Moses Commands Obedience
1 “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules1 that I am teaching you, and do them, hthat you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 iYou shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. 3 jYour eyes have seen kwhat the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. 4 But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. 5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Keep them and do them, for lthat will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For mwhat great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
9 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. nMake them known to your children and your children’s children— 10 how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ 11 And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with ofire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. 12 Then the Lord spoke to you pout of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a qvoice. 13 And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the rTen Commandments,2 and he wrote them on stwo tablets of stone. 14 And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.
Idolatry Forbidden
15 “Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 beware lest you act corruptly by tmaking a carved uimage for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. 19 And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the vhost of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20 But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the wiron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own xinheritance, as you are this day.
13 t“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy1 that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are ufew.
A Tree and Its Fruit
15 v“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wwolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. xAre grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 yEvery tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
I Never Knew You
21 z“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will aenter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who bdoes the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, c‘I never knew you; ddepart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Build Your House on the Rock
24 e“Everyone then who fhears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who ghears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
The Authority of Jesus
28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were hastonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had iauthority, and not as their scribes.
