Deuteronomy 12:1

Detailed Stipulations: Purity and Unity

1 "These [are] the rules and the regulations {that you must diligently observe} in the land that Yahweh, [the] God of your ancestors, has given to you to take possession of it, [during] all the days that you [are] living on the land.

Deuteronomy 12:1 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 12:1

These are the statutes and judgments which ye shall observe to
do
Which are recorded in this and the following chapters; here a new discourse begins, and which perhaps was delivered at another time, and respects things that were to be observed:

in the land which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess
it;
the land of Canaan, often described by this circumlocution, to put them in mind that it was promised to their fathers by their covenant God, was his gift to them, and which they would quickly be in the possession of; and therefore when in it should be careful to observe the statutes and judgments of God constantly:

[even] all the days that ye live upon the earth;
or land, the land of Canaan; for though there were some laws binding upon them, live where they would, there were others peculiar to the land of Canaan, which they were to observe as long as they and their posterity lived there; see ( 1 Kings 8:40 ) .

Deuteronomy 12:1 In-Context

1 "These [are] the rules and the regulations {that you must diligently observe} in the land that Yahweh, [the] God of your ancestors, has given to you to take possession of it, [during] all the days that you [are] living on the land.

2 You must completely demolish all [of] the places there where [they] served their gods, [that is], the nations whom you [are] about to dispossess, on the high mountains, and on the hills and under each leafy green tree.

3 And you shall break down their altars, and you shall smash their stone pillars, and their Asherah poles you must burn with fire, and the images of their gods you shall hew down, and you shall blot out their names from that place.

4 You shall not worship Yahweh your God like this.

5 {But only} to the place that Yahweh your God will choose from all [of] your tribes to place his name there as his dwelling shall you seek, and there you shall go.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "that you must observe to do"
• [b]. Or "fathers"