6. Keep them faithfully because that will show your wisdom and insight to the nations who will hear about all these regulations. They will say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and insightful people!"
7. After all, is there any great nation that has gods as close to it as the Lord our God is close to us whenever we call to him?
8. Or does any great nation have regulations and case laws as righteous as all this Instruction that I am setting before you today?
9. But be on guard and watch yourselves closely so that you don’t forget the things your eyes saw and so they never leave your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren.
10. Remember that day when you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me: "Gather the people to me. I will declare my words to them so that they will learn to fear me every day of their lives on the fertile land, and teach their children to do the same."
11. Then you all came close and stood at the foot of the mountain. The mountain was blazing with fire up to the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick smoke!
12. The Lord spoke to you out of the very fire itself. You heard the sound of words, but you didn’t see any form. There was only a voice.
13. The Lord declared his covenant to you, which he commanded you to do—the Ten Commandments—and wrote them on two stone tablets.
14. At that time, the Lord commanded me to teach you all the regulations and the case laws that you must keep in the land that you are entering to possess.
15. So watch your conduct closely, because you didn’t see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the very fire itself.
16. Don’t ruin everything and make an idol for yourself: a form of any image, any likeness—male or female—
17. or any likeness whatsoever, whether of a land animal, a bird that flies in the sky,
18. an insect that crawls on the earth, or a fish that lives in the sea.
19. Don’t look to the skies, to the sun or the moon or the stars, all the heavenly bodies, and be led astray, worshipping and serving them. The Lord your God has granted these things to all the nations who live under heaven.