The Lord made a covenant with the Israelites. At that time he commanded them,“ Do not worship any other gods. Do not bow down to them. Do not serve them or sacrifice to them.

耶和华曾与他们立约，嘱咐他们说：“不可敬畏别神，不可跪拜侍奉他，也不可向他献祭。

耶和华曾与他们立约，吩咐他们说：“不可敬畏别神，不可跪拜事奉它们，也不可向它们献祭。

耶和华曾与他们立约，吩咐他们说：“不可敬畏别神，不可跪拜事奉它们，也不可向它们献祭。

与他的子孙立约，吩咐他们：“不可祭拜其他神明，不可跪拜和供奉他们，也不可向他们献祭。

耶和华曾经和他们立约，又吩咐他们说：“你们不可崇敬别的神，不可跪拜他们，不可服事他们，也不可向他们献祭。

耶和華曾與他們立約，囑咐他們說：「不可敬畏別神，不可跪拜事奉他，也不可向他獻祭。

耶和華曾與他們立約，吩咐他們說：「不可敬畏別神，不可跪拜事奉它們，也不可向它們獻祭。

耶和華曾與他們立約，吩咐他們說：「不可敬畏別神，不可跪拜事奉它們，也不可向它們獻祭。

與他的子孫立約，吩咐他們：「不可祭拜其他神明，不可跪拜和供奉他們，也不可向他們獻祭。

耶和華曾經和他們立約，又吩咐他們說：“你們不可崇敬別的神，不可跪拜他們，不可服事他們，也不可向他們獻祭。

永恆主曾和他們立過約，吩咐他們說：『你們不可敬畏別的神，不可敬拜服事他們，也不可向他們獻祭；

耶和華與其後裔立約、誡之曰、勿寅畏他神、勿崇拜、勿奉事、勿祭祀、

昔耶和華與以色列族立約、命之曰、毋畏他上帝、毋崇拜、毋服事、毋祭祀、

昔主與雅各後裔立約、命之曰、勿敬畏他神、勿崇拜、勿奉事、勿祭祀、

When the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them:“ Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them.

The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them,“ You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them,

For the Lord had made a covenant with the descendants of Jacob and commanded them:“ Do not worship any other gods or bow before them or serve them or offer sacrifices to them.

The LORD made a covenant with Jacob’s descendants and commanded them,“ Do not fear other gods; do not bow in worship to them; do not serve them; do not sacrifice to them.

The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, saying,“ You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them.

with whom the Lord had made a covenant and charged them, saying:“ You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them;

with whom Jehovah had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:

The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them,“ Do not fear other gods; do not bow down to them; do not serve them; do not sacrifice to them.

With whom the LORD had made a covenant, and charged them, saying, Ye shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them:

The Lord made an agreement with them and instructed them,“ You must not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them.

with whom Yahweh had made a covenant, and commanded them, saying,“ You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them;

I said to you,“ I am the Lord your God. You are now living in the land of the Amorites. Do not worship their gods.” But you have not listened to me.’ ”

Be careful. Do not make a peace treaty with those who live in the land where you are going. They will be a trap to you.Break down their altars. Smash their sacred stones. Cut down the poles they use to worship the female god named Asherah.Do not worship any other god. The Lord is a jealous God. In fact, his name is Jealous.“ Be careful not to make a peace treaty with the people living in the land. They commit sin by offering sacrifices to their gods. They will invite you to eat their sacrifices, and you will do it.You will choose some of their daughters as wives for your sons. And those daughters will commit sin by worshiping their gods. Then they will lead your sons to do the same thing.“ Do not make any statues of gods.

Suppose you break the covenant the Lord your God made with you. He commanded you to obey it. But suppose you go and serve other gods. And you bow down to them. Then the Lord will be very angry with you. You will quickly be destroyed. You will be removed from the good land he has given you.”

“ Do not make for yourself statues of gods that look like anything in the sky. They may not look like anything on the earth or in the waters either.Do not bow down to them or worship them. I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I cause the sins of the parents to affect their children. I will cause the sins of those who hate me to affect even their grandchildren and great- grandchildren.

Be careful. Don’t forget the covenant the Lord your God made with you. Don’t make for yourselves a statue of any god at all. He has told you not to. So don’t do it.The Lord your God is like a fire that burns everything up. He wants you to worship only him.So don’t make a statue of a god. Don’t commit that horrible sin. Don’t do it even after you have had children and grandchildren. Don’t do it even after you have lived in the land a long time. If you do, that will be an evil thing in the sight of the Lord your God. You will make him angry.Today I’m calling out to the heavens and the earth to be witnesses against you. Suppose you do these things. Then you will quickly die in the land you are going across the Jordan River to take over. You won’t live there very long. You will certainly be destroyed.The Lord will drive you out of your land. He will scatter you among the nations. Only a few of you will remain alive there.

Don’t have anything to do with the nations that remain among you. Don’t use the names of their gods for any reason at all. Don’t give your word and make promises in their names. You must not serve them. You must not bow down to them.

Now obey me completely. Keep my covenant. If you do, then out of all the nations you will be my special treasure. The whole earth is mine.But you will be a kingdom of priests to serve me. You will be my holy nation.’ That is what you must tell the Israelites.”

