Study Desk

"Look, I have taught you statutes and judgments just as the LORD my God has commanded me, so that you may do them in the land which you are entering to possess.

"For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God [is to us] whenever we call on Him?

especially the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb (Mount Sinai), when the LORD said to me, 'Assemble the people to Me and I will let them hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect] all the days they live on the land, and so that they may teach their children.'

"So pay attention and watch yourselves carefully—for you did not see any form [of God] on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire—

"And beware that you do not raise your eyes toward heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and let yourselves be led astray and worship them and serve them, [mere created bodies] which the LORD your God has allotted to [serve and benefit] all the peoples under the whole heaven.

"Now the LORD was angry with me [at the waters of Meribah] because of you, and He swore [an oath] that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

"So be on your guard and watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He has made with you, and make for yourselves a carved or sculpted image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you.

"For the LORD your God is a consuming fire; He is a jealous (impassioned) God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely His].

"When you become the father of children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, then if you corrupt yourselves by making a carved or sculpted image in the form of anything [for the purpose of worship], and do evil [things] in the sight of the LORD your God, provoking Him to anger,

"But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul.

"When you are in distress and tribulation and all these things come on you, in the latter days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.

"For the LORD your God is a merciful and compassionate God; He will not fail you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.

"Indeed, ask now about the days that are past, [those days] which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it?

"Did [any] people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you heard, and [still] live?

"Or has any [man-made] god ever tried to go and take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your [very] eyes?

"It was shown to you so that you might have [personal] knowledge and comprehend that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him.

Therefore know and understand today, and take it to your heart, that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on the earth below; there is no other.

"So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am commanding you today, so that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and so that you may live long on the land which the LORD your God is giving you for all time."

"The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.

'I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.