Deuteronomy:4:1-46

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* 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God , are alive , every one of you , this day . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 ? * 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 ; * 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 . * 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 , darkness , clouds , and thick darkness . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 : * 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 , * The likeness of any beast that is on the earth , the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air of heaven , * The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground , the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth ; * 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 . * 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 . * 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 ; * 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 . * 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 . * For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire ; yea , a watchful God . * 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 : * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * 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 ? * 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 . * Unto thee it was shown , that thou mightest know , that the Eternal is the God : there is none else besides him . * 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 . * 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 ; * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * Then Moses set aside three cities on this side of the Jordan , toward the rising of the sun ; * 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 . * 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 . * And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel : * 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 , * 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 ;

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