An Exhortation to Obedience

(Leviticus 25:18-22; Deuteronomy 11:1-7; Deuteronomy 28:1-14)

1Now therefore hearken, O Israel, to the statutes and to the judgments, which I teach you, to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you. 2Ye shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. 3Your 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. 4But ye who adhered to the LORD your God, are alive every one of you this day.

5Behold, 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. 6Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which will hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. 7For what nation is there so great, which hath God so nigh to them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

9Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou shouldst forget the things which thy eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them to thy sons, and thy sons' sons: 10Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said to me, Assemble the people to me, 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. 11And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness. 12And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice. 13And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. 14And 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.

Warning against Idolatry

(Deuteronomy 12:29-32; Ezekiel 6:1-7)

15Take ye therefore good heed to yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire; 16Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make to you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, 18The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: 19And lest thou shouldst lift up thy eyes to heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldst be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided to all nations under the whole heaven. 20But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you out of the iron furnace, even from Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

21Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not enter that good land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance: 22But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land. 23Take heed to 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. 24For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

25When 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: 26I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from the land to which ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall be utterly destroyed. 27And 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. 28And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou shalt seek him with all thy heart, and with all thy soul. 30When thou art in tribulation, and all these things have come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou shalt turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient to 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 swore to them.

The Lord Alone is God

32For 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 to the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it? 33Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? 34Or hath God essayed 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 an out-stretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35To thee it was shown, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none besides him. 36Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee; and upon earth he showed thee his great fire; and thou heardst his words from the midst of the fire. 37And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out of Egypt in his sight with his mighty power. 38To 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. 39Know therefore this day, and consider it in thy heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else. 40Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes and his commandments which I command thee this day, that it may be 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.

Cities of Refuge

(Numbers 35:6-34; Deuteronomy 19:1-14; Joshua 20:1-9)

41Then Moses set apart three cities on the side of Jordan, towards the sun-rising; 42That the slayer might flee thither, who should kill his neighbor unawares, and when he had not hated him in times past; and that fleeing to one of these cities he might live: 43Namely, 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.

Introduction to the Law

44And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel. 45These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spoke to the children of Israel, after they came forth from Egypt, 46On the east side of 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 had come forth from Egypt: 47And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, who were on the side of Jordan, towards the sun-rising; 48From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even to mount Sion, which is Hermon, 49And all the plain on the side of Jordan eastward, even to the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.