Deuteronomy 4:25–31

²⁵Even when you have children and grandchildren and have grown old in that land, don’t become corrupt and make carved idols or statues that represent anything. I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today:^bIf you do this thing that the Lord your God considers evil, making him furious, ²⁶you will quickly disappear from the land you’re going to possess on the other side of the Jordan River. You won’t live very long there. You’ll be completely wiped out. ²⁷The Lord will scatter you among the people of the world, and only a few of you will be left among the nations where the Lord will force you to live. ²⁸There you will worship wooden and stone gods made by human hands. These gods can’t see, hear, eat, or smell. 

²⁹But if you look for the Lord your God when you are among those nations, you will find him whenever you search for him with all your heart and with all your soul. ³⁰When you’re in distress and all these things happen to you, then you will finally come back to the Lord your God and obey him. ³¹The Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not abandon you, destroy you, or forget the promise to your ancestors that he swore he would keep.