4. Don’t worship the Lord your God that way,
5. but look for the place the Lord your God will choose—a place among your tribes where he is to be worshiped. Go there,
6. and bring to that place your burnt offerings and sacrifices; bring a tenth of what you gain and your special gifts; bring what you have promised and the special gifts you want to give the Lord, and bring the first animals born to your herds and flocks.
7. There you will be together with the Lord your God. There you and your families will eat, and you will enjoy all the good things for which you have worked, because the Lord your God has blessed you.
8. Do not worship the way we have been doing today, each person doing what he thinks is right.
9. You have not yet come to a resting place, to the land the Lord your God will give you as your own.
10. But soon you will cross the Jordan River to live in the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own, where he will give you rest from all your enemies and you will live in safety.
11. Then the Lord your God will choose a place where he is to be worshiped. To that place you must bring everything I tell you: your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your offerings of a tenth of what you gain, your special gifts, and all your best things you promised to the Lord.
12. There rejoice before the Lord your God. Everyone should rejoice: you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns who have no land of their own.
13. Be careful that you don’t sacrifice your burnt offerings just anywhere you please.
14. Offer them only in the place the Lord will choose. He will choose a place in one of your tribes, and there you must do everything I am commanding you.
15. But you may kill your animals in any of your towns and eat as much of the meat as you want, as if it were a deer or a gazelle; this is the blessing the Lord your God is giving you. Anyone, clean or unclean, may eat this meat,
16. but do not eat the blood. Pour it out on the ground like water.
17. Do not eat in your own towns what belongs to the Lord: one-tenth of your grain, new wine, or oil; the first animals born to your herds or flocks; whatever you have promised to give; the special gifts you want to give to the Lord, or any other gifts.
18. Eat these things when you are together with the Lord your God, in the place the Lord your God chooses to be worshiped. Everyone must do this: you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites from your towns. Rejoice in the Lord your God’s presence about the things you have worked for.
19. Be careful not to forget the Levites as long as you live in the land.
20. When the Lord your God enlarges your country as he has promised, and you want some meat so you say, “I want some meat,” you may eat as much meat as you want.