Deuteronomy 4:1–14

Israel Urged to Obey God’s Law

1 “Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which aI am teaching you to perform, so that byou may live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, 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 the Lord your God which I command you.

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

4 “But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you.

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

6 “So 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 the Lord 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 agive heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart ball the days of your life; but cmake them known to your sons and your grandsons.

10 “Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them 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 “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 thick gloom.

12 “Then the Lord 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 perform, that is, athe Ten 1Commandments; and bHe wrote them on two tablets of stone.

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