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Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORDGod of your fathersgiveth you.
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Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
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Your eyes have seen what the LORDdid because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed*Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.
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But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.
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Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my Godcommanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.
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Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this greatnation is a wise and understandingpeople.
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For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?
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And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I setbefore you this day?
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Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy souldiligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons'sons;
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Specially the day that thou stoodestbefore the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORDsaid unto me, Gather me the peopletogether, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.
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And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountainburned with fire unto the midst[a] of heaven, with darkness,clouds, and thick darkness.
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And the LORDspake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude;only[b] ye heard a voice.
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And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even tencommandments; and he wrote them upon twotables of stone.
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And the LORDcommanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.
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Take ye therefore goodheed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORDspake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
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Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
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The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any wingedfowl that flieth in the air,
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The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the watersbeneath the earth:
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And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided[c] unto all nations under the whole heaven.
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But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the ironfurnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.
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Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go overJordan, and that I should not go in unto that goodland, which the LORD thy Godgiveth thee for an inheritance:
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But I must die in this land, I must not go overJordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that goodland.
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Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.
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For the LORD thy God is a consumingfire, even a jealousGod.
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When thou shalt begetchildren, and children'schildren, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall doevil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:
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I callheaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soonutterlyperish from off the land whereunto ye go overJordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
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And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be leftfew in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.
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And there ye shall servegods, the work of men'shands,wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
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But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
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When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latterdays, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
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(For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
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For ask now of the days that are past, which werebefore thee, since the day that Godcreatedman upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this greatthing is, or hath been heard like it?
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Did ever peoplehear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
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Or hath Godassayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mightyhand, and by a stretched outarm, and by greatterrors, according to all that the LORD your Goddid for you in Egypt before your eyes?
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Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.
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Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his greatfire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.
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And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seedafter them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mightypower out of Egypt;
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To drive outnations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.
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Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heavenabove, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
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Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy childrenafter thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy Godgiveth thee, for ever.
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Then Mosesseveredthreecities on this sideJordan toward the sunrising*;
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That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbourunawares*, and hated him not in timespast; and that fleeing unto one of thesecities he might live:
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Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plaincountry, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.
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And this is the law which Mosessetbefore the children of Israel:
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These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Mosesspake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt,
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On this sideJordan, in the valley over againstBethpeor, in the land of Sihonking of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israelsmote, after they were come forth out of Egypt:
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And they possessed his land, and the land of Ogking of Bashan,twokings of the Amorites, which were on this sideJordan toward the sunrising*;
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From Aroer, which is by the bank of the riverArnon, even unto mountSion, which is Hermon,
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And all the plain on this sideJordaneastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.