Deuteronomy 4:1–14

Keep the Commandments of Yahweh

¹“So now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which ^aI am teaching you to do, so that ^byou may live and go in and take possession of the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

²“^aYou shall not add to the word which ^bI am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I am commanding you.

³“^aYour eyes have seen what Yahweh has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who walked after Baal-peor, Yahweh your God has destroyed ¹them from among you.

⁴“But you who clung to Yahweh your God are alive today, every one of you.

⁵“See, I have taught you statutes and judgments ^ajust as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it.

⁶“You shall keep and do them, ^afor that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’

⁷“For ^awhat great nation is there that has a god ^bso near to it as is Yahweh our God ^cwhenever we call on Him?

⁸“Or what great nation is there that has ^astatutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?

⁹“Only ^akeep yourself and keep your soul very carefully, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your heart ^ball the days of your life. But ^cmake them known to your sons and to your grandsons.

¹⁰“Remember the day you stood before Yahweh your God at Horeb, when Yahweh said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may cause them to hear My words ^aso they may learn to ¹fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may ^bteach their children.’

¹¹“And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, ^aand the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud, and dense gloom.

¹²“Then Yahweh spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—only a voice.

¹³“So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to do, that is, ^athe Ten ¹Commandments; and ^bHe wrote them on two tablets of stone.

¹⁴“And Yahweh commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it.