4. “You must not worship the Lord your God in the same way these people worship their gods.
5. The Lord your God will choose a special place among your tribes. That will be the home for his name. You must go to that place to worship him.
6. There you must bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, one-tenth of your crops and animals, your special gifts, any gifts you promised to him, any special gift you want to give, and the first animals born in your herds and flocks.
7. You and your families will eat together at that place, and the Lord your God will be there with you. You will enjoy sharing the things you worked for there. You will remember that the Lord your God blessed you and gave you these good things.
8. “You must not continue to worship the way we have been worshiping. Until now each of us has been worshiping God any way we wanted.
9. This is because we have not yet entered the peaceful land that the Lord your God is giving you.
10. But you will go across the Jordan River and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. There he will give you rest from all your enemies, and you will be safe.
11. Then the Lord your God will choose a place that will be the home for his name. You must bring everything I command you to that place. Bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, one-tenth of your crops and animals, your special gifts, and any gifts that you promised to give to the Lord.
12. Come to that place with all your people—your children, all your servants, and the Levites living in your towns. (These Levites will not have a share of the land for their own.) Enjoy yourselves together there with the Lord your God.
13. Be sure you don’t offer your burnt offerings in just any place you see.
14. The Lord will choose his special place among your tribes. Offer your burnt offerings and do everything else I told you only in that place.
15. “Whenever you want to eat meat, you can enjoy that blessing from the Lord your God wherever you live. You can butcher the animal just as you do gazelles and deer, and anyone, clean or unclean, can eat it.