1 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 Baalpeor: for all the men that
followed Baalpeor, 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 Bethpeor, 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.
