Deuteronomy 12:2

2 Se that ye destroye all places where the nacyons which ye conquere serue their goddes, vppon hye mountaynes and on hye hilles and vnder euery grene tree.

Deuteronomy 12:2 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 12:2

Ye shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations
which ye shall possess served their gods
The temples erected for the worship of them by the Canaanites, of which there were many, as appears by the various names of places given them from the temples in them, as Bethshemesh, Bethbaalmeon, Bethpeor, and others:

upon the high mountains and upon the hills:
which they chose to worship on, being nearer the heavens, and which they thought most acceptable to their gods; and some of them had their names from hence, as Baalpeor, in like manner as Jupiter Olympius was called by the Greeks; see ( Jeremiah 2:20 ) ( 3:6 ) ,

and under every green tree;
which being shady and solitary, and pleasant to the sight, they fancied their gods delighted in, and this notion prevailed among other nations; and there is scarcely any deity but what had some tree or another devoted to it; as the oak to Jupiter, the laurel to Apollo, the ivy to Bacchus, the olive to Minerva, the myrtle to Venus see ( Jeremiah 2:20 ) ( 3:6 ) .

Deuteronomy 12:2 In-Context

1 These are the ordinaunces and lawes which ye shall obserue to doo in the londe which the Lorde God of thy fathers geueth the to possesse it, as longe as ye lyue vppon the erth.

2 Se that ye destroye all places where the nacyons which ye conquere serue their goddes, vppon hye mountaynes and on hye hilles and vnder euery grene tree.

3 Ouerthrowe their alters and breake their pylers and burne their groues with fyre and hewdowne the ymages off theyr goddes, and brynge the names of them to noughte out of that place.

4 Se ye doo not so vnto the Lorde youre God

5 but ye shall enquere the place which the Lorde youre God shall haue chosen out of all youre trybes to put his name there and there to dwell.