One Place for Worship

1These are the ordinances and the lawes, which ye shall obserue and doe in the lande (which the Lord God of thy fathers giueth thee to possesse it) as long as yee liue vpon the earth. 2Yee shall vtterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shal possesse, serued their gods vpon the hie mountaines and vpon the hilles, and vnder euery greene tree. 3Also ye shall ouerthrowe their altars, and breake downe their pillars, & burne their groues with fire: and ye shall hew downe ye grauen images of their gods, and abolish their names out of that place. 4Ye shal not do so vnto ye Lord your God, 5But ye shal seeke the place which the Lord your God shall chose out of all your tribes, to put his Name there, and there to dwell, and thither thou shalt come, 6And ye shall bring thither your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the offring of your hands, and your vowes, and your free offrings, and the first borne of your kine and of your sheepe. 7And there ye shall eate before the Lorde your God, and ye shall reioyce in all that yee put your hand vnto, both ye, and your housholdes, because the Lord thy God hath blessed thee.

8Ye shall not doe after all these things that we doe here this day: that is, euery man whatsoeuer seemeth him good in his owne eyes. 9For ye are not yet come to rest, and to the inheritance which the Lord thy God giueth thee. 10But when ye goe ouer Iorden, and dwell in ye land, which the Lord your God hath giuen you to inherit, & when he hath giue you rest from al your enemies round about, & yee dwel in safetie, 11When there shalbe a place which the Lord your God shall chose, to cause his name to dwell there, thither shall yee bring all that I commaund you: your burnt offrings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the offring of your hands, and all your speciall vowes which ye vowe vnto the Lord: 12And ye shall reioyce before the Lord your God, yee, and your sonnes & your daughters, and your seruaunts, and your maidens, and the Leuite that is within your gates: for hee hath no part nor inheritance with you.

13Take heede that thou offer not thy burnt offrings in euery place that thou seest: 14But in ye place which the Lord shall chose in one of thy tribes, there thou shalt offer thy burnt offrings, and there thou shalt doe all that I commaund thee.

15Notwithstanding thou maiest kill and eate flesh in all thy gates, whatsoeuer thine heart desireth, according to the blessing of the Lorde thy God which he hath giuen thee: both the vncleane and the cleane may eate thereof, as of the roe bucke, and of the hart. 16Onely ye shal not eat the blood, but powre it vpon the earth as water. 17Thou maist nor eat within thy gates the tithe of thy corne, nor of thy wine, nor of thine oyle, nor the first borne of thy kine, nor of thy sheep, neither any of thy vowes which thou vowest, nor thy free offerings, nor the offering of thine hands, 18But thou shalt eate it before the Lorde thy God, in the place which the Lorde thy God shall chuse, thou, & thy sonne, & thy daughter, & thy seruat, and thy maid, and the Leuite that is within thy gates: and thou shalt reioyce before the Lord thy God, in all that thou puttest thine hand to. 19Beware, that thou forsake not the Leuite, as long as thou liuest vpon the earth.

20When the Lorde thy God shall enlarge thy border, as hee hath promised thee, and thou shalt say, I wil eate flesh, (because thine heart longeth to eate flesh) thou maiest eate flesh, whatsoeuer thine heart desireth. 21If the place which the Lord thy God hath chosen to put his Name there, be farre from thee, then thou shalt kill of thy bullockes, and of thy sheepe which the Lorde hath giuen thee, as I haue commanded thee, and thou shalt eat in thy gates, whatsoeuer thine heart desireth. 22Euen as the roe bucke, and the hart is eaten, so shalt thou eat them. both the vncleane and the cleane shall eate of them alike. 23Onely bee sure that thou eate not the blood: for the blood is the life, and thou maiest not eate the life with the flesh. 24Therefore thou shalt not eat it, but powre it vpon the earth as water. 25Thou shalt not eat it, that it may go wel with thee; and with thy children after thee, when thou shalt doe that which is right in the sight of the Lord: 26But thine holy things which thou hast, and thy vowes thou shalt take vp, and come vnto the place which the Lord shall chuse. 27And thou shalt make thy burnt offerings of the flesh, and of the blood vpon the altar of the Lorde thy God, and the blood of thine offerings shall bee powred vpon the altar of the Lorde thy God, and thou shalt eate the flesh.

28Take heede, and heare all these woordes which I commaund thee, that it may goe well with thee, & with thy children after thee for euer, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the Lord thy God.

A Warning against Idolatry
(Deuteronomy 4:15–31; Ezekiel 6:1–7)

29When the Lorde thy God shall destroy the nations before thee, whither thou goest to possesse them, and thou shalt possesse them and dwell in their lande, 30Beware, lest thou be taken in a snare after them, after that they be destroied before thee, and lest thou aske after their gods, saying, Howe did these nations serue their gods, that I may doe so likewise? 31Thou shalt not doe so vnto the Lorde thy God: for al abomination, which the Lord hateth, haue they done vnto their gods: for they haue burned both their sonnes and their daughters with fire to their gods.

32Therefore whatsoeuer I command you, take heede you doe it: thou shalt put nothing thereto, nor take ought therefrom.