Beware of Idolatry

15 q“Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no rform when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 lest you sact corruptly and tmake for yourselves a carved image in the 5form of any figure: uthe likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. 19 And take heed, lest you vlift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, wall the host of heaven, you feel driven to xworship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has 6given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage. 20 But the Lord has taken you and ybrought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be zHis people, an inheritance, as you are this day. 21 Furthermore athe Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that bI 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. 22 But cI must die in this land, dI must not cross over the Jordan; but you shall cross over and 7possess ethat good land. 23 Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, fand make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. 24 For gthe Lord your God is a consuming fire, ha jealous God.

25 “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 ido evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, 26 jI 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 8prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 And the Lord kwill scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. 28 And lthere you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, mwhich neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29 nBut 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. 30 When you are in 9distress, and all these things come upon you in the olatter days, when you pturn to the Lord your God and obey His voice 31 (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor qdestroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.

32 “For rask now concerning the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask sfrom one end of heaven to the other, whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard. 33 tDid any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live? 34 Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, uby trials, vby signs, by wonders, by war, wby a mighty hand and xan outstretched arm, yand by great 1terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord Himself is God; zthere is none other besides Him. 36 aOut 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. 37 And because bHe loved your fathers, therefore He chose their 2descendants after them; and cHe brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power, 38 ddriving 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. 39 Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that ethe Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. 40 fYou shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that 3it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may 4prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”