Deuteronomy 4:1-40
Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to
teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may
go in and take possession of the land that the LORD, the
God of your fathers, is giving you. 2Do not add to what I
command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the
commands of the LORD your God that I give you.
3You saw with your own eyes what the LORD did at
Baal Peor. The LORD your God destroyed from among you
everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, 4but all of you
who held fast to the LORD your God are still alive today. 5See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD
my God commanded me, so that you may follow them
in the land you are entering to take possession of it.
6Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom
and understanding to the nations, who will hear about
all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a
wise and understanding people.” 7What other nation is
so great as to have their gods near them the way the
LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8And
what other nation is so great as to have such righteous
decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before
you today?
9Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so
that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or
let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach
them to your children and to their children after them.
10Remember the day you stood before the LORD your
God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people
before me to hear my words so that they may learn
to revere me as long as they live in the land and may
teach them to their children.” 11You came near and
stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with
fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep
darkness. 12Then the LORD spoke to you out of the fire.
You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there
was only a voice. 13He declared to you his covenant, the
Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow
and then wrote them on two stone tablets. 14And
the LORD directed me at that time to teach you the decrees
and laws you are to follow in the land that you are
crossing the Jordan to possess.
Idolatry Forbidden
15You saw no form of any kind the day the LORD
spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch
yourselves very carefully, 16so that you do not become
corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of
any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, 17or
like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air,
18or like any creature that moves along the ground or
any fish in the waters below. 19And when you look up to
the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the
heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down
to them and worshiping things the LORD your God has
apportioned to all the nations under heaven. 20But as
for you, the LORD took you and brought you out of the
iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of
his inheritance, as you now are.
21The LORD was angry with me because of you, and
he solemnly swore that I would not cross the Jordan
and enter the good land the LORD your God is giving
you as your inheritance. 22I will die in this land; I will not
cross the Jordan; but you are about to cross over and
take possession of that good land. 23Be careful not to
forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he made
with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form
of anything the LORD your God has forbidden. 24For the
LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
25After you have had children and grandchildren
and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become
corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in
the eyes of the LORD your God and provoking him to anger,
26I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you
this day that you will quickly perish from the land that
you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live
there long but will certainly be destroyed. 27The LORD
will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of
you will survive among the nations to which the LORD
will drive you. 28There you will worship man-made
gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat
or smell. 29But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your
heart and with all your soul. 30When you are in distress
and all these things have happened to you, then in later
days you will return to the LORD your God and obey
him. 31For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will
not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with
your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.
The LORD Is God
32Ask now about the former days, long before your
time, from the day God created man on the earth; ask
from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything
so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it
ever been heard of? 33Has any other people heard the
voice of God a speaking out of fire, as you have, and
lived? 34Has any god ever tried to take for himself one
nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous
signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an
outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like
all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before
your very eyes?
35You were shown these things so that you might
know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other.
36From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline
you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and
you heard his words from out of the fire. 37Because he
loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after
them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and
his great strength, 38to drive out before you nations
greater and stronger than you and to bring you into
their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is
today.
39Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the
LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below.
There is no other. 40Keep his decrees and commands,
which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with
you and your children after you and that you may live
long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all
time.