Deuteronomy 4

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  1. 1"Now listen, Israel, to the laws and rules I'm teaching you. Follow them so that you may live and enter and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.
  2. 2Don't add anything to what I command you, and don't take anything away from it. Simply obey the commands of the LORD your God that I'm giving you.
  3. 3You saw with your own eyes what the LORD did at Baal Peor — the LORD your God destroyed every person among you who followed Baal Peor.
  4. 4But all of you who held on to the LORD your God are still alive today.
  5. 5Look, I've taught you laws and rules exactly as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you can follow them in the land you're about to enter and possess.
  6. 6Obey them carefully, because this will show your wisdom and understanding to the other nations. When they hear about all these laws, they'll say, 'This great nation truly is a wise and understanding people.'
  7. 7What other great nation has a god as close to them as the LORD our God is whenever we call on him?
  8. 8And what other great nation has laws and rules as fair and righteous as this entire set of instructions I'm placing before you today?
  9. 9Just be careful and guard your soul diligently, so you never forget the things you've seen with your own eyes. Don't let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren —
  10. 10especially about the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD told me, 'Gather the people before me so I can let them hear my words. Then they'll learn to fear me for as long as they live on the earth, and they'll teach their children to do the same.'
  11. 11You came forward and stood at the base of the mountain while it blazed with fire reaching up into the heavens, wrapped in darkness, clouds, and deep blackness.
  12. 12The LORD spoke to you from the middle of the fire. You heard the sound of his words, but you saw no form — there was only a voice.
  13. 13He declared his covenant to you and commanded you to follow it — the 10 commandments. Then he wrote them on 2 stone tablets.
  14. 14At that time, the LORD commanded me to teach you laws and rules so you could follow them in the land you're crossing over to possess.
  15. 15Be extremely careful — remember that you saw no form of any kind on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the middle of the fire.
  16. 16Don't corrupt yourselves by making a carved image in any shape — whether in the form of a man or a woman,
  17. 17or any animal on the earth, or any bird that flies through the sky,
  18. 18or anything that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the waters below.
  19. 19And when you look up at the sky and see the sun, the moon, and the stars — the entire heavenly host — don't be tempted to bow down and worship them. The LORD your God has given those to all the other nations under heaven.
  20. 20But the LORD took you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of inheritance for Him, as you are today.
  21. 21The LORD was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I would never cross the Jordan or enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
  22. 22I'm going to die in this land. I won't be crossing the Jordan. But you will cross over and take possession of that good land.
  23. 23Be careful not to forget the covenant the LORD your God made with you. Don't make a carved image in the shape of anything the LORD your God has forbidden.
  24. 24For the LORD your God is a consuming fire — a jealous God.
  25. 25After you've had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time, if you corrupt yourselves by making a carved image of any kind and the LORD your God sees that you have done evil, provoking him to anger —
  26. 26then I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today: you will quickly be wiped out from the land you're crossing the Jordan to possess. You won't last long there — you will be completely destroyed.
  27. 27The LORD will scatter you among the nations, and only a few of you will survive among the foreign peoples where the LORD drives you.
  28. 28There you'll serve gods made by human hands — things of wood and stone that can't see, hear, eat, or smell.
  29. 29But even from there, if you search for the LORD your God, you will find him — as long as you seek him with all your heart and all your soul.
  30. 30When you're in deep distress and all these things have happened to you, then in those later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him.
  31. 31The LORD your God is a merciful God. He won't abandon you or destroy you, and he won't forget the covenant he swore to your ancestors.
  32. 32Search all of history, from the day God created people on the earth. Look from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything this incredible ever happened? Has anyone ever heard of anything like it?
  33. 33Has any nation ever heard the voice of God speaking from the middle of a fire — the way you did — and survived?
  34. 34Has any god ever tried to reach into one nation and pull out another nation for himself — using trials, signs, wonders, war, a mighty hand, an outstretched arm, and terrifying displays of power — the way the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, right before your eyes?
  35. 35You were shown all of this so you would know that the LORD is God. There is no other besides him.
  36. 36From heaven he let you hear his voice to teach you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from the middle of the flames.
  37. 37Because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt in his sight with his mighty power.
  38. 38He drove out nations greater and stronger than you to make room for you, bringing you into their land and giving it to you as an inheritance — as it remains today.
  39. 39So understand today and take it to heart: the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.
  40. 40Obey his laws and commands that I'm giving you today, so that things will go well for you and your children after you, and so you'll live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you forever."
  41. 41Then Moses set apart 3 cities east of the Jordan, toward the sunrise.
  42. 42These were places where someone who accidentally killed a neighbor — without any prior hatred toward them — could flee and find safety by reaching one of these cities.
  43. 43These were: Bezer in the wilderness, in the plateau region, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
  44. 44This is the law that Moses placed before the people of Israel.
  45. 45These are the instructions, laws, and rules that Moses gave to the people of Israel after they came out of Egypt.
  46. 46This took place east of the Jordan, in the valley across from Beth Peor, in the territory of Sihon king of the Amorites, who ruled from Heshbon. Moses and the Israelites had defeated him after leaving Egypt.
  47. 47They had taken possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan — the 2 Amorite kings who ruled east of the Jordan toward the sunrise.
  48. 48Their territory stretched from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon valley all the way to Mount Sion, which is also called Hermon.
  49. 49It included the entire plain east of the Jordan, extending to the Sea of the Arabah below the slopes of Pisgah.
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