Deuteronomy 4:1-18 ▼

1 NOW therefore hearken, O Israel, to the law and to the judgments which I teach you this day, to do them, that you may live and go in and possess the land which the LORD the God of your fathers gives you.

2 You shall not add to the commandment which I command you, neither shall you take from it, but you must keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal-peor; for every man who followed Baal-peor, the LORD your God has destroyed him from among you.

4 But you who did cleave to the LORD your God are all alive this day.

5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, as the LORD my God has commanded me, that you should do them in the land which you are entering, to possess it.

6 And you shall keep them, 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 will say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

7 For what nation is there so great, whose god is so near to it as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?

8 And what nation is there so great, that has laws and judgments so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?

9 Only take heed for yourselves, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but declare them to your children and your children's children.

10 The day that you stood before the LORD your God in Horeb, when the LORD said to me, Gather the people together before me, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to worship me all the days that they shall live upon 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 midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.

12 And the LORD spoke to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.

13 And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tablets of stone.

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

15 Take therefore good heed to yourselves; for you saw no manner of form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire;

16 Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make for yourselves images and the forms of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

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

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