An Exhortation to Obedience
(Deuteronomy 11:1–7)
Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. Rom 10:5Ezk 20:11Deu 8:1Lev 18:5Deu 30:16Deu 5:1Lev 22:31Deu 11:1 You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you. Deu 12:32Pro 30:6Rev 22:18-19Jos 1:7Mat 5:18Gal 3:15Ecc 12:13Mrk 7:1-13
Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all who followed Baal of Peor. Num 25:1-9Psa 106:28-29Hos 9:10Jos 22:17Num 26:64Num 31:16 But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive to this day, every one of you. Deu 10:20Jhn 6:67-69Jos 23:8Rev 14:4Rom 12:9Psa 143:6-11Rut 1:14-17Act 11:23
See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the LORD my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land that you are about to enter and possess. 1Th 4:1-2Mat 28:20Deu 4:1Heb 3:5Pro 22:19-20Act 20:271Co 15:31Co 11:28 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” 2Ti 3:15Job 28:28Psa 111:101Ki 10:6-91Ki 4:34Pro 1:7Psa 19:7Jas 3:13
For what nation is great enough to have a god as near to them as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call on Him? Psa 145:182Sa 7:23Psa 34:18Isa 55:6Jas 4:8Psa 73:28Psa 46:1Psa 148:14 And what nation is great enough to have righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today? Psa 147:19-20Rom 7:12-142Ti 3:16-17Deu 10:12-13Psa 119:127-128Psa 119:86Psa 19:7-11Psa 119:96
Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren. Deu 6:7Deu 11:19Psa 78:3-8Gen 18:19Deu 32:46Eph 6:4Deu 29:29Exo 13:8-9 The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, 1 the LORD said to me, “Gather the people before Me to hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach them to their children.” Exo 19:9Heb 12:18-19Deu 17:19Exo 19:16Deu 5:2Exo 20:18Exo 20:20Ecc 12:13
You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. Deu 5:23Exo 19:16-18Heb 12:18-19Exo 20:18-19 And the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. Deu 4:15Deu 5:22Deu 5:41Ki 19:12-132Pe 1:17-18Deu 4:33Deu 4:36Jhn 12:28-30 He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to follow—the Ten Commandments 2that He wrote on two tablets of stone. Exo 34:28Exo 31:18Deu 9:9-11Exo 24:12Exo 19:5Deu 10:1-5Deu 5:1-21Exo 24:17-18
At that time the LORD commanded me to teach you the statutes and ordinances you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. Ezk 21:1-23Psa 105:44-45
A Warning against Idolatry
(Deuteronomy 12:29–32; Ezekiel 6:1–7)
So since you saw no form of any kind on the day the LORD spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb, be careful 2Co 4:4-6Deu 4:12Isa 40:18Mal 2:151Ch 28:9-10Deu 4:9Heb 1:3Jer 17:21 that you do not act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves of any form or shape, whether in the likeness of a male or female, Act 17:29Deu 4:23Deu 5:8Exo 20:4-5Rom 1:22-24Exo 32:7Act 20:4-5Deu 4:25 of any beast that is on the earth or bird that flies in the air, Rom 1:23 or of any creature that crawls on the ground or fish that is in the waters below.
When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. Rom 1:25Deu 17:32Ki 21:32Ki 17:16Gen 1:16-18Gen 2:1Jos 10:12-13Neh 9:6 Yet the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today. 1Ki 8:51Jer 11:4Deu 32:9Deu 9:29Exo 19:5-6Psa 135:41Pe 2:9Isa 63:17-18
The LORD, however, was angry with me on account of you, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan to enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. Deu 1:37Num 20:12Psa 106:32-33Deu 3:26Deu 31:2 For I will not be crossing the Jordan, because I must die in this land. But you shall cross over and take possession of that good land. Deu 3:25Deu 3:272Pe 1:13-15Heb 12:6-101Ki 13:21-22Amo 3:2
Be careful that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God that He made with you; do not make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything He has forbidden you. Deu 4:91Ch 16:15Deu 29:25Deu 31:20Ezk 16:59Heb 3:12Isa 24:5Jos 23:16 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, 3 a jealous God. Heb 12:29Deu 9:3Exo 24:17Nam 1:6Isa 33:14Deu 6:151Co 10:22Exo 20:5
