Beware of Idolatry

^15 (A)“Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no ^(B)form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, ¹⁶ lest you ^(C)act corruptly and ^(D)make for yourselves a carved image in the ^[a]form of any figure: ^(E)the likeness of male or female, ¹⁷ the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, ¹⁸ the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. ¹⁹ And take heed, lest you ^(F)lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, ^(G)all the host of heaven, you feel driven to ^(H)worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has ^[b]given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage. ²⁰ But the Lord has taken you and ^(I)brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be ^(J)His people, an inheritance, as you are this day. ²¹ Furthermore ^(K)the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that ^(L)I would not cross over the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. ²² But ^(M)I must die in this land, ^(N)I must not cross over the Jordan; but you shall cross over and ^[c]possess ^(O)that good land. ²³ Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, ^(P)and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. ²⁴ For ^(Q)the Lord your God is a consuming fire, ^(R)a jealous God.

²⁵ “When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and ^(S)do evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, ^26 (T)I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not ^[d]prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. ²⁷ And the Lord ^(U)will scatter you among the peoples, 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, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, ^(W)which 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 seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. ³⁰ When you are in ^[e]distress, and all these things come upon you in the ^(Y)latter days, when you ^(Z)turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice ³¹ (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor ^(AA)destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.

³² “For ^(AB)ask now concerning the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask ^(AC)from one end of heaven to the other, whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard. ^33 (AD)Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live? ³⁴ Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, ^(AE)by trials, ^(AF)by signs, by wonders, by war, ^(AG)by a mighty hand and ^(AH)an outstretched arm, ^(AI)and by great ^[f]terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵ To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord Himself is God; ^(AJ)there is none other besides Him. ^36 (AK)Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire. ³⁷ And because ^(AL)He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their ^[g]descendants after them; and ^(AM)He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power, ^38 (AN)driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day. ³⁹ Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that ^(AO)the Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. ^40 (AP)You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that ^[h]it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may ^[i]prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan

⁴¹ Then Moses ^(AQ)set apart three cities on this side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun, ^42 (AR)that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without having hated him in time past, and that by fleeing to one of these cities he might live: ^43 (AS)Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

Introduction to God’s Law

⁴⁴ Now this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel. ⁴⁵ These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which Moses spoke to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt, ⁴⁶ on this side of the Jordan, ^(AT)in the valley opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel ^(AU)defeated^[j] after they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷ And they took possession of his land and the land ^(AV)of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, who were on this side of the Jordan, toward the ^[k]rising of the sun, ^48 (AW)from Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon, even to Mount ^[l]Sion (that is, ^(AX)Hermon), ⁴⁹ and all the plain on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, below the ^(AY)slopes of Pisgah.

³² So the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, ^(A)and there is no other but He. ³³ And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, ^[a]with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, ^(B)is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”