²⁸ “Be careful and listen to all these words which I am commanding you, so that ^(A)it may go well for you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

²⁹ “When ^(B)the Lord your God cuts off from you the nations which you are going in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and live in their land, ³⁰ be careful that you are not ensnared ^[a]to follow them, after they are destroyed from your presence, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’ ^31 (C)You shall not behave this way toward the Lord your God, because every abominable act which the Lord hates, they have done for their gods; for ^(D)they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods.

³² “^[b](E)Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; ^(F)you shall not add to nor take anything away from it.

³ Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying,

So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.

⁷ You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you, by saying:

¹⁶ Therefore, no one is to ^[a](A)act as your judge in regard to ^(B)food and ^(C)drink, or in respect to a ^(D)festival or a ^(E)new moon, or a ^(F)Sabbath ^[b]day— ¹⁷ things which are only a ^(G)shadow of what is to come; but the ^[c]substance ^[d]belongs to Christ. ¹⁸ Take care that no one keeps ^[e](H)defrauding you of your prize by ^(I)delighting in humility and the worship of the angels, ^[f]taking his stand on visions he has seen, ^[g](J)inflated without cause by his ^(K)fleshly mind, ¹⁹ and not holding firmly to ^(L)the head, from whom ^(M)the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ^[h]ligaments, grows with a growth ^[i]which is from God.

^20 (N)If you have died with Christ ^[j]to the ^(O)elementary principles of the world, ^(P)why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to ^(Q)decrees, such as, ²¹ “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” ²² (which all refer ^(R)to things destined to perish ^[k]with use)—in accordance with the ^(S)commandments and teachings of man? ²³ These are matters which do have the ^[l]appearance of wisdom in ^[m](T)self-made religion and humility and ^(U)severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against ^(V)fleshly indulgence.