A reading from the book of Deuteronomy.

And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the

Lord your God that I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at bail Pior, for the Lord

your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the bail of Pior. But you who held fast

to the Lord your God are all alive today. See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded

me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them

and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who,

when they hear all these statutes, will say, surely this great nation is a wise and

understanding people. For what great nation is there that has a God so near to it as the Lord

our God is to us, whenever we call upon him, and what great nation is there that has statutes

and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today. Only take care,

and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they

depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your

children's children. How on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horrib,

the Lord said to me, gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may

learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.

And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart

of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst

of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form. There was only a voice, and he declared

to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two

tablets of stone, and the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules that you

...