1Now, Israel, listen to the laws and rules I am teaching you to obey, so that you may live and enter and take possession of the land that Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.
2You must not add anything to what I command you, and you must not take anything away from it, so that you may keep the commands of Yahweh your God that I am giving you.
3You saw with your own eyes what Yahweh did because of Baal Peor; Yahweh your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal Peor.
4But all of you who remained faithful to Yahweh your God are still alive today.
5Look, I have taught you laws and rules, just as Yahweh my God commanded me, so that you may obey them in the land you are entering to possess.
6Therefore, observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations. When they hear all these laws, they will say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'
7For what great nation has a god as near to them as Yahweh our God is whenever we call upon him?
8And what great nation has such righteous laws and rules as this entire law that I am setting before you today?
9Only be careful and watch yourselves closely, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not fade from your heart throughout your life. Make sure to teach them to your children and grandchildren.
10Remember the day you stood before Yahweh your God at Horeb, when Yahweh said to me, 'Assemble the people for me so that I may let them hear my words. This way they will learn to fear me all the days they live on earth, and they will teach their children.'
11You approached and stood at the base of the mountain. The mountain was burning with fire, reaching into the sky, surrounded by darkness, clouds, and thick gloom.
12Yahweh spoke to you from the fire. You heard the sound of words, but you saw no shape; you only heard a voice.
13He announced his covenant to you, which he commanded you to follow—the Ten Commandments. He wrote them on two stone tablets.
14At that time, Yahweh commanded me to teach you laws and rules, so you would follow them in the land you are about to enter and possess.
15Be very careful, because you did not see any form on the day Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb from the middle of the fire,
16so you don't corrupt yourselves and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of any figure, whether male or female,
17or the shape of any animal on the earth, or the shape of any winged bird that flies in the sky,
18or the shape of anything that crawls on the ground, or the shape of any fish in the water under the earth.
19And don't look up at the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the heavenly bodies—and be tempted to worship and serve them, for Yahweh your God has assigned them to all the peoples under the whole sky.
20But Yahweh brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be his own special people, as you are today.
21Furthermore, Yahweh was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I would not cross the Jordan River and enter that good land which Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance.
22Instead, I must die in this land. I will not cross the Jordan; but you will cross over and possess that good land.
23Be careful not to forget the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he made with you, and do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything that Yahweh your God has forbidden you.
24For Yahweh your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
25When you have children and grandchildren, and you have lived in the land a long time, if you corrupt yourselves and make an idol of any kind, and do what is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, provoking him to anger,
26I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that you will quickly perish from the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long; you will be completely destroyed.
27Yahweh will scatter you among the nations, and you will be left few in number among the nations where Yahweh will lead you.
28There you will serve gods made by human hands, gods of wood and stone, which cannot see, hear, eat, or smell.
29But from there you will seek Yahweh your God, and you will find him if you search for him with all your heart and all your soul.
30When you are in distress and all these things happen to you, in the future you will return to Yahweh your God and obey his voice.
31For Yahweh your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors that he swore to them.
32Just ask about earlier times, long before you, since the day God created people on earth, and from one end of the sky to the other: Has anything as great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard?
33Has any people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived?
34Or has any god ever tried to go and take a nation for himself from among another nation by testing them, with signs, wonders, war, a mighty hand, a powerful arm, and great acts of terror, just as Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
35You were shown these things so you would know that Yahweh is God; there is no other besides him.
36From heaven, he let you hear his voice to teach you. On earth, he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words from the middle of the fire.
37Because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants after them. He personally brought you out of Egypt with his great power,
38to drive out nations from before you that were greater and stronger than you. He brought you in to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is today.
39So know and remember today that Yahweh himself is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.
40You must obey his rules and commands that I am giving you today so that things will go well for you and your children after you, and so that you will live a long time in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you forever.
41Then Moses set apart three cities east of the Jordan River,
42so that someone who accidentally killed a neighbor, without hating them in the past, could flee there and live.
43These cities were Bezer in the wilderness on the plain for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
44This is the law that Moses presented to the people of Israel.
45These are the instructions, rules, and regulations that Moses gave to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt,
46east of the Jordan River in the valley opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. Moses and the people of Israel defeated him when they came out of Egypt.
47They took possession of his land, and the land of Og, king of Bashan—the two Amorite kings who were east of the Jordan River.
48This land stretched from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Arnon Valley, all the way to Mount Sion (also called Hermon),
49and all the Arabah valley east of the Jordan, even to the Dead Sea, under the slopes of Pisgah.