Deuteronomy 4

1 People of Israel, pay attention to the rules and regulations I'm teaching you to observe. That way you can stay alive, and go in and take over the country the Lord, the God of your forefathers, is giving you.

2 You are not to add to or take away from what I'm telling you, so that you can keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I'm ordering you to follow.

3 You've seen for yourselves what the Lord did at Baal-peor where the Lord your God killed everyone among you who worshiped Baal of Peor.

4 Those of you who were faithful to the Lord your God are still alive today, every one of you.

5 Listen, I have taught you the rules and regulations just as the Lord my God ordered me to do, so you can follow them in the country that you are about to enter and take over.

6 Be careful to observe them, because this will demonstrate your wisdom and insight to the other people living there who are watching. They will find out about all these rules and say, “The people of this great nation are very wise and have good insight.”

7 What nation is as great as us, having a god so close to them as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call on him?

8 What nation is as great as us, having such good rules and regulations like all these laws that I'm placing before you today?

9 Just make sure to be very careful, and really watch what you do, so you don't forget the things you've have seen. Keep them in mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.

10 That day when you stood in the presence of the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord told me, “Have the people come to me and to hear what I have to say, so they may learn to have respect for me throughout their lives here on earth, and so they may teach this to their children.”

11 You gathered and stood at the foot of the mountain. The mountain was on fire, shooting out flames into the sky and producing thick dark clouds.

12 The Lord spoke to you from the fire. You heard the words, but you didn't see the form of anyone speaking—there was just a voice.

13 He explained to you his agreement, the Ten Commandments, which he ordered you to follow. He wrote them down on two tablets of stone.

14 This was the time that the Lord ordered me to teach you the rules and regulations that you are to follow when you arrive in the country you're going to own once you've crossed the Jordan.

15 You didn't see any form when the Lord spoke to you from the fire at Horeb, so be very careful

16 that you don't spoil your relationship with the Lord by making an idol for yourselves in any shape or form, whether it looks like a male or female,

17 or any land animal or bird that flies,

18 or of any animal that crawls on the ground or any fish in the deep sea.

19 When you look up at the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the heavenly bodies—don't be tempted to bow down to them. Don't worship them like all the other nations on earth in the way that the Lord has allowed.

20 Remember that the Lord took you and led you out of the iron furnace which was Egypt to be his own people, just as you are today.

21 But the Lord was angry with me because of you, and he vowed that I wouldn't cross the Jordan to enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving you to own.

22 So I will not be crossing the Jordan, because I have to die here in this land. But you will cross over and occupy that good land.

23 However, be careful not to forget the agreement of the Lord your God that he made with you. Don't make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything, because he has forbidden you to do this.

24 For the Lord your God is a fire that burns everything up. He is an exclusive God.

25 After you have been living in the country for a long time and have had children and grandchildren, if you then spoil the relationship you have with the Lord and make an idol in any form. The Lord your God sees this as evil makes him angry.

26 If you do this, I call on heaven and earth to be witnesses against you today that you will be completely wiped out from the country that you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. You will not live long there—you will be totally destroyed.

27 The Lord will scatter you among the other nations, and not many of you will survive in the countries where the Lord has exiled you.

28 There you will worship gods of wood and stone made by human beings. These idols can't see or hear or eat or smell.

29 However, if while you're there you decide to come to the Lord your God, you will find him if you come to him whole-heartedly, with complete commitment.

30 When you are in trouble, after you've experienced all these things, then eventually you will return to the Lord your God and do what he says.

31 The Lord your God is a merciful God. He won't abandon you or destroy you or forget the agreement he made with your forefathers, confirmed by a solemn promise.

32 Think about it! Examine the whole of history from the beginning of time, long before you existed, when God made human beings, right up until now. Ask this question anywhere, from one end of the earth to the other: Has anything as amazing as this ever happened before; has anyone ever heard anything like this?

33 Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, like you have, and survived?

34 Has any god tried to take a nation out of another nation and make them his own, using tests and signs and miracles and war—with his great power and incredible strength and terrifying actions—like the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes?

35 You were shown all this so you could be certain that the Lord is God and there is no one like him.

36 He made you hear his voice from heaven so you would obey him. On earth he revealed himself though blazing fire, and you heard him speak to you from the fire.

37 Because he loved your forefathers, he chose you, their descendants. He himself led you out of Egypt by his great power,

38 driving out ahead of you nations that were greater and stronger than you, in order to lead you to their land and give it to you as yours to own, just as you do today.

39 So today be sure about this and never forget: the Lord is the only God in heaven above and on the earth below.

40 Observe his rules and regulations that I'm giving you right now, so that you and your children will do well, and that you may have long lives in the country that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.

41 Then Moses assigned three sanctuary towns to the east of the Jordan

42 where a person could run to after accidentally killing someone without deliberate hatred. To save their life they could run to one of these towns:

43 Bezer in the desert plain belonging to the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the tribe of Gad, or Golan in Bashan belonging to the tribe of Manasseh.

44 This is the law that Moses placed before the Israelites.

45 These are the laws, rules, and regulations Moses gave them after they had come out of Egypt.

46 This was when they were in the valley to the east of the Jordan near Beth-peor in the country of Sihon king of the Amorites. He had ruled from Heshbon and had been defeated by Moses and the Israelites after they had left Egypt.

47 They took over his country and the country of Og king of Bashan. (They were the two kings of the Amorites who previously ruled on the east side of the Jordan.)

48 The territory went from the town of Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Valley all the way to Mount Sirion, otherwise known as Mount Hermon,

49 and included all the Arabah to the east of the Jordan down as far as the Dead Sea beside the slopes of Mount Pisgah.