Deuteronomy 4–12

Obey the Lord

4Israel, listen to the rules and laws I’m going to teach you. Follow them. Then you will live. You will go in and take over the land. The Lord was the God of your people long ago. He’s giving you the land. ²Don’t add to what I’m commanding you. Don’t subtract from it either. Instead, obey the commands of the Lord your God that I’m giving you.

³Your own eyes saw what the Lord your God did at Baal Peor. He destroyed every one of your people who followed the Baal that was worshiped at Peor. ⁴But all of you who remained true to the Lord your God are still alive today.

⁵I have taught you rules and laws, just as the Lord my God commanded me. Follow them in the land you are entering to take as your very own. ⁶Be careful to keep them. That will show the nations how wise and understanding you are. They will hear about all of those rules. They’ll say, “That great nation certainly has wise and understanding people.”

⁷The Lord our God is near us every time we pray to him. What other nation is great enough to have its gods that close to them? ⁸I’m giving you the laws of the Lord today. What other nation is great enough to have rules and laws that are as fair as these?

⁹Don’t be careless. Instead, be very careful. Don’t forget the things your eyes have seen. As long as you live, don’t let them slip from your mind. Teach them to your children and their children after them. ¹⁰Remember the day you stood at Mount Horeb. The Lord your God was there. He said to me, “Bring the people to me to hear my words. I want them to learn to have respect for me as long as they live in the land. I want them to teach my words to their children.”

¹¹You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain. It blazed with fire that reached as high as the very heavens. There were black clouds and deep darkness.

¹²Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of his words. But you didn’t see any shape or form. You only heard a voice. ¹³He announced his covenant to you. That covenant is the Ten Commandments. He commanded you to follow them. Then he wrote them down on two stone tablets.

¹⁴At that time the Lord directed me to teach you his rules and laws. You must follow them in the land you are crossing the Jordan River to take as your own.

Don’t Make or Worship Statues of Gods

¹⁵The Lord spoke to you at Mount Horeb out of the fire. But you didn’t see any shape or form that day. So be very careful.

¹⁶Make sure you don’t commit a horrible sin. Don’t make for yourselves a statue of a god. Don’t make a god that looks like a man or woman or anything else. ¹⁷Don’t make one that looks like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the sky. ¹⁸Don’t make a statue that looks like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish that swims in the water.

¹⁹When you look up at the heavens, you will see the sun and moon. And you will see huge numbers of stars. Don’t let anyone tempt you to bow down to the sun, moon or stars. Don’t worship things the Lord your God has provided for all of the nations on earth.

²⁰Egypt was like a furnace that melts iron down and makes it pure. But the Lord took you and brought you out of Egypt. He wanted you to be his very own people. And that’s exactly what you are.

²¹The Lord was angry with me because of what you did. He took an oath that he would never let me go across the Jordan River. He promised that I would never enter that good land. It’s the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own. ²²I’ll die here in this land. I won’t go across the Jordan. But you are about to cross over it. And you are about to take that good land as your own.

²³Be careful. Don’t forget the covenant the Lord your God made with you. Don’t make for yourselves a statue of any god at all. He has told you not to. So don’t do it.

²⁴The Lord your God is like a fire that burns everything up. He’s a jealous God.

²⁵You will have children and grandchildren. And you will live in the land a long time.

But don’t commit a horrible sin. Don’t make a statue of a god. If you do, that will be an evil thing in the sight of the Lord your God. You will make him angry. ²⁶I’m calling out to heaven and earth to be witnesses against you this very day. If you do those things, you will quickly die in the land you are going across the Jordan River to take over. You won’t live there very long. You will certainly be destroyed. ²⁷The Lord will drive you out of your land. He will scatter you among the nations. Only a few of you will remain alive there. ²⁸There you will worship gods that men have made out of wood and stone. Those gods can’t see, hear, eat or smell.

²⁹Perhaps while you are there, you will look to the Lord your God. You will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.

³⁰All of the things I’ve told you about might happen to you. And you will be in trouble. But later you will return to the Lord your God. You will obey him. ³¹The Lord your God is tender and loving. He won’t leave you or destroy you. He won’t forget the covenant he made with your people long ago. He took an oath when he made it.

