selects, 27offering up your entirely burned sacrifices--both meat and blood--on the LORD your God's altar. The blood from your sacrifices must be poured out on the LORD your God's altar, but you are allowed to eat the meat. 28Observe and obey all these words that I am commanding you so that things always go well for you and your children later because you did what was good and right in the LORD your God's eyes.
29Once the LORD your God has removed from before you all the nations that you are entering and taking possession of, and you have displaced them and are living in their land, 30then watch yourself! Don't be trapped by following their practices after they've been wiped out before you. Don't go investigating their gods, thinking, How did these nations worship their gods? I want to do the very same thing!
31Don't act like they did toward the LORD your God because they did things for their gods that are detestable to the LORD, which he hates. They even burned their own sons and daughters with fire for their gods!
32w Everything I'm commanding you, you must do it with utmost care! Don't add anything to it or take anything away from it.
False prophets and false gods
Deuteronomy 13x Now if a prophet or a dream interpreter appears among you and performs a sign or wonder for you, 2and the sign or wonder that was spoken actually occurs; if he says: "Come on! We should follow other gods"--ones you haven't experienced--"and we should worship them,"3you must not listen to that prophet's or dream interpreter's words, because the LORD your God is testing you to see if you love the LORD your God with all your mind and all your being. 4You must follow the LORD your God alone! Revere him! Follow his commandments! Obey his voice! Worship him! Cling to him--no other! 5That prophet or dream interpreter must be executed because he encouraged you to turn away from the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, who redeemed you from the house of slavery; they tried to lead you away from the path the LORD your God commanded you to take. Removey such evil from your community!
6Similarly, if one of your relatives--even one of your own siblings--or your own son or daughter or your dear spouse or best friend entices you secretly, if someone like that says: "Come on! We should follow and worship other gods"--ones that neither you nor your ancestors have experienced, 7gods from all the neighboring peoples, whether nearby or far away, from one end of the earth to the other--8don't give in to them! Don't obey them! Don't have any mercy on them! Don't have compassion on them and don't protect them! 9Instead, you must execute them. Your own hand must be against them from the beginning of the execution; the hand of all the people will be involved at the end. 10Stone them until they are dead because they desired to lead you away from the LORD your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11All Israel will hear about this and be afraid. They won't do that sort of evil thing among you again.
12Or if you hear about one of your towns the LORD your God is giving you to inhabit, that 13certain wicked people have gone out from your community and they've led the citizens of their town astray by saying: "Come on! We should follow and worship other gods"--ones you haven't experienced before; 14at that point you must look into this situation very carefully to see if it's true. And if it's definitely true that this detestable thing was done in your community, 15you must completely strike down the inhabitants of that city with the sword. Place it and all that is in it under the ban.z Put its animals to the sword. 16Gather all the plunder into the middle of the town's square. Then burn the city and all of its plunder as an entirely burned offering to the LORD your God. It must remain a heap of rubble forever. It must not be rebuilt. 17Don't hold on to any of the banned items--this will ensure that the LORD turns from his great anger and is compassionate to you, showing you mercy and multiplying you just like he swore to your ancestors. 18You must definitely obey the LORD your God's voice, keeping all his commandments that I am giving you right now, by doing what is right in the LORD your God's eyes!
Complete devotion to the LORD
Deuteronomy 14You are the LORD's children. Don't cut yourselves and don't shave your foreheads for the dead, 2because you are a people holy to the LORD your God. You are the ones whom the LORD selected to