19. Don’t let yourselves be tempted to worship and serve what you see in the sky—the sun, the moon, the stars, or anything else. The Lord your God has given them to all people everywhere.
20. But you are the people the Lord brought out of Egypt, the iron smelter, in order to make you his own people as you still are today.
21. The Lord was angry with me because of you. So the Lord your God took an oath that I wouldn’t cross the Jordan River and enter the good land he is giving you as your property.
22. I’m going to die in this land and not cross the Jordan River, but you’re going to go across and take possession of that good land.
23. Be careful that you don’t forget the promise that the Lord your God made to you. Don’t make your own carved idols or statues that represent anything the Lord your God has forbidden.
24. The Lord your God is a raging fire, a God who does not tolerate rivals.
25. Even when you have children and grandchildren and have grown old in that land, don’t become corrupt and make carved idols or statues that represent anything. I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today: If you do this thing that the Lord your God considers evil, making him furious,
26. you will quickly disappear from the land you’re going to possess on the other side of the Jordan River. You won’t live very long there. You’ll be completely wiped out.
27. The Lord will scatter you among the people of the world, and only a few of you will be left among the nations where the Lord will force you to live.
28. There you will worship wooden and stone gods made by human hands. These gods can’t see, hear, eat, or smell.
29. But if you look for the Lord your God when you are among those nations, you will find him whenever you search for him with all your heart and with all your soul.
30. When you’re in distress and all these things happen to you, then you will finally come back to the Lord your God and obey him.