Deuteronomy 04 Moses exhorts the people to obedience

Deuteronomy 04

Moses exhorts the people to obedience

1 Now therefore, O Israel, hear the statutes and the judgments which I teach you, to do them: that you may live, and that you may go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.

2 Ye shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you.

3 Your eyes have seen what God did for Baal-peor: for every man that followed Baal-peor the LORD thy God consumed him out of the midst of thee.

4 But you who have come to the Lord your God, you are all alive this day.

5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, as the LORD my God has commanded me: so that you may do this in the midst of the land which you are about to inherit.

6 Keep yourselves therefore, and do them; for this will be your wisdom and your understanding before the eyes of the peoples, who will hear all these statutes, and say, These great people are wise and understanding people.

7 For what people are so great, that they may have gods so near as the Lord our God, whenever we call upon him?

8 And what people are so great, who have statutes and judgments just as all this law that I give to you today?

9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul well, that thou forget not those things which thine eyes have seen, and that they depart not from thine heart all the days of thy life: and thou shalt make them known unto thy children, and to the children of your children:

10 The day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, These people assemble me, and I will cause them to hear my words, and they shall learn them, that they may fear me every day, they will live and teach them to their children;

11 And ye came near, and stood at the foot of the mount: and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of the heavens, and there was darkness, and clouds, and darkness;

12 And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: the voice of the words ye heard; but beyond the voice he saw no likeness at all.

13 And he announced his covenant which he commanded you, the ten commandments, and wrote them on two tables of stones.

14 Also the Lord commanded me at the same time that I should teach you statutes and judgments, that ye should do it in the land which ye come to possess.

15 Take heed to yourselves, for ye have not seen any in the day when the LORD your God in Horeb spake with you in the midst of the fire.

16 That ye be not corrupted, and make for yourselves a graven image, a likeness of the image, a male or a female;

17 The figure of some beast on the earth: the figure of a fowling bird that flies in the heavens;

18 The figure of some beast that treadeth upon the earth; the figure of a fish that is in the waters under the earth;

19 And do not lift your eyes to the heavens and see the sun and the moon and the stars and all the host of the heavens and be impelled to bow before them and serve those whom the Lord your God has given to all peoples underneath all the heavens.

20 But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace of Egypt, that ye may be to them a hereditary people, as it is this day.

21 And the LORD was angry with me because of your words, and he swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and not enter into the good land which the LORD thy God shall give thee for an inheritance.

22 For I will die on this land, I will not go over the Jordan: but ye shall pass over, and possess that good land.

23 Take heed that ye do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he hath done for you, and make for yourselves a graven image, which Jehovah your God hath forbidden you.

24 For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

25 And when you beget sons and sons' children, and grow old in the land, and corrupt yourselves, and make for yourselves a sculpture, a likeness of some thing, and do evil in the sight of the LORD to provoke in anger:

26 Today I make heaven and earth to be witnesses against you, for you will quickly perish from the land, which you have passed over the Jordan to possess. You will not prolong your days in it, but you will be destroyed.

27 And the LORD shall scatter you among the people, and ye shall be few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you.

28 And there ye shall serve gods, which are the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear, nor eat nor smell.

29 Then shalt thou seek the Lord thy God, and find him, when thou seekest him with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.

30 When you are in anguish, and all these things overtake you, then at the end of days you shall turn to the Lord your God and hear his voice.

31 For the Lord thy God is a merciful God; and he shall not forsake thee, nor destroy thee, nor forget the covenant which he sware unto thy fathers.

32 For he now inquires of old times, which have proceeded from the day that God created man on the earth, from one end of heaven to the other, things have never happened as great as this, or if you have heard such a thing as this ?

33 Or if any people heard the voice of God speaking in the midst of the fire, how did you hear it, being alive?

34 Or if a God tried to go and take to himself a people from the midst of another people with trials, with signs, and with miracles, and with war, and with a mighty hand. and with an outstretched arm and with great fear, according to all that the LORD your God hath done to you in Egypt in your eyes?

35 It was shown to you that you might know that the Lord is God: there is none other than him.

36 From heaven he made you hear his voice, to teach you, and on the earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.

37 And because he loved thy fathers, and chose his seed after them, he brought thee forth out of Egypt with his great strength;

38 To set out from before you greater and mightier people than you, to bring you into the earth and give it for an inheritance, as it is this day.

39 For this day you will know and reflect in your heart that the Lord alone is God above the heavens and beneath the earth; no other there is.

40 And he shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may be well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou prolong the days in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for ever and ever. .