Deuteronomy 4:15-31

English Standard Version

Idolatry Forbidden

^15 (A)“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since ^(B)you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, ¹⁶ beware ^(C)lest you act corruptly ^(D)by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, ^(E)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 ^(F)the sun and the moon and the stars, ^(G)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 ^(H)brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, ^(I)to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day. ²¹ Furthermore, ^(J)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; ^(K)I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of ^(L)that good land. ^23 (M)Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and ^(N)make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. ²⁴ For ^(O)the Lord your God is a consuming fire, ^(P)a jealous God.

²⁵ “When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, ^(Q)if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and ^(R)by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger, ²⁶ I ^(S)call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. ²⁷ And the Lord ^(T)will scatter you among the peoples, ^(U)and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. ²⁸ And ^(V)there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, ^(W)that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. ^29 (X)But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. ³⁰ When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you ^(Y)in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. ³¹ For the Lord your God is ^(Z)a merciful God. ^(AA)He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.