Deuteronomy 4:1–20

Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto athe statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. 2 bYe shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. 3 Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of cBaal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you. 4 But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day. 5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. 6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is dyour wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, eSurely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7 For fwhat nation is there so great, who hath gGod so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8 And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? 9 Only take heed to thyself, and hkeep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but iteach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons; 10 Specially kthe day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children. 11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the lmountain burned with fire unto the †midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. 12 mAnd the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: nye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; o†only ye heard a voice. 13 pAnd he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten qcommandments; and rhe wrote them upon two tables of stone. 14 And sthe Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it. 15 tTake ye therefore good heed unto tyourselves; for ye saw no manner of usimilitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire: 16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and xmake you a graven image, the similitude of any yfigure, zthe likeness of male or female, 17 The zlikeness of any beast that is on the earth, the zlikeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, 18 The zlikeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the zlikeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: 19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest athe sun, and the moon, and the stars, even ball the host of heaven, cshouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath ||divided unto all nations under the whole heaven. 20 But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth dout of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people eof inheritance, as ye are this day.