Deuteronomy 4:15–40

¹⁵“So ^awatch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any ^bform on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire,

¹⁶so that you do not ^aact corruptly and ^bmake a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

¹⁷the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of ^aany winged bird that flies in the sky,

¹⁸the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth.

¹⁹“And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, ^aall the host of heaven, ^band be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

²⁰“But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of ^athe iron furnace, from Egypt, to ^bbe a people for His own possession, as today.

²¹“^aNow the Lord was angry with me on your account, and swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

²²“For ^aI will die in this land, I shall not cross the Jordan, but you shall cross and take possession of this ^bgood land.

²³“So watch yourselves, ^athat you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and ^bmake for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you.

²⁴“For the Lord your God is a ^aconsuming fire, a ^bjealous God.

²⁵“When you ¹become the father of children and children’s children and have remained long in the land, and ^aact corruptly, and ^bmake an ²idol in the form of anything, and ^cdo that which is evil in the sight of the Lord your God so as to provoke Him to anger,

²⁶I ^acall heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will ^bsurely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not ¹live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed.

²⁷“The Lord will ^ascatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord drives you.

²⁸“^aThere you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, ^bwood and stone, ^cwhich neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.

²⁹“^aBut from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him ^bwith all your heart and all your soul.

³⁰“When you ^aare in distress and all these things have come upon you, ^bin the latter days ^cyou will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice.

³¹“For the Lord your God is a ^acompassionate God; ^bHe will not fail you nor ^cdestroy you nor ^dforget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.

³²“Indeed, ^aask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the ^bday that God created ¹man on the earth, and inquire ^cfrom one end of the heavens to the other. ^dHas anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it?

³³“^aHas any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived?

³⁴“^aOr has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation ^bby trials, by signs and wonders and by war and ^cby a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, ¹as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

³⁵“To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God; ^athere is no other besides Him.

³⁶“^aOut of the heavens He let you hear His voice ^bto discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire.

³⁷“^1aBecause He loved your fathers, therefore He chose ²their descendants after them. And He ^3bpersonally brought you from Egypt by His great power,

³⁸driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and ^ato give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today.

³⁹“Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that ^athe Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.

⁴⁰“^aSo you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am ¹giving you today, that ^bit may go well with you and with your children after you, and ^cthat you may ²live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”