Deuteronomy 4:15-49
Don’t Make or Worship Statues of Gods
The Lord spoke to you at Mount Horeb out of the fire. But you didn’t see any shape or form that day. So be very careful. Make sure you don’t commit a horrible sin. Don’t make for yourselves a statue of a god. Don’t make a god that looks like a man or woman or anything else. Don’t make one that looks like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the sky. Don’t make a statue that looks like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish that swims in the water. When you look up at the heavens, you will see the sun and moon. And you will see huge numbers of stars. Don’t let anyone tempt you to bow down to the sun, moon or stars. Don’t worship things the Lord your God has provided for all the nations on earth. Egypt was like a furnace that melts iron down and makes it pure. But the Lord took you and brought you out of Egypt. He wanted you to be his very own people. And that’s exactly what you are.
The Lord was angry with me because of what you did. He promised that he would never let me go across the Jordan River. He promised that I would never enter that good land. It’s the land the Lord your God is giving you as your own. I’ll die here in this land. I won’t go across the Jordan. But you are about to cross over it. You will take that good land as your own. Be careful. Don’t forget the covenant the Lord your God made with you. Don’t make for yourselves a statue of any god at all. He has told you not to. So don’t do it. The Lord your God is like a fire that burns everything up. He wants you to worship only him.
So don’t make a statue of a god. Don’t commit that horrible sin. Don’t do it even after you have had children and grandchildren. Don’t do it even after you have lived in the land a long time. If you do, that will be an evil thing in the sight of the Lord your God. You will make him angry. Today I’m calling out to the heavens and the earth to be witnesses against you. Suppose you do these things. Then you will quickly die in the land you are going across the Jordan River to take over. You won’t live there very long. You will certainly be destroyed. The Lord will drive you out of your land. He will scatter you among the nations. Only a few of you will remain alive there. There you will worship gods that men have made out of wood and stone. Those gods can’t see, hear, eat or smell. Perhaps while you are there, you will seek the Lord your God. You will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. All the things I’ve told you about might happen to you. And you will be in trouble. But later you will return to the Lord your God. You will obey him. The Lord your God is tender and loving. He won’t leave you or destroy you. He won’t forget the covenant he made with your people of long ago. He gave his word when he made it.
The Lord Is God
Ask now about the days of long ago. Find out what happened long before your time. Ask about what has happened since the time God created human beings on the earth. Ask from one end of the world to the other. Has anything as great as this ever happened? Has anything like it ever been heard of? You heard the voice of God speaking out of fire. And you lived! Has that happened to any other people? Has any god ever tried to take one nation out of another to be his own? Has any god done it by testing his people? Has any god done it with signs and amazing deeds or with war? Has any god reached out his mighty hand and powerful arm? Or has any god shown his people his great and wonderful acts? The Lord your God did all those things for you in Egypt. With your very own eyes you saw him do them.
The Lord showed you those things so that you might know he is God. There is no other God except him. From heaven he made you hear his voice. He wanted to teach you. On earth he showed you his great fire. You heard his words coming out of the fire. He loved your people of long ago. He chose their children after them. So he brought you out of Egypt. He used his great strength to do it. He drove out nations to make room for you. They were greater and stronger than you are. He will bring you into their land. He wants to give it to you as your very own. The whole land is as good as yours right now.
The Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Today you must agree with that and take it to heart. There is no other God. I’m giving you his rules and commands today. Obey them. Then things will go well with you and your children after you. You will live a long time in the land. The Lord your God is giving you the land for all time to come.
Cities to Run to for Safety
Then Moses set apart three cities east of the Jordan River. Suppose someone killed a person they didn’t hate and without meaning to do it. That person could run to one of those cities and stay alive. Here are the names of the cities. Bezer was for the people of Reuben. It was in the high plains in the desert. Ramoth was for the people of Gad. It was in Gilead. Golan was for the people of Manasseh. It was in Bashan.
Moses Gives the Law to Israel
Here is the law Moses gave the Israelites. Here are its terms, rules and laws. Moses gave them to the people when they came out of Egypt. They were now east of the Jordan River in the valley near Beth Peor. They were in the land of Sihon, the king of the Amorites. He ruled in Heshbon. But Moses and the Israelites won the battle over him after we came out of Egypt. They captured his land and made it their own. They also took the land of Og, the king of Bashan. Sihon and Og were the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan River. Their land reached from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon River valley to Mount Hermon. It included the whole Arabah Valley east of the Jordan. It included land all the way to the Dead Sea below the slopes of Pisgah.
Deuteronomy 5:1-33
The Ten Commandments
Moses sent for all the Israelites. Here is what he said to them.
Israel, listen to me. Here are the rules and laws I’m announcing to you today. Learn them well. Be sure to obey them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Mount Horeb. He didn’t make it only with our people of long ago. He also made it with us. In fact, he made it with all of us who are alive here today. The Lord spoke to you face to face. His voice came out of the fire on the mountain. At that time I stood between the Lord and you. I announced to you the Lord’s message. I did it because you were afraid of the fire. You didn’t go up the mountain.
The Lord said,
“I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt. That is the land where you were slaves.
“Do not put any other gods in place of me.
“Do not make statues of gods that look like anything in the sky or on the earth or in the waters. Do not bow down to them or worship them. I am the Lord your God. I want you to worship only me. I cause the sins of the parents to affect their children. I will cause the sins of those who hate me to affect even their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. But for all time to come I show love to all those who love me and keep my commandments.
“Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will find guilty anyone who misuses his name.
“Keep the Sabbath day holy. Do this just as the Lord your God has commanded you. Do all your work in six days. But the seventh day is a sabbath to honor the Lord your God. Do not do any work on that day. The same command applies to your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen, your donkeys and your other animals. It also applies to any outsiders who live in your towns. I want your male and female servants to rest, just as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. The Lord your God reached out his mighty hand and powerful arm and brought you out of there. So the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day holy.
“Honor your father and mother, just as the Lord your God has commanded you. Then you will live a long time in the land he is giving you. And things will go well with you there.
“Do not murder.
“Do not commit adultery.
“Do not steal.
“Do not be a false witness against your neighbor.
“Do not want to have your neighbor’s wife. Do not desire anything your neighbor owns. Do not desire to have your neighbor’s house or land, male or female servant, ox or donkey.”
These are the commandments the Lord announced in a loud voice to your whole community. He gave them to you there on the mountain. He spoke out of the fire, cloud and deep darkness. He didn’t add anything else. Then he wrote the commandments on two stone tablets. And he gave them to me.
The mountain was blazing with fire. You heard the voice coming out of the darkness. So your elders and all the leaders of your tribes came to me. You said, “The Lord our God has shown us his glory and majesty. We have heard his voice coming out of the fire. Today we have seen that a person can still stay alive even if God speaks with them. But why should we die? This great fire will burn us up. We’ll die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God again. We have heard the voice of the living God. We’ve heard him speaking out of the fire. Has any other human being ever heard him speak like that and stayed alive? Go near and listen to everything the Lord our God says. Then tell us what he tells you. We will listen and obey.”
The Lord heard you when you spoke to me. He said to me, “I have heard what these people said to you. Everything they said was good. But I wish they would always have respect for me in their hearts. I wish they would always obey all my commands. Then things would go well with them and their children forever.
“Go and tell them to return to their tents. But you stay here with me. Then I will give you all my commands, rules and laws. You must teach the people to obey them in the land I am giving them as their very own.”
So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you. Don’t turn away from his commands to the right or the left. Live exactly as the Lord your God has commanded you to live. Then you will enjoy life in the land you will soon own. Things will go well with you there. You will live there for a long time.
