Deuteronomy 12:2
New International Version
Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods.

New Living Translation
“When you drive out the nations that live there, you must destroy all the places where they worship their gods—high on the mountains, up on the hills, and under every green tree.

English Standard Version
You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.

Berean Standard Bible
Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.

King James Bible
Ye shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:

New King James Version
You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.

New American Standard Bible
You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you are going to dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every leafy tree.

NASB 1995
“You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.

NASB 1977
“You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.

Legacy Standard Bible
You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree.

Amplified Bible
You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and the hills and under every green [leafy] tree.

Christian Standard Bible
Destroy completely all the places where the nations that you are driving out worship their gods —on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Destroy completely all the places where the nations that you are driving out worship their gods—on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.

American Standard Version
Ye shall surely destroy all the places wherein the nations that ye shall dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Destroy all of the regions where the nations served there, that you inherit, and their gods on the high mountains and upon the hills and under every shady tree:

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Ye shall utterly destroy all the places in which they served their gods, whose land ye inherit, on the high mountains and on the hills, and under the thick tree.

Contemporary English Version
But the nations that live there worship other gods. So after you capture the land, you must completely destroy their places of worship--on mountains and hills or in the shade of large trees.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Destroy all the places in which the nations, that you shall possess, worshipped their gods upon high mountains, and hills, and under every shady tree:

English Revised Version
Ye shall surely destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Completely destroy all the worship sites on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every large tree. The people you're forcing out worship their gods in these places.

Good News Translation
In the land that you are taking, destroy all the places where the people worship their gods on high mountains, on hills, and under green trees.

International Standard Version
Be sure you destroy there all the places where the nations that you're going to dispossess serve their gods—upon the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Ye shall surely destroy all the places, wherein the nations that ye are to dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every leafy tree.

Literal Standard Version
You utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you are dispossessing served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the heights, and under every green tree;

Majority Standard Bible
Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.

New American Bible
Destroy entirely all the places where the nations you are to dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.

NET Bible
You must by all means destroy all the places where the nations you are about to dispossess worship their gods--on the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree.

New Revised Standard Version
You must demolish completely all the places where the nations whom you are about to dispossess served their gods, on the mountain heights, on the hills, and under every leafy tree.

New Heart English Bible
You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree:

Webster's Bible Translation
Ye shall utterly destroy all the places in which the nations which ye shall possess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree:

World English Bible
You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods: on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

Young's Literal Translation
ye do utterly destroy all the places where the nations which ye are dispossessing served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the heights, and under every green tree;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
One Place for Worship
1These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to follow all the days you live in the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess. 2Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods— atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree. 3Tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, burn up their Asherah poles, cut down the idols of their gods, and wipe out their names from every place.…

Cross References
1 Kings 3:2
The people, however, were still sacrificing on the high places because a house for the Name of the LORD had not yet been built.

1 Kings 14:23
They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

2 Kings 11:18
So all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols to pieces, and they killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars. And Jehoiada the priest posted guards for the house of the LORD.

2 Kings 16:4
And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.

2 Kings 17:10
They set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

2 Kings 17:11
They burned incense on all the high places like the nations that the LORD had driven out before them. They did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger.

Isaiah 36:7
But if you say to me, 'We trust in the LORD our God,' is He not the One whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, 'You must worship before this altar'?


Treasury of Scripture

You shall utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which you shall possess served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree:

utterly

Deuteronomy 7:5,25,26
But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire…

Exodus 23:24
Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.

Exodus 34:12-17
Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: …

posses.

Numbers 22:41
And it came to pass on the morrow, that Balak took Balaam, and brought him up into the high places of Baal, that thence he might see the utmost part of the people.

