1. Now therefore, Israel, hear the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.
2. In your observance of the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I am commanding you, you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it.
3. You have seen with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal-peor: the Lord, your God, destroyed from your midst everyone who followed the Baal of Peor;
4. but you, who held fast to the Lord, your God, are all alive today.
5. See, I am teaching you the statutes and ordinances as the Lord, my God, has commanded me, that you may observe them in the land you are entering to possess.
6. Observe them carefully, for this is your wisdom and discernment in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, “This great nation is truly a wise and discerning people.”
7. For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the Lord, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him?
8. Or what great nation has statutes and ordinances that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?
9. However, be on your guard and be very careful not to forget the things your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your heart as long as you live, but make them known to your children and to your children’s children,
10. that day you stood before the Lord, your God, at Horeb, when the Lord said to me: Assemble the people for me, that I may let them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me as long as they live in the land and may so teach their children.
11. You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain blazed to the heart of the heavens with fire and was enveloped in a dense black cloud.
12. Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.