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“I will now tell you the rules and decrees that you must faithfully obey in the land that Yahweh, the God whom our ancestors worshiped, is giving to you to occupy. You must obey these laws all the time that you are alive.
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When you drive out those people groups whose land you will take, you must destroy all the places where they worshiped their gods, places on the tops of mountains and hills and beside large trees.
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You must tear down their altars and smash their pillars. Burn the statues of their goddess Asherah and chop down their carved figures, in order that no one will ever worship them in those places again.
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Do not worship Yahweh like the people in Canaan worship their gods.
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Instead, you must go to the place that Yahweh will choose. It will be in the area where one of your tribes will live. That is where you must enter Yahweh’s presence and worship him.
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That is the place where you must bring your sacrifices that the priests will burn whole on the altar, and your other sacrifices that you yourselves present to me, your tithes, other offerings that you promise to give me, the firstborn animals from your cattle and sheep, or any other kind of offering.
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There, in the presence of Yahweh our God, you and your families will eat the good things that you have worked to produce, and you will be happy, because he has blessed you very, very much.
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When you are in that land, you must not do some of the things that we have been doing. Until now, you have all been worshiping Yahweh the way you want to,
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because you have not yet arrived in the land which he will allow you to permanently possess, where you will be able to live peacefully.
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But when you cross the Jordan River, you will start to live in the land that Yahweh our God is giving to you. He will protect you from all your enemies that will surround you, and you will live peacefully.
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Yahweh will choose one place where he wants you to worship him. That is the place to which you must bring all the offerings that I command you to bring: The sacrifices that the priests will burn whole on the altar, your other sacrifices, other offerings that you yourselves decide to present, your tithes, and all the special offerings that you will solemnly promise to give to Yahweh.
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Rejoice there in the presence of Yahweh, along with your children, your male and female servants, and the descendants of Levi who live in your towns. Do not forget that the descendants of Levi will not have their own land, like you do.
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Be sure that you do not offer to burn animals as sacrifices anywhere you want to.
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You must offer them only in the place that Yahweh will choose for you, in an area that belongs to one of your tribes. That is the only place where he wants you to offer sacrifices that the priests will burn whole on the altar, and to do the other things that I am commanding you to do when you worship him.
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However, God will permit you to kill and eat the meat of your animals in the places where you live. As often as you want to, you may eat meat from the animals that Yahweh our God will bless you by giving them to you. Those who are at that time clean or unclean may all eat that meat, just like you would eat the meat of a deer or an antelope.
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But you must not eat the blood of any animal; you must let the blood drain onto the ground before you cook the meat.
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In the places where you live, you must not eat the things that you are offering to Yahweh: You must not eat the tithes of your grain or of your wine, or of your olive oil, or the firstborn of your cattle and sheep, or the offerings that you yourselves decide to present to Yahweh, or any other offerings.
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Instead, you and your children and your male and female servants and the descendants of Levi who live in your towns must eat those things in the presence of Yahweh in the place that he chooses. And you should be happy about everything that you have done.
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Be sure that you take care of the descendants of Levi all during the time that you live in your land.
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When Yahweh our God gives you much more land than you will have at first, and he has promised to do this, and when you say, ‘I would like some meat to eat,’ you are permitted to eat meat whenever you want to.
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If the place that Yahweh our God chooses to be the place for you to worship him is far from where you live, you are permitted to kill some of your cattle or sheep that Yahweh has given to you, and you may eat that meat in the town where you live, just like I have told you to do.
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Those who are either clean or unclean at the time may eat that meat, just like you would eat the meat of a deer or an antelope.
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But be sure that you do not eat the blood of any animal, because it is the blood that sustains life in living beings. You must not eat the life along with the meat.
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Do not eat the blood; instead, let it drain onto the ground.
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If you obey this command and do what Yahweh says is right for you to do, things will go well for you and for your descendants.
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But the offerings that Yahweh has told you to set aside for him, and the other offerings that you yourselves decide to give, you must take to the place that he will choose.
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There the priest will burn those offerings on Yahweh’s altar. He will kill the animals, drain out the blood, and throw some of it onto the sides of the altar. And you may eat some of that meat.
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Faithfully obey all these things that I have commanded you. If you do that, things will go well forever for you and your descendants, because you will be doing what Yahweh our God says is right for you to do and what pleases him.
A Warning against Idolatry
(Deuteronomy 4:15–31; Ezekiel 6:1–7)
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When you enter the land that you will occupy, as you advance, Yahweh our God will destroy the people groups that live there.
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After he does that, be sure that you do not worship the gods that they have been worshiping, because if you do that, it will be like a trap that will catch you. Do not ask anyone about those gods, saying, ‘Tell me how they worshiped their gods, in order that I can worship Yahweh in the same way.’
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Do not try to worship Yahweh our God like they have worshiped their gods, because when they worship them, they do disgusting things, things that Yahweh hates. The worst thing that they do is that they sacrifice their own children and burn them on their altars.
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Be sure to do everything that I have commanded you to do. Do not add anything to these commands, and do not take anything away from them.
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