Deuteronomy 4:1-19 ▼

1 Nowe therfore harken O Israel, vnto the ordinaunces and lawes which I teache you, for to do them, that so ye may lyue, and go in, & possesse the lande which the Lorde God of your fathers geueth you.

2 Ye shall put nothyng vnto the word which I commaunde you, neither shall you take ought from it, that ye may kepe the comaundementes of the Lord your God which I commaunde you.

3 Your eyes haue seene what ye Lorde dyd agaynst Baal Peor: for all the men that folowed Baall Peor, the Lorde thy God hath destroyed from among you.

4 But ye that cleaue vnto the Lord your god, are aliue euery one of you this day.

5 Beholde I haue taught you ordinaunces and lawes, such as the Lorde my God comaunded me, that ye should do euen so in the lande whither ye go to possesse it.

6 Kepe them therfore and do them, for that is your wisdome and vnderstandyng in the syght of the people, that they may heare all these ordinaunces, and say: Surely it is a wise and vnderstandyng people, it is a great nation.

7 For what other nation is so great that gods come so nye vnto, as the Lorde our God is nye vnto vs in all thinges as oft as we call vnto hym?

8 Yea, and what nation is so great, that hath ordinaunces & lawes so righteous, as all this lawe which I set before you this day?

9 Take heede to thy selfe therefore, and kepe thy soule diligently, that thou forget not the thynges which thyne eyes haue seene, and that they depart not out of thy heart all the dayes of thy life: but teache them thy sonnes, & thy sonnes sonnes.

10 Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lorde thy God in Horeb, when the Lorde sayd vnto me: Gather me the people together, & I wyll make them heare my wordes, that they may learne to feare me all the dayes that they shall lyue vpon the earth, and that they may teache their children.

11 Ye came and stoode also vnder the mountayne, and the mountayne burnt with fire euen vnto the middes of heauen, and there was darknesse, cloudes, and mist.

12 And the Lorde spake vnto you out of the middes of the fire, and ye hearde the voyce of the wordes: but sawe no similitude, saue hearde a voyce only.

13 And he declared vnto you his couenaunt which he commaunded you to do euen ten commaundementes, which he wrote vpon two tables of stone.

14 And the Lorde commaunded me that same season that I shoulde teache you ordinaunces & lawes, which ye ought to do in the lande whyther ye go to possesse it.

15 Take therfore good heede vnto your selues as pertaynyng vnto your soules, (for ye sawe no maner of image in the day that the Lorde spake vnto you in Horeb, out of the middes of fire)

16 Lest ye marre your selues, & make you a grauen image, & picture of any maner of figure, whether it be the likenesse of man or woman.

17 The likenesse of any maner of beast that is on the earth, or the likenesse of any maner fethered foule that fleeth in the ayre,

18 Or the likenesse of any maner worme that creepeth on the earth, or the likenesse of any maner fishe that is in the waters beneath the earth:

19 Yea, and lest thou lift vp thyne eyes vnto heauen, and when thou seest the sunne, the moone, and the starres, with all the hoast of heauen, shouldest be driuen to worship them, & serue them, and shouldest worship and serue the thynges, which the Lorde thy God hath made to serue all nations vnder the whole heauen.