Deuteronomy 4

1 And now, O Israel, hearken unto the statutes and unto the ordinances which I teach you to do; in order that ye may live, and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, giveth unto you.

2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, nor shall ye diminish aught from it; that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

3 Your own eyes have seen that which the Lord hath done because of Baal-peor; for every man that followed Baal-peor, him the Lord thy God hath destroyed from the midst of thee.

4 But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God, are alive, every one of you, this day.

5 See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, just as the Lord my God commanded me; that ye may do so in the midst of the land whither ye go to take possession of it.

6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding before the eyes of the nations, that shall hear all these statutes, and they will say, Nothing but a wise and understanding people is this great nation.

7 For what great nation is there that hath gods so nigh unto it, as is the Lord our God at all times that we call upon him.

8 And what great nation is there that hath statutes and ordinances so righteous as is all this law, which I lay before you this day?

9 Only take heed to thyself, and guard thy soul diligently, that thou do not forget the things which thy eyes have seen, and that they depart not from thy heart all the days of thy life; but thou shalt make them known unto thy sons, and unto thy sons' sons;

10 The day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God at Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Assemble for me the people, and I will cause them to hear my words, which they shall learn, to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and which they shall teach their children.

11 And ye came near and stood at the foot of the mount; and the mount was burning with fire unto the midst of the heaven, [from amidst] darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.

12 And the Lord spoke unto you out of the midst of the fire; the sound of words ye heard, but any similitude ye saw not: there was nothing but a sound.

13 And he told unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, the ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

14 And me the Lord commanded at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

15 Take ye therefore good heed of your souls; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spoke unto you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire:

16 That ye become not corrupt, and make yourselves a graven image, the similitude of any idol-figure, the likeness of a male or of a female,

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

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

19 And that thou lift not up thy eyes unto the heavens, and thou see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be misled to bow down to them, and to serve them, those which the Lord thy God hath assigned unto all nations under the whole heaven.

20 But you did the Lord take, and he brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be unto you a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

21 Farthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and he swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the Lord thy God giveth unto thee for an inheritance;

22 For I must die in this land; I shall not go over the Jordan; but ye will go over and take possession of this good land.

23 Take heed unto yourselves, that ye do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he hath made with you, and make yourselves a graven image, the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee.

24 For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire; yea, a watchful God.

25 When thou begettest children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and ye become corrupt, and make a graven image, the likeness of any thing, and do the evil in the eyes of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger:

26 I call this day the heavens and the earth to witness against you, that ye shall soon perish from off the land whereunto ye go over the Jordan to possess it; ye shall not remain many days upon it, but ye shall surely be destroyed.

27 And the Lord will scatter you among the nations, and ye will be left few in number among the nations, whither the Lord will lead you.

28 And ye will serve there gods, the work of man's hands, wood and stone, which neither can see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

29 But thou wilt seek from there the Lord thy God, and wilt find him, if thou apply to him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things have overtaken thee, in the latter end of days: then wilt thou return to the Lord thy God, and be obedient unto his voice.

31 For a merciful God is the Lord thy God; he will not forsake thee, nor destroy thee; and he will not forget the covenant of thy fathers which he hath sworn unto them.

32 For do but ask of former days, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and from the one end of the heavens unto the other end of the heavens, whether there hath been the like of this great thing, or whether the like of it hath been heard.

33 Hath ever a people heard the voice of a god, speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and remained alive?

34 Or hath a god essayed to go to take himself a nation from the midst of a nation, by proofs, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, like all that which the Lord your God hath done for you in Egypt before thy eyes.

35 Unto thee it was shown, that thou mightest know, that the Eternal is the God: there is none else besides him.

36 Out of the heavens he caused thee to hear his voice, to correct thee: and upon the earth he caused thee to see his great fire; and his words didst thou hear out of the midst of the fire.

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

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

39 Know therefore this day, and reflect in thy heart, that the Eternal is the God in the heavens above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

40 And thou shalt keep 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 live many days upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for all times.

41 Then Moses set aside three cities on this side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun;

42 That thither might flee the manslayer, who should kill his neighbor unawares, when he had not been an enemy to him in times past; and that he should flee unto one of these cities and live.

43 Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gil'ad for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for the Menassites.

44 And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:

45 These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spoke unto the children of Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt,

46 On this side of the Jordan, in the valley opposite to Beth-peor, in the land of Sichon the king of the Emorites, who dwelt at Cheshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they were come forth out of Egypt;

47 And they took possession of his land, and of the land of 'Og the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Emorites, who were on this side of the Jordan toward the rising of the sun;

48 From 'Aro'er, which is on the bank of the river Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which is Chermon,

49 And all the plain on this side of the Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the declivities of Pisgah.