1De følgende befalinger skal I adlyde fremover i det land, som Herren, jeres fædres Gud, har lovet at give jer:2I skal ødelægge de fremmede folkeslags offersteder overalt i landet, på bjergene, på højene og under de store træer.3Riv altrene ned, slå stenstøtterne i stykker, kast Asherapælene i ilden, knus afgudsbillederne og tilintetgør alt, hvad der har med deres afgudsdyrkelse at gøre.4-5I må ikke ofre til Herren, jeres Gud, hvor som helst, sådan som de andre folkeslag ofrer til deres guder, men I skal bygge ham en helligdom på det sted, han vil udvælge til sin bolig.6Dér skal I ofre jeres brændofre og andre ofre til ham. Dér skal I komme med jeres tiende og gaver, løfteofre, frivilligofre og de førstefødte af jeres husdyr,7og dér skal I sammen med jeres familier holde højtid for Herren, jeres Gud, og glæde jer over, hvad han har gjort for jer.8-10Til den tid, når I er kommet over Jordanfloden og har slået jer ned og har fået ro for fjenderne i landet, må I ikke længere bare gøre, hvad I finder for godt.11Til den tid skal I bringe jeres ofre til helligdommen, som Herren vil udvælge til sin bolig,12og I skal holde højtid dér for Herrens ansigt sammen med jeres børn og slaver. I skal indbyde levitterne til at tage del i festmåltidet sammen med jer, for de har ikke fået nogen jord tildelt som de andre stammer.13I må altså ikke ofre brændofre hvor som helst,14men kun på det sted, som Herren vil udvælge sig i et af stammeområderne.15Hvad de øvrige husdyr angår, altså dem I bruger til føde, kan I slagte dem, hvor som helst I bor, ligesom I nu gør med de vilde dyr. I kan spise lige så meget, I vil, og både urene og rene personer må spise med,16bare I sørger for at lade blodet løbe fra ved slagtningen, for det må I ikke spise.17Men hjemme hos jer selv må I ikke spise af offergaverne, heller ikke tiende af jeres korn, vin og oliven, jeres førstefødte dyr, jeres løfteofre, frivilligofre eller andre gaver til Herren.18Alle offergaverne skal I spise for Herren, jeres Guds, ansigt på det sted, han vil udvælge, og I skal spise dem sammen med jeres børn, jeres slaver og levitterne, der bor iblandt jer. Det er kun ved helligdommen, at I må holde festmåltid for Herren, jeres Gud, og glæde jer over, hvad han har gjort for jer.19Glem ikke at invitere de levitter med, der bor iblandt jer.20-22Når Herren har udvidet jeres landområde, sådan som han har lovet at gøre, kommer nogle af jer til at bo langt fra helligdommen. Derfor behøver I ikke at tage jeres dyr derhen, for at de kan blive slagtet der, før I spiser dem. Det er kun de dyr, der skal ofres til Herren, som nødvendigvis skal slagtes i helligdommen.23-25Men husk, at I ikke må spise blodet, for blodet repræsenterer livet. Lad blodet løbe ud på jorden under slagtningen i lydighed mod Herren, for at det kan gå jer og jeres børn vel.26Men alle jeres offergaver og løfteofre skal I bringe til helligdommen.27Brændofrene skal ofres helt til Herren, både kødet og blodet. Ved de øvrige ofre skal blodet stænkes på Herrens, jeres Guds, alter, men kødet må I spise.28Sørg for at følge de her forskrifter. Gør I det, handler I ret i Herrens øjne, og da vil det fremover gå jer og jeres børn vel.
Advarsel imod afgudsdyrkelse
29Når Herren får udryddet indbyggerne foran jer, og I slår jer ned i landet,30må I passe på ikke at blive fanget ind af deres levevis, så I dyrker deres guder. Lad være med at kopiere deres religiøse traditioner.31De dyrker deres guder på en måde, som Herren hader. De brænder tilmed deres egne børn til ære for deres guder. Hvor afskyeligt!
1“These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. (5.Mos 4,10; 5.Mos 6,1)2You 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. (2.Mos 34,13; 5.Mos 7,5; 1.Kong 14,23; 2.Kong 16,4; 2.Kong 17,10; Jer 3,6)3You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place. (5.Mos 16,21; 5.Mos 16,22; Zef 1,4; Zak 13,2)4You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. (5.Mos 12,31)5But you shall seek the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation[1] there. There you shall go, (5.Mos 16,2; 5.Mos 26,2; Josva 18,1; 1.Kong 8,29; 2.Krøn 7,12)6and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock. (5.Mos 14,22; 5.Mos 14,23; 5.Mos 15,19)7And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you. (3.Mos 23,40; 5.Mos 14,23; 5.Mos 14,26; 5.Mos 15,20; 5.Mos 16,11; 5.Mos 16,14; 5.Mos 26,11; 5.Mos 27,7; 5.Mos 28,8)8“You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, (Dom 17,6; Dom 21,25)9for you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you. (1.Kong 8,56; Salm 95,11; Heb 4,8)10But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, (5.Mos 11,31; 5.Mos 25,19; Josva 23,1; 2.Sam 7,1; 1.Kong 5,4)11then to the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord. (5.Mos 12,5; 5.Mos 12,6)12And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since he has no portion or inheritance with you. (4.Mos 18,20; 5.Mos 12,7)13Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see, (3.Mos 17,3; 1.Kong 12,28; 1.Kong 12,33)14but at the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you. (5.Mos 12,5)15“However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you desire, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer. (5.Mos 14,5; 5.Mos 15,22; 5.Mos 16,17)16Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth like water. (3.Mos 3,17)17You may not eat within your towns the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings or the contribution that you present, (5.Mos 12,6)18but you shall eat them before the Lord your God in the place that the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all that you undertake. (5.Mos 12,5; 5.Mos 12,7)19Take care that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land. (5.Mos 14,27; 2.Krøn 31,4)20“When the Lord your God enlarges your territory, as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you crave meat, you may eat meat whenever you desire. (1.Mos 28,14; 2.Mos 34,24; 5.Mos 11,24; 5.Mos 19,8)21If the place that the Lord your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns whenever you desire. (5.Mos 12,5; 5.Mos 12,15)22Just as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. The unclean and the clean alike may eat of it. (5.Mos 14,5; 5.Mos 15,22)23Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. (1.Mos 9,4; 3.Mos 3,17)24You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth like water.25You shall not eat it, that all may go well with you and with your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord. (2.Mos 15,26; 5.Mos 4,40; 5.Mos 6,18; 5.Mos 13,18; 1.Kong 11,38; Præd 8,12; Es 3,10)26But the holy things that are due from you, and your vow offerings, you shall take, and you shall go to the place that the Lord will choose, (4.Mos 5,9; 4.Mos 18,19; 5.Mos 12,21; 1.Sam 1,21)27and offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, but the flesh you may eat. (3.Mos 1,5; 3.Mos 1,9; 3.Mos 1,13; 3.Mos 17,11)28Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God. (5.Mos 12,25)
Warning Against Idolatry
29“When the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, (5.Mos 19,1; Josva 23,4)30take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ (5.Mos 7,16)31You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. (3.Mos 18,3; 3.Mos 18,26; 3.Mos 18,30; 5.Mos 7,25; 5.Mos 12,4; 5.Mos 17,1; 5.Mos 18,12; 5.Mos 23,18; 5.Mos 25,16; 5.Mos 27,15; 2.Kong 17,15; 2.Kong 17,31; Jer 7,31; Jer 19,5)32[2] “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it. (5.Mos 4,2)