“ The days are coming,” announces the Lord.“ I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel. I will also make it with the people of Judah.It will not be like the covenant I made with their people of long ago. That was when I took them by the hand. I led them out of Egypt. But they broke my covenant. They did it even though I was like a husband to them,” announces the Lord.“ This is the covenant I will make with Israel after that time,” announces the Lord.“ I will put my law in their minds. I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God. And they will be my people.They will not need to teach their neighbor anymore. And they will not need to teach one another anymore. They will not need to say,‘ Know the Lord.’ That’s because everyone will know me. From the least important of them to the most important, all of them will know me,” announces the Lord.“ I will forgive their evil ways. I will not remember their sins anymore.”

They refused to obey his rules. They broke the covenant he had made with them. They didn’t pay any attention to the rules he had warned them to keep. They worshiped worthless statues of gods. Then they themselves became worthless. They followed the example of the nations around them. They did it even though the Lord had ordered them not to. He had said,“ Do not do as they do.”

Today all of you are standing here in the sight of the Lord your God. Your leaders and chief men are here. Your elders and officials are here. So are all the other men of Israel.Your children and wives are here with you too. So are the outsiders living in your camps. They chop your wood and carry your water.All of you are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God. He is making the covenant with you today. He’s giving you his word.Today he wants to show you that you are his people and that he is your God. That’s what he promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.I’m making this covenant and the promise that goes along with it. I’m making this covenant with you.You are standing here with us today in front of the Lord our God. And I’m also making this covenant with those who aren’t here today.

But Jesus has been given a greater work to do for God. He is the go- between for the new covenant. This covenant is better than the old one. The new covenant is based on better promises.Suppose nothing had been wrong with that first covenant. Then no one would have looked for another covenant.But God found fault with the people. He said,“ The days are coming, announces the Lord. I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel. I will also make it with the people of Judah.It will not be like the covenant I made with their people of long ago. That was when I took them by the hand. I led them out of Egypt. My new covenant will be different because they didn’t remain faithful to my old covenant. So I turned away from them, announces the Lord.This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds. I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God. And they will be my people.People will not teach their neighbor anymore. They will not say to one another,‘ Know the Lord.’ That’s because everyone will know me. From the least important to the most important, all of them will know me.I will forgive their evil ways. I will not remember their sins anymore.”( Jeremiah 31:31–34)God called this covenant“ new.” So he has done away with the first one. And what is out of date and has been done away with will soon disappear.

Suppose a prophet appears among you. Or someone comes who uses dreams to tell what’s going to happen. He tells you that a sign or something amazing is going to take place.The sign or amazing thing he has spoken about might really take place. And then the prophet might say,“ Let’s serve other gods. Let’s worship them.” But you haven’t known anything about those gods before.So you must not listen to what that prophet or dreamer has said. The Lord your God is testing you. He wants to know whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.You must worship him. You must honor him. Keep his commands. Obey him. Serve him. Remain true to him.That prophet or dreamer must be put to death. He told you not to obey the Lord your God. The Lord brought you out of Egypt. He set you free from the land where you were slaves. He commanded you to live the way he wants you to. But that prophet or dreamer has tried to get you to be unfaithful to the Lord. Get rid of that evil person.Suppose your very own brother or sister secretly tempts you to do something wrong. Or your child or the wife you love tempts you. Or your closest friend does it. Suppose one of them says,“ Let’s go and worship other gods.” But you and your people of long ago hadn’t known anything about those gods before.They are the gods of the nations around you. Those nations might be near or far away. In fact, they might reach from one end of the land to the other.Don’t give in to those who are tempting you. Don’t listen to them. Don’t feel sorry for them. Don’t spare them or save them.You must certainly put them to death. You must be the first to throw stones at them. Then all the people must do the same thing.Put them to death by throwing stones at them. They tried to turn you away from the Lord your God. He brought you out of Egypt. That’s the land where you were slaves.After you kill those who tempted you, all the Israelites will hear about it. And they will be too scared to do an evil thing like that again.The Lord your God is giving you towns to live in. But suppose you hear something bad about one of those towns.You hear that people who cause trouble have appeared among you. They’ve tried to get the people of their town to do something wrong. They’ve said,“ Let’s go and worship other gods.” But you haven’t known anything about those gods before.So you must ask people some questions. You must check out the matter carefully. If it’s true, an evil thing has really happened among you. It’s something the Lord hates.Then you must certainly kill with your swords everyone who lives in that town. You must destroy it completely. You must wipe out its people and livestock.You must gather all the goods of that town into the middle of the main street. You must burn the town completely. You must burn up everything in it. It’s a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. The town must remain a pile of stones forever. It must never be built again.Don’t keep anything that should be destroyed. Then the Lord will turn away from his great anger. He will show you mercy. He’ll have deep concern for you. He’ll cause there to be many of you. That’s what he promised your people of long ago. He gave his word when he made the promise.The Lord your God will do those things if you obey him. I’m giving you his commands today. And you must obey all of them. You must do what is right in his eyes.

Moses put half of the blood in bowls. He splashed the other half against the altar.Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They answered,“ We will do everything the Lord has told us to do. We will obey him.”Then Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people. He said,“ This is the blood that puts the covenant into effect. The Lord has made this covenant with you in keeping with all these words.”

The statues of their gods can’t speak. They are like scarecrows in a field of cucumbers. Their statues have to be carried around because they can’t walk. So do not be afraid of their gods. They can’t do you any harm. And they can’t do you any good either.”