20. But you are the people he rescued from Egypt, that blazing furnace. He brought you out to make you his own people, as you are today.
21. Because of you the Lord your God was angry with me and solemnly declared that I would not cross the River Jordan to enter the fertile land which he is giving you.
22. I will die in this land and never cross the river, but you are about to go across and occupy that fertile land.
23. Be certain that you do not forget the covenant that the Lord your God made with you. Obey his command not to make yourselves any kind of idol,
24. because the Lord your God is like a flaming fire; he tolerates no rivals.
25. “Even when you have been in the land a long time and have children and grandchildren, do not sin by making for yourselves an idol in any form at all. This is evil in the Lord's sight, and it will make him angry.
26. I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that, if you disobey me, you will soon disappear from the land. You will not live very long in the land across the Jordan that you are about to occupy. You will be completely destroyed.
27. The Lord will scatter you among other nations, where only a few of you will survive.
28. There you will serve gods made by human hands, gods of wood and stone, gods that cannot see or hear, eat or smell.
29. There you will look for the Lord your God, and if you search for him with all your heart, you will find him.
30. When you are in trouble and all those things happen to you, then you will finally turn to the Lord and obey him.
31. He is a merciful God. He will not abandon you or destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant that he himself made with your ancestors.
32. “Search the past, the time before you were born, all the way back to the time when God created humanity on the earth. Search the entire earth. Has anything as great as this ever happened before? Has anyone ever heard of anything like this?
33. Have any people ever lived after hearing a god speak to them from a fire, as you have?
34. Has any god ever dared to go and take a people from another nation and make them his own, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt? Before your very eyes he used his great power and strength; he brought plagues and war, worked miracles and wonders, and caused terrifying things to happen.
35. The Lord has shown you this, to prove to you that he alone is God and that there is no other.