Deuteronomy 4:1–40

Now therefore hearken, O Israel, ↦unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, ↦that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.⇇

Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.⇉⇇

Your eyes have seen ↦what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: ↦for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.⇇

But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.⇉⇇

Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.⇉⇇

Keep therefore and do them; for ↦this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, ↦Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.⇇

For ↦what nation is there so great, ↦who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?⇇

And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?⇉⇇

Only take heed to thyself, and ↦keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and ↦lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but ↦teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;⇇

Specially ↦the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to ↦fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.⇇

And ye came near and ↦stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.⇇

And ↦the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw ↦no similitude; ↦only ye heard a voice.⇇

↦And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ↦ten commandments; and ↦he wrote them upon two tables of stone.⇇

And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.⇉⇇

↦Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner ↦of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:⇇

Lest ye ↦corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, ↦the likeness of male or female,⇇

The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,⇉⇇

The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:⇇

And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and ↦when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all ↦the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, ↦which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.⇇

But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of ↦the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him ↦a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.⇇

Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance:⇉⇇

But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.⇉⇇

Take ↦heed unto yourselves, ↦lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and ↦make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.⇇

For the LORD ↦thy God is a consuming fire, even ↦a jealous God.⇇

When thou shalt ↦beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall ↦corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall ↦do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:⇇

↦I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ↦ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.⇇

And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.⇉⇇

And there ↦ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which ↦neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.⇇

↦But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him ↦with all thy heart and with all thy soul.⇇

When thou art in tribulation, and ↦all these things ↦are come upon thee, even ↦in the latter days, ↦if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be ↦obedient unto his voice;⇇

(For ↦the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor ↦forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.⇇

For ↦ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask ↦from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?⇇

Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?⇉⇇

Or hath God assayed to go and ↦take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by ↦temptations, ↦by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and ↦by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, ↦and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?⇇

Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest ↦know that the LORD he is God; there is ↦none else beside him.⇇

Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.⇉⇇

And ↦because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, ↦and brought thee out ↦in his sight ↦with his mighty power out of Egypt;⇇

To ↦drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, ↦as it is this day.⇇

Know therefore this day, ↦and consider it in thine heart, that ↦the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.⇇

Thou shalt ↦keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that ↦it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.⇇