Deuteronomy 4:1-16 ▼

1 “So now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to do, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

2 You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I am commanding you.

3 Your eyes have seen what Yahweh has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who walked after Baal-peor, Yahweh your God has destroyed them from among you.

4 But you who clung to Yahweh your God are alive today, every one of you.

5 “See, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it.

6 You shall keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’

7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is Yahweh our God whenever we call on Him?

8 Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?

9 “Only keep yourself and keep your soul very carefully, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. But make them known to your sons and to your grandsons.

10 Remember the day you stood before Yahweh your God at Horeb, when Yahweh said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may cause them to hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’

11 And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud, and dense gloom.

12 Then Yahweh spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—only a voice.

13 So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to do, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.

14 And Yahweh commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it.

15 “So keep your souls very carefully, since you did not see any form on the day Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire,

16 lest you act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,