Deuteronomy:4

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* And now , O Israel , hearken unto the statutes and unto the ordinances , which I teach you , to do them ; that ye may live , and go in and possess the land which the LORD , the God of your fathers , giveth you . * Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you , neither shall ye diminish from it , that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you . * Your eyes have seen what the LORD did in Baal-peor ; for all the men that followed the Baal of Peor , the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from the midst of thee . * But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day . * Behold , I have taught you statutes and ordinances , even as the LORD my God commanded me , that ye should do so in the midst of the land whither ye go in to possess it . * Observe therefore and do them ; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples , that , when they hear all these statutes , shall say : 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people .' * For what great nation is there , that hath God so nigh unto them , as the LORD our God is whensoever we call upon Him ? * And what great nation is there , that hath statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law , which I set before you this day ? * Only take heed to thyself , and keep thy soul diligently , lest thou forget the things which thine eyes saw , and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life ; but make them known unto thy children and thy children 's children ; * the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb , when the LORD said unto me : 'Assemble Me the people , and I will make them hear My words that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they live upon the earth , and that they may teach their children .' * And ye came near and stood under the mountain ; and the mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven , with darkness , cloud , and thick darkness . * And the LORD spoke unto you out of the midst of the fire ; ye heard the voice of words , but ye saw no form ; only a voice . * And He declared unto you His covenant , which He commanded you to perform , even the ten words ; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone . * And the LORD commanded me 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 unto yourselves--for ye saw no manner of form on the day that the LORD spoke unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire -- * lest ye deal corruptly , and make you a graven image , even the form of any figure , the likeness of male or female , * the likeness of any beast that is on the earth , the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the heaven , * the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground , the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth ; * and lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven , and when thou seest the sun and the moon and the stars , even all the host of heaven , thou be drawn away and worship them , and serve them , which the LORD thy God hath allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven . * But you hath the LORD taken and brought forth out of the iron furnace , out of Egypt , to be unto Him a people of inheritance , as ye are this day . * Now the LORD was angered with me for your sakes , and 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 thee for an inheritance ; * but I must die in this land , I must not go over the Jordan ; but ye are to go over , and possess that good land . * Take heed unto yourselves , lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God , which He made with you , and make you a graven image , even the likeness of any thing which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee . * For the LORD thy God is a devouring fire , a jealous God . * When thou shalt beget children , and children 's children , and ye shall have been long in the land , and shall deal corruptly , and make a graven image , even the form of any thing , and shall do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD thy God , to provoke Him ; * I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day , that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over the Jordan to possess it ; ye shall not prolong your days upon it , but shall utterly be destroyed . * And the LORD shall scatter you among the peoples , and ye shall be left few in number among the nations , whither the LORD shall lead you away . * And there ye shall serve gods , the work of men 's hands , wood and stone , which neither see , nor hear , nor eat , nor smell . * But from thence ye will seek the LORD thy God ; and thou shalt find Him , if thou search after Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul . * In thy distress , when all these things are come upon thee , in the end of days , thou wilt return to the LORD thy God , and hearken unto His voice ; * for the LORD thy God is a merciful God ; He will not fail thee , neither destroy thee , nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He swore unto them . * For ask now of the days past , which were before thee , since the day that God created man upon the earth , and from the one end of heaven unto the other , whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is , or hath been heard like it ? * Did ever a people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire , as thou hast heard , and live ? * Or hath God assayed to go and take Him a nation from the midst of another nation , by trials , by signs , and by wonders , and by war , and by a mighty hand , and by an outstretched arm , and by great terrors , according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before thine eyes ? * Unto thee it was shown , that thou mightiest know that the LORD , He is God ; there is none else beside Him . * Out of heaven He made thee to hear His voice , that He might instruct thee ; and upon earth He made thee to see His great fire ; and thou didst hear His words out of the midst of the fire . * And because He loved thy fathers , and chose their seed after them , and brought thee out with His presence , with His great power , out of Egypt , * to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou , to bring thee in , to give thee their land for an inheritance , as it is this day ; * know this day , and lay it to thy heart , that the LORD , He is God in heaven 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 prolong thy days upon the land , which the LORD thy God giveth thee , for ever . * Then Moses separated three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising ; * that the manslayer might flee thither , that slayeth his neighbour unawares , and hated him not in time past ; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live : * Bezer in the wilderness , in the table-land , for the Reubenites ; and Ramoth in Gilead , for the Gadites ; and Golan in Bashan , for the Manassites . * 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 ; * beyond the Jordan , in the valley over against Beth-peor , in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites , who dwelt at Heshbon , whom Moses and the children of Israel smote , when they came forth out of Egypt ; * and they took his land in possession , and the land of Og king of Bashan , the two kings of the Amorites , who were beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising ; * from Aroer , which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon , even unto mount Sion--the same is Hermon -- * and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward , even unto the sea of the Arabah , under the slopes of Pisgah .

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