Deuteronomy:4:1-46

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* "Now , O Israel , listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe , that you may live , and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you . * You shall not add to the word which I command you , nor take from it , that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you . * Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal Peor ; for the LORD your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor . * But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive today , every one of you . * "Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments , just as the LORD my God commanded me , that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess . * Therefore be careful to observe them ; for this 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 .' * "For what great nation is there that has God so near to it , as the LORD our God is to us , for whatever reason we may call upon Him ? * And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day ? * Only take heed to yourself , and diligently keep yourself , lest you forget the things your eyes have seen , and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life . And teach them to your children and your grandchildren , * especially concerning the day you stood before the LORD your God in Horeb , when the LORD said to me , "Gather the people to Me , and I will let them hear My words , that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth , and that they may teach their children .' * "Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain , and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven , with darkness , cloud , and thick darkness . * And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire . You heard the sound of the words , but saw no form ; you only heard a voice . * So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform , the Ten Commandments ; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone . * And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments , that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess . * "Take careful heed to yourselves , for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire , * lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure : the likeness of male or female , * the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air , * the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth . * And take heed , lest you lift your eyes to heaven , and when you see the sun , the moon , and the stars , all the host of heaven , you feel driven to worship them and serve them , which the LORD your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage . * But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace , out of Egypt , to be His people , an inheritance , as you are this day . * Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes , and swore that I would not cross over the Jordan , and that I would not enter the good land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance . * But I must die in this land , I must not cross over the Jordan ; but you shall cross over and possess that good land . * Take heed to yourselves , lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you , and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you . * For the LORD your God is a consuming fire , a jealous God . * "When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land , and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything , and do evil in the sight of the LORD your God to provoke Him to anger , * I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day , that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess ; you will not prolong your days in it , but will be utterly destroyed . * And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples , and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you . * And there you will serve gods , the work of men 's hands , wood and stone , which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell . * But from there you will seek the LORD your God , and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul . * When you are in distress , and all these things come upon you in the latter days , when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice * (for the LORD your God is a merciful God ), He will not forsake you nor destroy you , nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them . * "For ask now concerning the days that are past , which were before you , since the day that God created man on the earth , and ask from one end of heaven to the other , whether any great thing like this has happened , or anything like it has been heard . * Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire , as you have heard , and live ? * Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation , by trials , by signs , by wonders , by war , by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm , and by great terrors , according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes ? * To you it was shown , that you might know that the LORD Himself is God ; there is none other besides Him . * Out of heaven He let you hear His voice , that He might instruct you ; on earth He showed you His great fire , and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire . * And because He loved your fathers , therefore He chose their descendants after them ; and He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence , with His mighty power , * driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you , to bring you in , to give you their land as an inheritance , as it is this day . * Therefore know this day , and consider it in your heart , that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath ; there is no other . * You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today , that it may go well with you and with your children after you , and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD your God is giving you for all time ." * Then Moses set apart three cities on this side of the Jordan , toward the rising of the sun , * that the manslayer might flee there , who kills his neighbor unintentionally , without having hated him in time past , and that by fleeing to one of these cities he might live : * Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites , Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites , and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites . * Now this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel . * These are the testimonies , the statutes , and the judgments which Moses spoke to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt , * on this side of the Jordan , in the valley opposite Beth Peor , in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites , who dwelt at Heshbon , whom Moses and the children of Israel defeated after they came out of Egypt .

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