2 Kings 16:4
And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree.

2 Kings 17:10,11
And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: …

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Deuteronomy 12
1. Monuments of idolatry to be destroyed
4. The place of God's service to be kept
15. Blood is forbidden
17. Holy things must be eaten in the holy place
19. The Levite is not to be forsaken
20. Blood is again forbidden
26. and holy things must be eaten in the holy place
29. Idolatry is not to be enquired after














(2) Ye shall utterly destroy.--First of all these requirements is the destruction of every vestige of idolatry. In the land of Jehovah there must be no trace of any other god but Him. The non-fulfilment of this command in the early history of Israel has led some to suppose that the command itself belongs to later times. But it must be observed that the destruction of these things is inextricably connected with the conquest of the country in detail. It was part of the work assigned to the several tribes of Israel when the land had been divided by Joshua. His work was to conquer the Canaanitish armies, and give Israel possession of their chief cities. He then assigned the land to the several tribes, to make it their own throughout. Obviously, if every tribe had insisted upon destroying all monuments of idolatry in its own territory, one of two results must have followed: either the remnant of the Canaanitish nations must have been excited to fresh acts of rebellion and hostility, resulting in their extermination, or else they must have yielded themselves entirely to the worship of Jehovah. But Israel disobeyed the order. They did not themselves yield to idolatry in Joshua's time. The disturbance made respecting the altar Ed (see Joshua 22) is quite sufficient of itself to prove the strictness of the law against strange altars. But the Canaanites being left undisturbed after they ceased to resist openly, and their objects of worship being left unmolested, there were constant temptations to idolatry, to which Israel yielded. And thus it was not until the times of Heze-kiah and Josiah that these laws were carried out. But this does not prove the law to have come into existence then, any more than the present condition of the human race proves that man was not made in God's image in Paradise.

Verses 2, 3. - In order to this, Israel was, as soon as the land was possessed, to destroy all the objects and means of idolatrous worship in the land. Upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree (cf. Isaiah 57:7; Jeremiah 2:20; Jeremiah 3:6; Jeremiah 17:2; Hosea 4:13; 2 Kings 16:4; 2 Kings 17:10). The heathen had their places of worship on lofty elevations, probably because they imagined they were thus nearer to the object of their worship; and they sought also the shade of woods or thick-foliaged trees (Ezekiel 6:13), under which to perform their rites, as tending to inspire awe, and as in keeping with the mysterious character of their rites. These places of heathen worship in Canaan the Israelites were utterly to destroy, along with the images of their deities and other objects of idolatrous worship. Burn their groves; their asherahs, idol-pillars of wood (cf. Deuteronomy 7:5).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Destroy completely
אַבֵּ֣ד (’ab·bêḏ)
Verb - Piel - Infinitive absolute
Strong's 6: To wander away, lose oneself, to perish

all
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

the places
הַמְּקֹמ֞וֹת (ham·mə·qō·mō·wṯ)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 4725: A standing, a spot, a condition

where
אֲשֶׁ֧ר (’ă·šer)
Pronoun - relative
Strong's 834: Who, which, what, that, when, where, how, because, in order that

the nations
הַגּוֹיִ֗ם (hag·gō·w·yim)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 1471: A foreign nation, a Gentile, a troop of animals, a flight of locusts

you
אַתֶּ֛ם (’at·tem)
Pronoun - second person masculine plural
Strong's 859: Thou and thee, ye and you

are dispossessing
יֹרְשִׁ֥ים (yō·rə·šîm)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 3423: To occupy, to seize, to rob, to inherit, to expel, to impoverish, to ruin

have served
עָֽבְדוּ־ (‘ā·ḇə·ḏū-)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 5647: To work, to serve, till, enslave

their gods—
אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֑ם (’ĕ·lō·hê·hem)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

atop
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the high
הָֽרָמִים֙ (hā·rā·mîm)
Article | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 7311: To be high actively, to rise, raise

mountains,
הֶהָרִ֤ים (he·hā·rîm)
Article | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 2022: Mountain, hill, hill country

on
וְעַל־ (wə·‘al-)
Conjunctive waw | Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the hills,
הַגְּבָע֔וֹת (hag·gə·ḇā·‘ō·wṯ)
Article | Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 1389: A hillock

and under
וְתַ֖חַת (wə·ṯa·ḥaṯ)
Conjunctive waw | Preposition
Strong's 8478: The bottom, below, in lieu of

every
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

green
רַעֲנָן׃‪‬ (ra·‘ă·nān)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 7488: Verdant, new, prosperous

tree.
עֵ֥ץ (‘êṣ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6086: Tree, trees, wood


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OT Law: Deuteronomy 12:2 You shall surely destroy all the places (Deut. De Du)
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