An Exhortation to Obedience

Moses urges Israel to keep the commands without altering them, recalling Baal-peor as a recent contrast between destruction and life. The law they carry into the land will mark them as a people shaped by divine nearness and righteous order.

H¹ear 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. ²You 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. ³Your 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. ⁴But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive to this day, every one of you. ⁵See, 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. ⁶Observe 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.” ⁷For 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? ⁸And what nation is great enough to have righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?

Moses tells Israel to guard the memory of Horeb and teach it across generations. At the mountain they heard the Lord’s voice from the fire, received the covenant, and were given statutes for the land ahead.

⁹Only 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. ¹⁰The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, 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.” ¹¹You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. ¹²And 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. ¹³He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to follow — the Ten Commandments that He wrote on two tablets of stone. ¹⁴At 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.