Deuteronomy 4:1-24

English Standard Version

Moses Commands Obedience

4 “And now, O Israel, listen to ^(A)the statutes and the rules^[a] that I am teaching you, and do them, ^(B)that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. ^2 (C)You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. ³ Your eyes have seen what the Lord did ^(D)at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. ⁴ But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. ⁵ See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ^6 (E)Keep them and do them, for ^(F)that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ ⁷ For ^(G)what great nation is there that has ^(H)a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? ⁸ And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so ^(I)righteous as all this law that I set before you today?

^9 (J)“Only take care, and ^(K)keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. ^(L)Make them known to your children and your children's children— ¹⁰ how on ^(M)the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ^(N)‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, ^(O)so that they may learn to fear ^(P)me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ ¹¹ And ^(Q)you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while ^(R)the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. ¹² Then ^(S)the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, ^(T)but saw no form; ^(U)there was only a voice. ^13 (V)And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, ^(W)the Ten Commandments,^{[b] (X)}and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. ¹⁴ And ^(Y)the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.

Idolatry Forbidden

^15 (Z)“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since ^(AA)you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, ¹⁶ beware ^(AB)lest you act corruptly ^(AC)by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, ^(AD)the likeness of male or female, ¹⁷ the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, ¹⁸ the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. ¹⁹ And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see ^(AE)the sun and the moon and the stars, ^(AF)all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. ²⁰ But the Lord has taken you and ^(AG)brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, ^(AH)to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day. ²¹ Furthermore, ^(AI)the Lord was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. ²² For I must die in this land; ^(AJ)I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of ^(AK)that good land. ^23 (AL)Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and ^(AM)make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. ²⁴ For ^(AN)the Lord your God is a consuming fire, ^(AO)a jealous God.