Deuteronomy 12:4
in Deuteronomy 12You shall not worship the LORD your God in this way.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Ye shall not do so unto Jehovah your God.
KJV
Ye shall not do so unto the Lord your God.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 12
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
i. e., “The idolaters set up their altars and images on any high hill, and under every green tree at their pleasure, but ye shall not do so; the Lord Himself shall determine the spot for your worship, and there only shall ye seek Him.” The religion of the Canaanites was human; its modes of worship were of man’s devising. It fixed its holy places on the hills in the vain thought of being nearer heaven, or in deep groves where the silence and gloom might overawe the worshipper. But such superstitious appliances were not worthy of the true religion.
This site's exposition
Ye shall not do so unto the Lord your God
on Deuteronomy 12:4-5
Verse 4 turns the demolition into a rule about method, since Israel's God is not to be served the way the nations served theirs. Verse 5 gives the alternative, and the phrase the place which the Lord your God shall choose falls fifteen times in chapters 12 to 26, five of them in this chapter, at verses 5, 11, 14, 18 and 26. It never names the place, and the naming happens later, at 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Kings 8:16. The Samaritan Pentateuch reads the phrase as a place already chosen and identifies it with Gerizim, which is the textual root behind the question the woman puts to Jesus at John 4:20.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
22 Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat them: the unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike. 23 Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
Ye shall not do so unto the Lord your God.
The former precept was intended to prevent all false worship, the latter to preserve the worship God had instituted. They are commanded to bring all their offerings to the altar of God, and all their holy things to the place which he should choose,
The words behind it
5 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תַעֲשׂ֣וּן | taasun | you will do ! | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| כֵּ֔ן | ken | thus | H3651 → | 771 times |
| לַיהוָ֖ה | layahweh | to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃ | ʾeloheikhem | God your | H430 → | 2601 times |
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
תַעֲשׂ֣וּןyou will do !
taasunH6213 →2628 times
כֵּ֔ןthus
kenH3651 →771 times
לַיהוָ֖הto Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם׃God your
ʾeloheikhemH430 →2601 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 20:18so that they cannot teach you to do all the detestable things they do for their gods, and so cause you to sin against the LORD your God.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 12:30–31
be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, “How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 23:33
They must not remain in your land, lest they cause you to sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”
- Ephesians 5:11
Have no fellowship with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
- Exodus 34:16
And when you take some of their daughters as brides for your sons, their daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods and cause your sons to do the same.
- Deuteronomy 12:30–31
Through
Leviticus 20:23You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 9:5
It is not because of your righteousness or uprightness of heart that you are going in to possess their land, but it is because of their wickedness that the LORD your God is driving…
- Leviticus 18:24
Do not defile yourselves by any of these practices, for by all these things the nations I am driving out before you have defiled themselves.
- Leviticus 18:30
You must keep My charge not to practice any of the abominable customs that were practiced before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the LORD your God.”
- Leviticus 18:3
You must not follow the practices of the land of Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not follow the practices of the land of Canaan, into which I am bringing you.…
- Deuteronomy 9:5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.