Deuteronomy 4:1-20

1And now, Israel, hearken to the statutes and to the ordinances which I teach you, to do [them], that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which Jehovah the 1God of your fathers giveth you.

2Ye shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall ye take from it, that ye may keep the commandments of Jehovah your 2God which I command you.

3Your eyes have seen what Jehovah did because of Baal-Peor; for all the men that followed Baal-Peor, Jehovah thy 3God hath destroyed them from among you;

4but ye that did cleave to Jehovah your 4God are alive every one of you this day.

5See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as Jehovah my 5God commanded me, that ye may do so in the land into which ye enter to possess it.

6And ye shall keep and do them; for that will be your wisdom and your understanding before the eyes of the peoples that shall hear all these statutes, and say, Verily this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

7For what great nation is there that hath 6God near to them as Jehovah our 7God is in everything we call upon him for?

8And what great nation is there that hath righteous statutes and ordinances, as all this law which I set before you this day?

9Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things that thine eyes have seen (and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but thou shalt make them known to thy sons and to thy sons' sons),

10the day that thou stoodest before Jehovah thy 8God in Horeb, when Jehovah said to me, Gather me the people together, that I may cause them to hear my words, that they may learn them, and fear me all the days that they live upon the earth, and teach them to their children.

11And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and obscurity.

12And Jehovah spoke to you from the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but ye saw no form; only [ye heard] a voice.

13And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, the ten words; and he wrote them on two tables of stone.

14And Jehovah commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that ye might do them in the land whither ye are passing over to possess it.

15And take great heed to your souls (for ye saw no form on the day that Jehovah spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the fire),

16lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the form of any figure, the pattern of male or female,

17the pattern of any beast that is on the earth, the pattern of any winged fowl that flieth in the heaven,

18the pattern of anything that creepeth on the ground, the pattern of any fish that is in the waters under the earth;

19and lest thou lift up thine eyes to the heavens, and see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, the whole host of heaven, and be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, which Jehovah thy 9God hath assigned unto all peoples under the whole heaven.

20But you hath Jehovah taken, and hath brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, that ye might be to him a people of inheritance, as it is this day.