Deuteronomy 4:1-22 ▼

1 And now, Israel, hear the ordinances and judgments, all that I teach you this day to do: that ye may live, and be multiplied, and that ye may go in and inherit the land, which the Lord God of your fathers gives you.

2 Ye shall not add to the word which I command you, and ye shall not take from it: keep the commandments of the Lord our God, all that I command you this day.

3 Your eyes have seen all that the Lord our God did in the case of Beel-phegor; for every man that went after Beel-phegor, the Lord your God has utterly destroyed him from among you.

4 But ye that kept close to the Lord your God are all alive to-day.

5 Behold, I have shewn you ordinances and judgments as the Lord commanded me, that ye should do so in the land into which ye go to inherit it.

6 And ye shall keep and do them: for this is your wisdom and understanding before all nations, as many as shall hear all these ordinances; and they shall say, Behold, this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

7 For what manner of nation is so great, which has God so near to them as the Lord our God is in all things in whatsoever we may call upon him?

8 And what manner of nation is so great, which has righteous ordinances and judgments according to all this law, which I set before you this day?

9 Take heed to thyself, and keep thy heart diligently: forget not any of the things, which thine eyes have seen, and let them not depart from thine heart all the days of thy life; and thou shalt teach thy sons and thy sons' sons,

10 even the things that happened in the day in which ye stood before the Lord our God in Choreb in the day of the assembly; for the Lord said to me, Gather the people to me, and let them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days which they live upon the earth, and they shall teach their sons.

11 And ye drew nigh and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire up to heaven: there was darkness, blackness, and tempest.

12 And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire a voice of words, which ye heard: and ye saw no likeness, only ye heard a voice.

13 And he announced to you his covenant, which he commanded you to keep, even the ten commandments; and he wrote them on two tables of stone.

14 And the Lord commanded me at that time, to teach you ordinances and judgments, that ye should do them on the land, into which ye go to inherit it.

15 And take good heed to your hearts, for ye saw no similitude in the day in which the Lord spoke to you in Choreb in the mountain out of the midst of the fire:

16 lest ye transgress, and make to yourselves a carved image, any kind of figure, the likeness of male or female,

17 the likeness of any beast of those that are on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird which flies under heaven,

18 the likeness of any reptile which creeps on the earth, the likeness of any fish of those which are in the waters under the earth;

19 and lest having looked up to the sky, and having seen the sun and the moon and the stars, and all the heavenly bodies, thou shouldest go astray and worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God has distributed to all the nations under heaven.

20 But God took you, and led you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as at this day.

21 And the Lord God was angry with me for the things said by you, and sware that I should not go over this Jordan, and that I should not enter into the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

22 For I am to die in this land, and shall not pass over this Jordan; but ye are to pass over, and shall inherit this good land.