The Lord Alone Is God; Israel Must Keep His Covenant

4:1 Now, Israel, pay attention to the statutes and ordinances I am about to teach you, so that you might live and go on to enter and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 4:2 Do not add a thing to what I command you nor subtract from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am delivering to you. 4:3 You have witnessed what the Lord did at Baal Peor, how he eradicated from your midst everyone who followed Baal Peor. 4:4 But you who remained faithful to the Lord your God are still alive to this very day, every one of you. 4:5 Look! I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the Lord my God told me to do, so that you might carry them out in the land you are about to enter and possess. 4:6 So be sure to do them, because this will testify of your wise understanding to the people who will learn of all these statutes and say, “Indeed, this great nation is a very wise people.” 4:7 In fact, what other great nation has a god so near to them like the Lord our God whenever we call on him? 4:8 And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this whole law that I am about to share with you today? 4:9 Again, however, pay very careful attention, lest you forget the things you have seen and disregard them for the rest of your life; instead teach them to your children and grandchildren. 4:10 You stood before the Lord your God at Horeb and he said to me, “Assemble the people before me so that I can tell them my commands. Then they will learn to revere me all the days they live in the land, and they will instruct their children.” 4:11 You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain ablaze to the sky above it and yet dark with a thick cloud. 4:12 Then the Lord spoke to you from the middle of the fire; you heard speech but you could not see anything – only a voice was heard. 4:13 And he revealed to you the covenant he has commanded you to keep, the ten commandments, writing them on two stone tablets. 4:14 Moreover, at that same time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to keep in the land which you are about to enter and possess. The Nature of Israel’s God 4:15 Be very careful, then, because you saw no form at the time the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the middle of the fire. 4:16 I say this so you will not corrupt yourselves by making an image in the form of any kind of figure. This includes the likeness of a human male or female, 4:17 any kind of land animal, any bird that flies in the sky, 4:18 anything that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the deep waters of the earth. 4:19 When you look up to the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars – the whole heavenly creation – you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, for the Lord your God has assigned them to all the people of the world. 4:20 You, however, the Lord has selected and brought from Egypt, that iron-smelting furnace, to be his special people as you are today. 4:21 But the Lord became angry with me because of you and vowed that I would never cross the Jordan nor enter the good land that he is about to give you. 4:22 So I must die here in this land; I will not cross the Jordan. But you are going over and will possess that good land. 4:23 Be on guard so that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he has made with you, and that you do not make an image of any kind, just as he has forbidden you. 4:24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire; he is a jealous God. Threat and Blessing following Covenant Disobedience 4:25 After you have produced children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, if you become corrupt and make an image of any kind and do other evil things before the Lord your God that enrage him, 4:26 I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will surely and swiftly be removed from the very land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not last long there because you will surely be annihilated. 4:27 Then the Lord will scatter you among the peoples and there will be very few of you among the nations where the Lord will drive you. 4:28 There you will worship gods made by human hands – wood and stone that can neither see, hear, eat, nor smell. 4:29 But if you seek the Lord your God from there, you will find him, if, indeed, you seek him with all your heart and soul. 4:30 In your distress when all these things happen to you in the latter days, if you return to the Lord your God and obey him 4:31 (for he is a merciful God), he will not let you down or destroy you, for he cannot forget the covenant with your ancestors that he confirmed by oath to them. The Uniqueness of Israel’s God 4:32 Indeed, ask about the distant past, starting from the day God created humankind on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether there has ever been such a great thing as this, or even a rumor of it. 4:33 Have a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the middle of fire, as you yourselves have, and lived to tell about it? 4:34 Or has God ever before tried to deliver a nation from the middle of another nation, accompanied by judgments, signs, wonders, war, strength, power, and other very terrifying things like the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? 4:35 You have been taught that the Lord alone is God – there is no other besides him. 4:36 From heaven he spoke to you in order to teach you, and on earth he showed you his great fire from which you also heard his words. 4:37 Moreover, because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants who followed them and personally brought you out of Egypt with his great power 4:38 to dispossess nations greater and stronger than you and brought you here this day to give you their land as your property. 4:39 Today realize and carefully consider that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below – there is no other! 4:40 Keep his statutes and commandments that I am setting forth today so that it may go well with you and your descendants and that you may enjoy longevity in the land that the Lord your God is about to give you as a permanent possession.

Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible®, copyright ©1996, 2019 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

Moses calls Israel to hear and keep the Lord’s statutes without changing them. He reminds them of Horeb, where they heard God’s voice but saw no form, and he warns them not to make idols or worship created things. Obedience will show Israel’s wisdom and bring life and blessing in the land, but persistent idolatry will bring judgment, scattering, and exile. Even so, if they seek the Lord and return to him with all their heart and soul, he will be merciful because he remembers his covenant. The chapter ends with the confession that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.

This passage is a strong covenant warning and appeal. Moses tells Israel to listen carefully to the Lord’s commands so they may live and possess the land. He says they must not change God’s word. They are to remember Baal Peor, where idolatry brought judgment, and they are to teach God’s works to their children.

Moses then recalls Horeb. The people heard God speak from the fire, but they saw no form. Because of that, they must not make images of people, animals, or anything in heaven or on earth. The sun, moon, and stars are not gods. They were made for all peoples. Israel belongs to the Lord in a special way because he brought them out of Egypt.

Moses warns that if the people become corrupt after living long in the land, the Lord will judge them, remove them from the land, and scatter them among the nations. Yet the warning is not the last word. If they seek the Lord with all their heart and soul and turn back to obey him, he will not destroy them, because he is merciful and remembers the covenant made with their fathers.

The chapter closes by showing why this matters. No other nation heard the voice of God from the fire and lived. No other nation saw a rescue like the exodus. The Lord alone is God. Therefore Israel must keep his statutes so it may go well with them and their children.

• God’s law must be received as given; Israel must not add to it or subtract from it.
• Idolatry is serious covenant rebellion and brings real judgment.
• The Lord spoke at Horeb without any visible form, so Israel must not make images to represent him.
• The Lord is not one god among many; he alone is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath.
• Obedience is tied to life, wisdom, and blessing in the land.
• Long-term corruption can lead to removal from the land and scattering among the nations.
• If the people seek the Lord with all their heart and soul and return to him, he is merciful and faithful to his covenant.
• Israel’s calling is rooted in the Lord’s redemption of them from Egypt and his choice of them as his special people.

• Listen carefully to the Lord’s statutes and ordinances.
• Do not add to God’s commands or take from them.
• Remember what the Lord did at Baal Peor and do not follow idolatry.
• Teach God’s works and words to your children and grandchildren.
• Do not make images of any kind for worship.
• Do not worship the sun, moon, stars, or any created thing.
• Keep the covenant of the Lord your God.
• If you seek the Lord with all your heart and soul, you will find him.
• If you return to the Lord and obey him, he will not destroy you.
• Keep his statutes and commandments so it may go well with you and your descendants.

This passage stands in the Mosaic covenant as Israel prepares to enter the promised land. It shows that redemption from Egypt is joined to covenant obligation. The Lord’s holiness, mercy, and jealousy shape Israel’s life in the land, while the warnings of scattering and the hope of return point forward to the later exile-and-restoration pattern in Scripture. The confession that the Lord alone is God also fits the wider biblical witness to his unique rule over all creation.

God’s people must treat his word with reverence and not reshape it to fit their desires. They must reject every form of idolatry, including anything that pulls worship away from the living God. They should remember God’s works, teach them to the next generation, and answer prosperity with continued obedience rather than forgetfulness. The passage also calls for sober fear of judgment and humble hope in mercy, since the Lord receives those who return to him with a whole heart.

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