Deuteronomy:4

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* Now , O Israel , listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to do , that you may live , and go in and possess the land which Jehovah the God of your fathers is giving to you . * You shall not add to the Word which I am commanding you , nor take away from it , to keep the commandments of Jehovah your God which I am commanding you . * Your eyes have seen what Jehovah did at Baal-Peor ; for Jehovah your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal-peor . * But you who held fast to Jehovah your God are alive today , every one of you . * Behold , I have taught you statutes and judgments , just as Jehovah my God has commanded me , for you to do them in the midst of the land which you are going in to possess . * Keep and do them ; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the eyes 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 whose God is near to it , as Jehovah our God is to us , in all that we call upon Him ? * And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this Law which I am setting before you this day ? * Only take heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently , that you not forget the things your eyes have seen , and that they not depart from your heart all the days of your life ; and teach them to your children and your grandchildren . * The day you stood before Jehovah your God in Horeb , Jehovah said to me , Gather the people to Me , and I will make them hear My Words , that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they live on the earth , and that they may teach their children . * And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain , and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of the heavens , with darkness , cloud , and thick darkness . * And Jehovah 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 . * Thus He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to do , the Ten Commandments ; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone . * And Jehovah commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments , for you to do them in the land which you are crossing over to possess . * Take diligent heed to your souls , for you saw no form on the day Jehovah spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire , * that you not act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any statue : male or female figures , * the figure of any beast on the earth or the figure of any bird that flies in the heavens , * the figure of anything that creeps on the ground or the figure of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth . * And take heed , when you lift up your eyes to the heavens , and you see the sun , the moon , and the stars , all the host of the heavens , that you not be driven to bow down to them and serve them , which Jehovah your God has allotted to all the peoples under the heavens . * But Jehovah 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 Jehovah was angry with me on account of your words , and swore that I would not cross over the Jordan , and that I would not enter the good land which Jehovah your God is giving to you as an inheritance . * But I shall die in this land , I shall not cross over the Jordan ; but you shall cross over and possess that good land . * Take heed to yourselves , that you not forget the covenant of Jehovah your God which He has made with you , and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which Jehovah your God has forbidden you . * For Jehovah your God is a consuming fire , a jealous Mighty God . * When you beget children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time , and have acted corruptly and made a carved image in the form of anything , and have done evil in the eyes of Jehovah your God to provoke Him to anger , * I call the heavens and the earth to witness against you this day , that you shall quickly die and perish from off the land which you are crossing over the Jordan to possess ; you shall not prolong your days in it , but shall be destroyed to annihilation . * And Jehovah will scatter you among the peoples , and you shall be left few in number among the nations where Jehovah 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 Jehovah your God , and you shall find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul . * When you are in distress , and all these things have come upon you in the latter days ; then when you have returned unto Jehovah your God and have obeyed His voice * (for Jehovah your God is a merciful Mighty God ), He will not forsake you nor destroy you , nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He has sworn unto them . * For ask now concerning the former days , which were before you , since the day that God created man on the earth , and ask from one end of the heavens to the other , whether any great thing like this has happened , or anything like it has been heard . * Has any people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire , as you have heard , and lived ? * Or has God ever tried 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 Jehovah your God has done for you in Egypt before your eyes ? * To you it has been shown , that you might know that Jehovah Himself is God ; there is no one else besides Him . * Out of the heavens He has caused you to hear His voice , to instruct you ; on earth He has shown you His great fire , and you have heard His Words out of the midst of the fire . * And because He has loved your fathers , therefore He chose their seed after them and brought you out of Egypt before Him with His mighty power , * to drive out 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 Jehovah Himself is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath ; there is no other . * You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I am commanding you today , that it may be well with you and with your children after you , and that you may prolong your days in the land which Jehovah 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 , * across 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 struck when they came out of Egypt . * And they took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan , the two kings of the Amorites , who were across the Jordan , toward the rising of the sun , * from Aroer , which is next to the River Arnon , even to Mount Sion (that is , Hermon ), * and all the plain on the east side of the Jordan as far as the sea of the plain , below the slopes of Pisgah .

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