The Wilderness Years

`And now, Israel, hearken unto the statutes, and unto the judgments which I am teaching you to do, so that ye live, and have gone in, and possessed the land which Jehovah God of your fathers is giving to you.

Ye do not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor diminish from it, to keep the commands of Jehovah your God which I am commanding you.

`Your eyes are seeing that which Jehovah hath done in Baal-Peor, for every man who hath gone after Baal-Peor, Jehovah thy God hath destroyed him from thy midst;

and ye who are cleaving to Jehovah your God, are alive, all of you, to-day.

`See, I have taught you statutes and judgments, as Jehovah my God hath commanded me--to do so, in the midst of the land whither ye are going in to possess it;

and ye have kept and done them (for it is your wisdom and your understanding) before the eyes of the peoples who hear all these statutes, and they have said, Only, a people wise and understanding is this great nation.

`For which is the great nation that hath God near unto it, as Jehovah our God, in all we have called unto him?

and which is the great nation which hath righteous statutes and judgments according to all this law which I am setting before you to-day?

`Only, take heed to thyself, and watch thy soul exceedingly, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they turn aside from thy heart, all days of thy life; and thou hast made them known to thy sons, and to thy sons' sons.

`The day when thou hast stood before Jehovah thy God in Horeb--in Jehovah's saying unto me, Assemble to Me the people, and I cause them to hear My words, so that they learn to fear Me all the days that they are alive on the ground, and their sons they teach; --

and ye draw near and stand under the mountain, and the mountain is burning with fire unto the heart of the heavens--darkness, cloud, yea, thick darkness:

`And Jehovah speaketh unto you out of the midst of the fire; a voice of words ye are hearing and a similitude ye are not seeing, only a voice;

and He declareth to you His covenant, which He hath commanded you to do, the Ten Matters, and He writeth them upon two tables of stone.

`And me hath Jehovah commanded at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, for your doing them in the land whither ye are passing over to possess it;

and ye have been very watchful of your souls, for ye have not seen any similitude in the day of Jehovah's speaking unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire,

lest ye do corruptly, and have made to you a graven image, a similitude of any figure, a form of male or female--

a form of any beast which is in the earth--a form of any winged bird which flieth in the heavens--

a form of any creeping thing on the ground--a form of any fish which is in the waters under the earth;

`And lest thou lift up thine eyes towards the heavens, and hast seen the sun, and the moon, and the stars, all the host of the heavens, and thou hast been forced, and hast bowed thyself to them, and served them, which Jehovah thy God hath apportioned to all the peoples under the whole heavens.

`And you hath Jehovah taken, and He is bringing you out from the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be to Him for a people--an inheritance, as at this day.

`And Jehovah hath shewed himself wroth with me because of your words, and sweareth to my not passing over the Jordan, and to my not going in unto the good land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee--an inheritance;

for I am dying in this land; I am not passing over the Jordan, and ye are passing over, and have possessed this good land.

`Take heed to yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of Jehovah your God, which He hath made with you, and have made to yourselves a graven image, a similitude of anything concerning which Jehovah thy God hath charged thee:

for Jehovah thy God is a fire consuming--a zealous God.

`When thou begettest sons and sons' sons, and ye have become old in the land, and have done corruptly, and have made a graven image, a similitude of anything, and have done the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, to provoke Him to anger: --