Deuteronomy 4:5-31

5Look, I have taught you statutes and ordinances as the Lord my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to possess.

6Carefully follow them, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the peoples. When they hear about all these statutes, they will say, ‘This great nation is indeed a wise and understanding people.’

7For what great nation is there that has a god near to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call to him?

8And what great nation has righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?

9“Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you don’t forget the things your eyes have seen and so that they don’t slip from your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren.

10The day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people before me, and I will let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days they live on the earth and may instruct their children.’

11You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire into the heavens and enveloped in a totally black cloud.

12Then the Lord spoke to you from the fire. You kept hearing the sound of the words, but didn’t see a form; there was only a voice.

13He declared his covenant to you. He commanded you to follow the Ten Commandments, which he wrote on two stone tablets.

14At that time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to follow in the land you are about to cross into and possess.

15“Diligently watch yourselves — because you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb —

16so you don’t act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of any figure: a male or female form,

17or the form of any animal on the earth, any winged creature that flies in the sky,

18any creature that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the waters under the earth.

19When you look to the heavens and see the sun, moon, and stars — all the stars in the sky — do not be led astray to bow in worship to them and serve them. The Lord your God has provided them for all people everywhere under heaven.

20But the Lord selected you and brought you out of Egypt’s iron furnace to be a people for his inheritance, as you are today.

21“The Lord was angry with me on your account. He swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

22I won’t be crossing the Jordan because I am going to die in this land. But you are about to cross over and take possession of this good land.

23Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you, and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of anything he has forbidden you.

24For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

25“When you have children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, and if you act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, angering him,

26I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will quickly perish from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there, but you will certainly be destroyed.

27The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be reduced to a few survivors among the nations where the Lord your God will drive you.

28There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see, hear, eat, or smell.

29But from there, you will search for the Lord your God, and you will find him when you seek him with all your heart and all your soul.

30When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, in the future you will return to the Lord your God and obey him.

31He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your ancestors that he swore to them by oath, because the Lord your God is a compassionate God.