20. Remember that the lord rescued you from the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt in order to make you his very own people and his special possession, which is what you are today.
21. “But the lord was angry with me because of you. He vowed that I would not cross the Jordan River into the good land the lord your God is giving you as your special possession.
22. You will cross the Jordan to occupy the land, but I will not. Instead, I will die here on the east side of the river.
23. So be careful not to break the covenant the lord your God has made with you. Do not make idols of any shape or form, for the lord your God has forbidden this.
24. The lord your God is a devouring fire; he is a jealous God.
25. “In the future, when you have children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time, do not corrupt yourselves by making idols of any kind. This is evil in the sight of the lord your God and will arouse his anger.
26. “Today I call on heaven and earth as witnesses against you. If you break my covenant, you will quickly disappear from the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. You will live there only a short time; then you will be utterly destroyed.
27. For the lord will scatter you among the nations, where only a few of you will survive.
28. There, in a foreign land, you will worship idols made from wood and stone—gods that neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.
29. But from there you will search again for the lord your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.
30. “In the distant future, when you are suffering all these things, you will finally return to the lord your God and listen to what he tells you.
31. For the lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the solemn covenant he made with your ancestors.
32. “Now search all of history, from the time God created people on the earth until now, and search from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything as great as this ever been seen or heard before?
33. Has any nation ever heard the voice of God speaking from fire—as you did—and survived?
34. Has any other god dared to take a nation for himself out of another nation by means of trials, miraculous signs, wonders, war, a strong hand, a powerful arm, and terrifying acts? Yet that is what the lord your God did for you in Egypt, right before your eyes.
35. “He showed you these things so you would know that the lord is God and there is no other.