NOW
therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I
teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the
land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.
2 Ye shall
not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought
from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command
you.
3 Your
eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that
followed Baal-peor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.
4 But ye
that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this
day.
5 Behold,
I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to
possess it.
6 Keep
therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your
understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes,
and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and
understanding people.
7 For what
nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them,
as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?
8 And what
nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you
this day?
9 Only
take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things
which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of
thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons? sons;
10 Specially
the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said
unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words,
that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the
earth, and that they may teach their children.
11 And ye
came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto
the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.
12 And
the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire:
ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a
voice.
13 And he
declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of
stone.
14 And
the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye
might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.
15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner
of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of
the midst of the fire:
16 Lest
ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of
any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17 The
likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged
fowl that flieth in the air,
18 The
likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish
that is in the waters beneath the earth:
19 And
lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the
moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to
worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all
nations under the whole heaven.
20 But the
LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even
out of Egypt,
to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.
21 Furthermore
the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over
Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God
giveth thee for an inheritance:
22 But I
must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan:
but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.
23 Take
heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which
he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing,
which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.
24 For
the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
25 When
thou shalt beget children, and children?s children, and ye shall have remained
long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image,
or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of
the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:
26 I call
heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that
ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan
to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly
be destroyed.
27 And
the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in
number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.
28 And
there ye shall serve gods, the work of men?s hands, wood and stone, which
neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29 But if
from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if
thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
30 When
thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even
in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient
unto his voice;
31 (For
the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will
not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers
which he sware unto them.
32 For
ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that
God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto
the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is,
or hath been heard like it?
33 Did ever
people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou
hast heard, and live?
34 Or
hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation,
by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and
by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD
your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35 Unto
thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there
is none else beside him.
36 Out of
heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon
earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the
midst of the fire.
37 And
because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and
brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;
38 To
drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art,
to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it
is this day.
39 Know
therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is
God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
40 Thou
shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee
this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and
that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God
giveth thee, for ever.
41 Then
Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sunrising;
42 That
the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares, and
hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might
live:
43
Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country,
of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.
44 And
this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:
45 These are
the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spake unto
the children of Israel,
after they came forth out of Egypt,
46 On
this side Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-peor, in the land
of Sihon king of the Amorites, who
dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel
smote, after they were come forth out of Egypt:
47 And
they possessed his land, and the land
of Og king
of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were
on this side Jordan toward the sunrising;
48 From
Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even
unto mount Sion, which is Hermon,
49 And
all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain,
under the springs of Pisgah.