1"Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgmentswhich1I am teaching you to perform, so that 2you may live and go in and takepossession of the landwhich the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
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"3You shall not add to the wordwhich4I am commanding you, nortakeaway from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your Godwhich I command you.
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"5Your eyes have seenwhat* the LORD has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the menwhofollowed*Baal-peor, the LORD your God has destroyed them from among you.
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"But you who heldfast to the LORD your God are alivetoday, everyone of you.
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"See, I have taught you statutes and judgments6just as the LORD my Godcommanded me, that you should dothus in the landwhere* you are entering to possess it.
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"So keep and do them, 7for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peopleswho will hearallthesestatutes and say, 'Surelythisgreatnation is a wise and understandingpeople.'
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"For 8whatgreatnation is there that has a god9so near to it as is the LORD our God10whenever we call on Him?
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"Or whatgreatnation is there that has 11statutes and judgments as righteous as thiswholelawwhich I am settingbefore you today?
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"Only12giveheed to yourself and keep your souldiligently, so that you do not forget the thingswhich your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart13all the days of your life; but 14make them known to your sons and your grandsons.
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"Remember the day you stoodbefore the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORDsaid to me, 'Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words15so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may 16teach their children.'
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"You camenear and stood at the foot of the mountain, 17and the mountainburned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thickgloom.
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"Then the LORDspoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you sawnoform-only a voice.
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"So He declared to you His covenantwhich He commanded you to perform, that is, 18the TenCommandments; and 19He wrote them on twotablets of stone.
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"The LORDcommanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might perform them in the landwhere* you are goingover to possess it.
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"So 20watchyourselvescarefully, since you did not seeany21form on the day the LORDspoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire,
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so that you do not 22actcorruptly and 23make a gravenimage for yourselves in the form of anyfigure, the likeness of maleorfemale,
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the likeness of anyanimal that is on the earth, the likeness of 24anywingedbird that flies in the sky,
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the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of anyfish that is in the waterbelow* the earth.
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"And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, 25all the host of heaven, 26and be drawnaway and worship them and serve them, those which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoplesunder the wholeheaven.
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"But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of 27the ironfurnace, from Egypt, to 28be a people for His own possession, as today.
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"29Now the LORD was angry with me on your account*, and swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the goodlandwhich the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
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"For 30I will die in thisland, I shall not cross the Jordan, but you shall cross and takepossession of this31goodland.
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"So watch yourselves, 32that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your Godwhich He made with you, and 33make for yourselves a gravenimage in the form of anything against which the LORD your God has commanded you.
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"For the LORD your God is a 34consumingfire, a 35jealousGod.
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"When you become the father of children and children'schildren and have remainedlong in the land, and 36actcorruptly, and 37make an idol in the form of anything, and 38do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD your God so as to provoke Him to anger,
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I 39callheaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will 40surelyperishquickly from the landwhere* you are goingover the Jordan to possess it. You shall not livelong* on it, but will be utterlydestroyed.
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"The LORD will 41scatter you among the peoples, and you will be leftfew in number among the nationswhere* the LORDdrives you.
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"42There you will servegods, the work of man'shands, 43wood and stone, 44whichneitherseenorhearnoreatnorsmell.
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"45But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him 46with all your heart and all your soul.
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"When you 47are in distress and allthesethings have come upon you, 48in the latterdays49you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.
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"For the LORD your God is a 50compassionateGod; 51He will not fail you nor52destroy you nor53forget the covenant with your fatherswhich He swore to them.
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"Indeed, 54asknow concerning the formerdayswhich were before you, since the 55day that Godcreatedman on the earth, and inquire 56from one end of the heavens to the other*. 57Has anything been done like thisgreatthing, or has anything been heardlike it?
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"58Has any peopleheard the voice of Godspeaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived?
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"59Or has a godtried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation60by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and 61by a mightyhand and by an outstretchedarm and by greatterrors, as the LORD your Goddid for you in Egypt before your eyes?
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"To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; 62there is nootherbesides* Him.
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"63Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice64to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His greatfire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire.
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"65Because* He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendantsafter them. And He 66personallybrought you from Egypt by His greatpower,
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driving out from before you nationsgreater and mightierthan you, to bring you in and 67to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today.
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"Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that 68the LORD, He is God in heavenabove* and on the earthbelow*; there is noother.
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"69So you shall keep His statutes and His commandmentswhich I am giving you today, that 70it may gowell with you and with your childrenafter you, and 71that you may livelong* on the landwhich the LORD your God is giving you for alltime."
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72ThenMosessetapartthreecitiesacross the Jordan to the east*,
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that a manslayer might fleethere, whounintentionally*slew his neighborwithout having enmity toward him in timepast; and by fleeing to one of thesecities he might live:
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73Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau* for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
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Now this is the lawwhichMosessetbefore the sons of Israel;
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these are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinanceswhichMosesspoke to the sons of Israel, when they came out from Egypt,
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across the Jordan, in the valley74oppositeBeth-peor, in the land of 75Sihonking of the Amoriteswholived at Heshbon, whomMoses and the sons of Israeldefeated when they came out from Egypt.
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They tookpossession of his land and the land of 76Ogking of Bashan, the twokings of the Amorites, who were across the Jordan to the east*,
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from 77Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon, even as far as 78MountSion (that is, Hermon ),
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with all the Arabahacross the Jordan to the east, even as far as the sea of the Arabah, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.