Deuteronomy 4

₁Moses said: ‘Israelites, you must do everything that I teach you. If you do, you will keep on living and you will go into the land that the Lord, the God of your forefathers, gave you and you will have the land for yourselves. ₂You must do what the laws of the Lord your God say. These are the laws that I gave you. Do not put anything new into these laws and do not take out any of them. ₃You have seen what the Lord did at Baal-Peor. The Lord your God killed all the people who served the idol Baal-Peor there. ₄But all of you who kept on serving the Lord your God are alive today. ₅Listen, I am teaching you the laws that the Lord my God gave me. These are the things that you must do in the land that you are going to take for yourselves. ₆You must keep on doing what these laws say because it will show all the other nations that you have wisdom and that you understand what God wants. When you tell them about all these laws, they will say: “The people of this great nation are wise and understanding, this is sure.”

₇The Lord our God is near us when we pray to Him. What big nation has gods that are so near to them? ₈And what big nation has laws that are as fair as these laws that I give you today? No nation has that. ₉But you must be very careful that you do not forget the things that you have seen. You must never forget them, and you must tell them to your children and grandchildren. ₁₀Tell them everything, from the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Mount Horeb. That was the day when the Lord said to me: “Tell the people to come together. I want to tell them the things that they must learn so that they can serve Me for as long as they live on earth. And they must also teach them to their children.”

₁₁Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain. The mountain was burning and the smoke went up into the sky. There was a thick, dark cloud. ₁₂Then the Lord talked to you from the fire. You heard the words but you did not see anyone. You only heard God's voice. ₁₃He talked about his covenant and He told you what He wanted you to do. He gave you the 10 commandments and He wrote them on 2 flat stones. ₁₄The Lord told me to teach these laws to you so that you would do what they say when you come into the land where you are going, the land that will belong to you.’

₁₅Moses told the Israelites: ‘You must be very careful because you saw no one on that day when the Lord spoke to you from the fire at Mount Horeb. ₁₆Be careful not to do something bad. Do not make an idol for yourselves or an image that looks like a man or a woman, ₁₇or an image that looks like any animal on earth or like a bird in the sky ₁₈or like something that crawls on the ground, or like a fish in the water under the earth. ₁₉You must be careful when you look up into the sky and you see the sun, the moon and the stars or anything in the sky. Beware that they do not deceive you and make you bow down in front of them. Do not serve them. The Lord your God has given these things to everyone in the world, ₂₀but the Lord has chosen only you and He has taken you to be his people. He saved you and brought you out of Egypt, a place that was like an iron furnace for you, and now you are his people. ₂₁The Lord became angry with me because of you. He said that I would not go through the Jordan River and into the good land that the Lord your God gives to you. ₂₂He told me that I will die in this land that we are in now, and I will not go through the Jordan River. But you will go through the river and you will have this good land for yourselves. ₂₃You must be careful not to forget the covenant that the Lord your God has made with you. Do not make an idol or image that looks like something else. The Lord told you not to do it. ₂₄Yes, the Lord your God is like a burning fire, He wants to have you only for Himself.

₂₅You will have children and grandchildren in that land, but you must beware not to make an idol or image that looks like something else, because then you will be doing wrong. The Lord does not like it, and it makes Him angry. ₂₆I call the heaven and earth to be witnesses against you. If you make images for yourselves, then you will disappear quickly from the land where you are going. You are now going through the Jordan River to take that land for yourselves, but you will disappear if you do not listen, that is sure. Then you will not stay in this land for many years. The Lord will destroy you, that is sure. ₂₇The Lord will chase you away to other nations and only a few of you will stay alive there. ₂₈There you will have to work for gods made of wood and stone, gods that can not see or hear or eat or smell because people have made them. ₂₉There you will look for the Lord your God and you will find Him only if you look for Him with all your heart.

₃₀Later, when all these things happen to you and you have a lot of problems, you will come back to the Lord your God and you will do what He says. ₃₁Because the Lord your God is a God who is good to people who suffer, He will not leave you, He will not let you disappear completely, and He will not forget the covenant that He made with your forefathers.’

₃₂Moses said: ‘You can ask what happened a long time ago, before you were born, from the day when God made people on earth. You can ask anywhere on earth if there is anything else as great as what happened then. Ask if people know about anything like the day ₃₃when you heard the voice of God speaking from the fire. Is there any other nation who has heard something like this and stayed alive? No. ₃₄Or is there any god that has taken a nation for himself from other nations by doing signs and miracles, and has helped them in war with great power? Has he made other people suffer or feel afraid of him? No. But this is what the Lord your God did for you in the land of Egypt, and you saw it all. ₃₅He showed it to you so that you would know that He is the Lord God and there is no other God. ₃₆The Lord spoke to you from heaven and you heard his voice. He taught you how to live. He showed you his great fire on earth and He talked from the fire and you heard Him talking. ₃₇He loved your forefathers and that is why He chose their descendants and saved them from the land of Egypt with his great power. He, Himself, was with you ₃₈and He will chase away other nations that are in front of you, nations that are greater and stronger than you, and He will give you their land, like He did today.

₃₉This is why you must know and remember: He, the Lord, is God in heaven above and on earth below, and there is no other God. ₄₀You must do what God's laws say. These are the laws that I give to you today, laws that will be good for you and your children. If you do this, you will live for many years in the land that the Lord your God gives to you to be yours forever.’

₄₁Then Moses chose 3 towns east of the Jordan River, ₄₂towns where a person could flee to if he killed someone by accident and he did not hate the person. He could then flee to one of these towns and save his life. ₄₃These towns were: Bezer in the desert on the Highveld for the people of the Reuben tribe, Ramoth in Gilead for the people of the Gad tribe, and Golan in the land of Bashan for the people of the half tribe of Manasseh.

₄₄Here are the laws that Moses gave the Israelites. ₄₅Moses gave these laws to the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt. ₄₆They were near the Jordan River in the valley on the other side of Beth-Peor in the land of King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in the town of Heshbon. Moses and the Israelites defeated King Sihon when they came out of Egypt. ₄₇They took his land and the land of King Og of Bashan, the land of these 2 kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan River. ₄₈This land is from the town of Aroer on the side of the Arnon Valley to Mount_Zion, that is Mount Hermon. ₄₉They also took the Jordan Valley, east of the Jordan River, to the Salt Sea in the Jordan Valley, at the foot of Mount Pisgah.