Deuteronomy Chapter 12 verse 4 Holy Bible
Ye shall not do so unto Jehovah your God.
read chapter 12 in ASV
Do not so to the Lord your God.
read chapter 12 in BBE
Ye shall not do so unto Jehovah your God;
read chapter 12 in DARBY
Ye shall not do so unto the LORD your God.
read chapter 12 in KJV
Ye shall not do so to the LORD your God.
read chapter 12 in WBT
You shall not do so to Yahweh your God.
read chapter 12 in WEB
`Ye do not do so to Jehovah your God;
read chapter 12 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerses 4-6. - The heathen placed their altars and offered their worship wherever they thought fit, according to their notions of the deity and his service; but Israel was not to do so unto Jehovah their God: he himself would choose the places where he was to be worshipped, and there alone might they come with offering and service. As the revealed God - the God whose being and perfections had been made known, not by a vague revelation of him in nature merely, but expressly by his putting or recording his Name historically and locally among men (cf. Exodus 20:24) - so should there be a definite place chosen and appointed by him where he would come to receive the worship of his people, where he would record his Name, and where he would be known for a Refuge and a Helper to all who put their trust in him (Psalm 48:3; Psalm 76:1, etc.; Daniel 9:18). The Name of God is God himself as revealed; and he puts his Name on any place where he specially manifests himself as present (cf. 1 Kings 8:29), and which is consequently to be regarded as his habitation or dwelling-place. Hence the temple at Jerusalem was in later times known as the place of the Name of Jehovah (Isaiah 18:7), the dwelling-place of his glory (Psalm 26:8). But he is the God of the whole earth, and therefore, wherever he is pleased to reveal himself, in whatever place he makes his Name to be known, there he is to be worshipped. There is no reference in this passage to the temple at Jerusalem specially, as some have supposed; what is here enjoined is only a practical application of the Divine promise, that in all places where God would record his Name, there he would come to bless his people (Exodus 20:24). The reference here, therefore, is quite general, and applies to any place where, by the Divine appointment, the tabernacle might be set up and the worship of Jehovah instituted. Unto his habitation shall ye seek. To seek to any place means, primarily, to resort to it, to frequent it (cf. 2 Chronicles 1:5), but with the implied purpose of inquiring there for something, as for responses or oracles, when the place resorted to was that in which God had put his Name.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) Ye shall not do so--i.e. shall not serve Him upon the high mountains, and hills, and under every green tree, after the manner of the nations.
