3. Break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. Burn their Asherah poles and cut down their carved idols. Completely erase the names of their gods!
4. “Do not worship the lord your God in the way these pagan peoples worship their gods.
5. Rather, you must seek the lord your God at the place of worship he himself will choose from among all the tribes—the place where his name will be honored.
6. There you will bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your sacred offerings, your offerings to fulfill a vow, your voluntary offerings, and your offerings of the firstborn animals of your herds and flocks.
7. There you and your families will feast in the presence of the lord your God, and you will rejoice in all you have accomplished because the lord your God has blessed you.
8. “Your pattern of worship will change. Today all of you are doing as you please,
9. because you have not yet arrived at the place of rest, the land the lord your God is giving you as your special possession.
10. But you will soon cross the Jordan River and live in the land the lord your God is giving you. When he gives you rest from all your enemies and you’re living safely in the land,
11. you must bring everything I command you—your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your sacred offerings, and your offerings to fulfill a vow—to the designated place of worship, the place the lord your God chooses for his name to be honored.
12. “You must celebrate there in the presence of the lord your God with your sons and daughters and all your servants. And remember to include the Levites who live in your towns, for they will receive no allotment of land among you.
13. Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings just anywhere you like.
14. You may do so only at the place the lord will choose within one of your tribal territories. There you must offer your burnt offerings and do everything I command you.
15. “But you may butcher your animals and eat their meat in any town whenever you want. You may freely eat the animals with which the lord your God blesses you. All of you, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat, just as you now eat gazelle and deer.
16. But you must not consume the blood. You must pour it out on the ground like water.