Deuteronomy 4:4–20

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.