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.