Deuteronomy 4:15–40

WORSHIPING THE TRUE GOD

¹⁵“Diligently watch yourselves—because you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb—¹⁶so you don’t act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of any figure: a male or female form, ¹⁷or the form of any animal on the earth, any winged creature that flies in the sky, ¹⁸any creature that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the waters under the earth. ¹⁹When you look to the heavens and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the stars in the sky—do not be led astray to bow in worship to them and serve them.^j The Lord your God has provided them for all people everywhere under heaven.^{k 20}But the Lord selected you and brought you out of Egypt’s iron furnace^l to be a people for his inheritance, as you are today.

²¹“The Lord was angry with me on your account.^m He swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good landⁿ the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.^{o 22}I won’t be crossing the Jordan because I am going to die in this land.^p But you are about to cross over and take possession of this good land. ²³Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you, and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of anything he has forbidden you. ²⁴For the Lord your God is a consuming fire,^q a jealous God.^r

²⁵“When you have children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, and if you act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, angering him, ²⁶I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will quickly perish^s from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there, but you will certainly be destroyed. ²⁷The Lord will scatter you among the peoples,^t and you will be reduced to a few survivors^A among the nations where the Lord your God will drive you. ²⁸There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see, hear, eat, or smell. ²⁹But from there, you will search for the Lord your God, and you will find him when you seek him with all your heart and all your soul.^{u 30}When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, in the future you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. ³¹He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant^v with your ancestors that he swore to them by oath, because the Lord your God is a compassionate God.^w

³²“Indeed, ask about the earlier days that preceded you, from the day God created mankind^B on the earth and from one end of the heavens to the other: Has anything like this great event ever happened, or has anything like it been heard of? ³³Has a people heard God’s voice speaking from the fire as you have, and lived? ³⁴Or has a god attempted to go and take a nation as his own out of another nation, by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, by great terrors, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵You were shown these things so that you would know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.^{x 36}He let you hear his voice from heaven to instruct you.^y He showed you his great fire on earth, and you heard his words from the fire.^{z 37}Because he loved^aa your ancestors, he chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by his presence and great power, ³⁸to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you in and give you their land as an inheritance,^ab as is now taking place. ³⁹Today, recognize and keep in mind that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is no other. ⁴⁰Keep his statutes and commands, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper and so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”