Study Desk

Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Mount Horeb. The Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people together to listen to what I have to say. Then they will learn to respect me as long as they live on earth. And they will teach these things to their children.'

"On the day the Lord spoke to you from the fire at Mount Horeb, you did not see him—there was no shape for God.

And be careful when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon, and the stars—all the many things in the sky. Be careful that you are not tempted to worship and serve them. The Lord your God lets the other people in the world do this.

"The Lord was angry with me because of you. He swore that I could not go across the Jordan River into the good land that the Lord your God is giving you.

You must be careful not to forget the agreement that the Lord your God made with you. You must obey the Lord 's command. Don't make any idols in any form,

because the Lord your God hates for his people to worship other gods. And he can be like a fire that destroys!

"You will live in the country a long time. You will have children and grandchildren there. After all that time, be sure that you do not then ruin your lives by making any kind of idol! That is something the Lord your God considers evil, and it would make him very angry!

But there in these other lands you will look for the Lord your God. And if you look for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.

When you are in trouble—when all these things happen to you—then you will come back to the Lord your God and obey him.

The Lord your God is a merciful God! He will not leave you there or destroy you completely. He will not forget the agreement that he made with your ancestors.

"Has anything this great ever happened before? Never! Look at the past. Think about everything that happened before you were born. Go all the way back to the time when God made people on the earth. Look at everything that has happened anywhere in the world. Has anyone ever heard about anything as great as this? No!

You people heard God speaking to you from a fire, and you are still alive. Has that ever happened to anyone else? No!

Has any other god ever tried to go and take a people for himself from inside another nation? No! But you yourselves have seen everything that the Lord your God did for you. He showed you his power and strength. You saw the troubles that tested the people. You saw miracles and wonders. You saw war and the terrible things that happened.

The Lord showed you all this so that you would know that he is God. There is no other god like him.

"So today you must remember and accept that the Lord is God. He is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other god!

And you must obey his laws and commands that I give you today. Then everything will go well with you and your children who live after you. And you will live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving you—it will be yours forever."

The Lord our God made an agreement with us at Mount Horeb.

‘I am the Lord your God. I am the one who freed you from Egypt, where you were slaves.

Don't worship or serve idols of any kind, because I am the Lord your God. I hate for my people to worship other gods. People who sin against me become my enemies. And I will punish them, and their children, their grandchildren, and even their great-grandchildren.

‘You must not use the name of the Lord your God to make empty promises. If you do, the Lord will not let you go unpunished.