Deuteronomy 4:4–20

⁴But all of you who continued following the Lord your God are still alive today.

⁵Look, I have taught you the laws and rules the Lord my God commanded me. Now you can obey the laws in the land you are entering, in the land you will take. ⁶Obey these laws carefully, in order to show the other nations that you have wisdom and understanding. When they hear about these laws, they will say, “This great nation of Israel is wise and understanding.” ⁷No other nation is as great as we are. Their gods do not come near them, but the Lord our God comes near when we pray to him. ⁸And no other nation has such good teachings and commands as those I am giving to you today.

⁹But be careful! Watch out and don’t forget the things you have seen. Don’t forget them as long as you live, but teach them to your children and grandchildren. ¹⁰Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Mount Sinai. He said to me, “Bring the people together so I can tell them what I have to say. Then they will respect me as long as they live in the land, and they will teach these things to their children.” ¹¹When you came and stood at the bottom of the mountain, it blazed with fire that reached to the sky, and black clouds made it very dark. ¹²The Lord spoke to you from the fire. You heard the sound of words, but you did not see him; there was only a voice. ¹³The Lord told you about his Agreement, the Ten Commandments. He told you to obey them, and he wrote them on two stone tablets. ¹⁴Then the Lord commanded me to teach you the laws and rules that you must obey in the land you will take when you cross the Jordan River.

Laws About Idols

¹⁵Since the Lord spoke to you from the fire at Mount Sinai, but you did not see him, watch yourselves carefully! ¹⁶Don’t sin by making idols of any kind, and don’t make statues—of men or women, ¹⁷of animals on earth or birds that fly in the air, ¹⁸of anything that crawls on the ground, or of fish in the water below. ¹⁹When you look up at the sky, you see the sun, moon, and stars, and everything in the sky. But don’t bow down and worship them, because the Lord your God has made these things for all people everywhere. ²⁰But the Lord brought you out of Egypt, which tested you like a furnace for melting iron, and he made you his very own people, as you are now.