The Lord Is God

³²Ask now about the days of long ago. Learn what happened long before your time. Ask about what has happened since the time God created man on the earth. Ask from one end of the world to the other. Has anything as great as this ever happened? Has anything like it ever been heard of? ³³You heard the voice of God speaking out of fire. And you lived! Has that happened to any other people?

³⁴Has any god ever tried to take one nation out of another to be his own? Has any god done it by putting his people to the test? Has any god done it with miraculous signs and wonders or with a war? Has any god reached out his mighty hand and powerful arm? Or has any god shown his people his great and wonderful acts?

The Lord your God did all of those things for you in Egypt. With your very own eyes you saw him do them.

³⁵The Lord showed you those things so that you might know he is God. There is no other God except him. ³⁶From heaven he made you hear his voice. He wanted to teach you. On earth he showed you his great fire. You heard his words coming out of the fire.

³⁷He loved your people long ago. He chose their children after them. So he brought you out of Egypt. He used his great strength to do it. ³⁸He drove out nations to make room for you. They were greater and stronger than you are. He will bring you into their land. He wants to give it to you as your very own. The whole land is as good as yours right now.

³⁹The Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Today you must agree with that and take it to heart. There is no other God.

⁴⁰I’m giving you his rules and commands today. Obey them. Then things will go well with you and your children after you. You will live a long time in the land. The Lord your God is giving you the land for all time to come.

Cities to Go to for Safety

⁴¹I set apart three cities east of the Jordan River. ⁴²Anyone who killed a person he didn’t hate and without meaning to do it could run to one of those cities. He could go there and stay alive.

⁴³Here are the names of the cities. Bezer was for the people of Reuben. It was in the high flatlands in the desert. Ramoth was for the people of Gad. It was in Gilead. Golan was for the people of Manasseh. It was in Bashan.

Moses Gives the Law to Israel

⁴⁴Here is the law I gave the people of Israel. ⁴⁵Here are its terms, rules and laws. I gave them to the people when they came out of Egypt.

⁴⁶They were now east of the Jordan River in the valley near Beth Peor. They were in the land of Sihon, the king of the Amorites. He ruled in Heshbon. But the people of Israel and I won the battle over him after we came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷We captured his land and made it our own. We also took the land of Og, the king of Bashan. Sihon and Og were the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River.

⁴⁸Their land reached from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon River valley to Mount Hermon. ⁴⁹It included the whole Arabah Valley east of the Jordan. It included land all the way to the Dead Sea below the slopes of Pisgah.

The Ten Commandments

5I sent for all of the people of Israel. Here is what I said to them.

Israel, listen to me. Here are the rules and laws I’m announcing to you today. Learn them well. Be sure to follow them.

²The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Mount Horeb. ³He didn’t make it only with our parents. He also made it with us. In fact, he made it with all of us who are alive here today. ⁴The Lord spoke to you face to face. His voice came out of the fire on the mountain.

⁵At that time I stood between the Lord and you. I announced to you the Lord’s message. I did it because you were afraid of the fire. You didn’t go up the mountain.

The Lord said,

⁶“I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt. That is the land where you were slaves.

⁷“Do not put any other gods in place of me.

⁸“Do not make statues of gods that look like anything in the sky or on the earth or in the waters. ⁹Do not bow down to them or worship them. I am the Lord your God. I am a jealous God. I punish the children for the sin of their parents. I judge the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who hate me. ¹⁰But for all time to come I show love to all those who love me and keep my commandments.

¹¹“Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will find guilty anyone who misuses his name.

¹²“Observe the Sabbath day. Keep it holy, just as the Lord your God commanded you. ¹³Do all of your work in six days. ¹⁴But the seventh day is a Sabbath in honor of the Lord your God. Do not do any work on that day. The same command applies to your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen, your donkeys and your other animals. It also applies to any outsiders who live in your cities. I want your male and female servants to rest, just as you do. ¹⁵Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. The Lord your God reached out his mighty hand and powerful arm and brought you out…