After you have children and grandchildren and you have been in the land a long time, if you then act corruptly and make an idol of any form—doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God and provoking Him to anger— Deu 4:161Co 10:22Hos 9:92Ch 36:12-162Ki 17:17-192Ki 21:14-162Ki 21:2Deu 31:16-18 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed. Deu 32:1Mic 6:2Deu 30:18-19Isa 1:2Jer 22:29Ezk 36:4Jer 2:12Jer 44:22
Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you. Deu 28:62-64Lev 26:33Neh 1:8-9Ezk 12:15Ezk 32:26Neh 1:3 And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell. Deu 28:64Jer 16:13Isa 46:7Deu 28:361Sa 26:19Ezk 20:39Isa 44:9Psa 115:4-8
But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. Jer 29:12-14Psa 119:22Ch 15:4Isa 55:6-7Psa 119:10Deu 30:10Jer 3:12-141Ki 8:47-48 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice. Jol 2:12-13Hos 3:5Jer 23:20Deu 31:29Gen 49:1Isa 1:19Jer 7:23Num 24:20 For the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers, which He swore to them by oath. Deu 31:8Psa 116:5Neh 9:31Jon 4:22Ch 30:9Exo 34:6-7Lev 26:42Deu 31:6
The LORD Alone Is God
Indeed, ask now from one end of the heavens to the other about the days that long preceded you, from the day that God created man on earth: Has anything as great as this ever happened or been reported? Job 8:8Deu 32:7Mat 24:31Psa 44:1Gen 1:27Jol 1:2Deu 30:4Mrk 13:27 Has a people ever heard the voice of God 4speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived? Deu 5:24Jdg 6:22Exo 33:20Deu 5:26Exo 24:11Deu 4:24-26Deu 9:10Exo 19:18-19 Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation—by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes? Deu 26:8Deu 5:15Exo 6:6Deu 7:19Deu 7:8-9Jer 32:21Deu 6:21Exo 13:3
You were shown these things so that you would know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him. Isa 45:181Sa 2:2Isa 45:5Deu 4:39Isa 44:8Deu 32:39Isa 44:6Isa 45:22
He let you hear His voice from heaven to discipline you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire. Exo 19:19Exo 19:9Deu 4:33Neh 9:13Exo 20:18-22Heb 12:25Exo 24:16Heb 12:18 Because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by His presence and great power, Deu 10:15Exo 13:14Exo 13:3Exo 13:9Exo 33:14Isa 63:11-12Isa 63:92Ch 16:9 to drive out before you nations greater and mightier than you, and to bring you into their land and give it to you for your inheritance, as it is this day. Deu 7:1Deu 11:23Deu 2:31Deu 9:1-5Exo 23:27-28Psa 44:2-3Deu 8:18Jos 3:10
Know therefore this day and take to heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. Jos 2:11Deu 4:351Ch 29:11Hos 7:21Ch 28:9Psa 135:62Ch 20:6Deu 32:29 Keep His statutes and commandments, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time. Deu 6:3Eph 6:3Deu 12:25Deu 12:28Deu 5:16Lev 22:31Deu 22:7Deu 6:18
Cities of Refuge
(Numbers 35:9–34; Deuteronomy 19:1–14; Joshua 20:1–9)
Then Moses set aside three cities across the Jordan to the east Num 35:6Num 35:14-15Jos 20:2-9 to which a manslayer could flee after killing his neighbor unintentionally without prior malice. Deu 19:1-10Heb 6:18Num 35:11-12Num 35:15-28Num 35:6
To save one’s own life, he could flee to one of these cities: Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the Gadites, or Golan in Bashan belonging to the Manassites. Jos 20:81Ch 6:711Ch 6:801Ki 22:3-41Ki 4:13Jos 21:27Jos 21:38
Introduction to the Law
This is the law that Moses set before the Israelites. Deu 27:26Deu 1:5Deu 17:18-19Deu 27:3Deu 27:8Deu 33:4Jhn 1:17Lev 27:34 These are the testimonies, statutes, and ordinances that Moses proclaimed to them after they had come out of Egypt, 1Ki 2:3Deu 4:1Deu 6:17Deu 6:20Psa 119:111Psa 119:14Psa 119:2Psa 119:22 while they were in the valley across the Jordan facing Beth-peor in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites after they had come out of Egypt. Deu 3:29Deu 1:4-5Deu 2:30-36Deu 3:8Deu 4:47Num 21:21-32Num 32:19
They took possession of the land belonging to Sihon and to Og king of Bashan—the two Amorite kings across the Jordan to the east— Deu 29:7-8Deu 3:1-14Num 21:33-35 extending from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Siyon 5(that is, Hermon), Deu 3:9Deu 2:36Deu 3:12Psa 133:3Jos 13:24-33 including all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan and as far as the Sea of the Arabah, 6 below the slopes of Pisgah. Deu 3:17Deu 34:1Jos 13:20