Deuteronomy 4:25–31

²⁵When thou begettest sons, and sons’ sons, and ye have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of Jehovah thy God, to provoke him to anger, ²⁶I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye pass over the Jordan to possess it: ye shall not prolong your days on it, but shall be utterly destroyed. ²⁷And Jehovah will scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall be left a small company among the nations to which Jehovah will lead you. ²⁸And ye shall there serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. ²⁹And from thence ye shall seek Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt find him, if thou shalt seek him with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul. ³⁰In thy tribulation, and when all these things shall come upon thee, at the end of days, thou shalt return to Jehovah thy God, and shalt hearken to his voice, ³¹—for Jehovah thy God is a merciful •God, —he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he swore unto them.