The Skeptics Annotated Bible (170 page)

(4.2)
“Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you neither shall ye diminish ought from it.”
This verse prevents Bible-believers from cleaning up the Bible. So they’re stuck with the unedited version.

3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal-peor: for
all the men that followed Baal-peor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.

(4.3)
“All the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.”
God destroyed all the followers of Baalpeor. (Num 25.1-9, God’s 25th Killing)

4 But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.

5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?

8 And
what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but
teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;

(4.8-9)
“What nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day? … Teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons.”
56 Are the laws of the Old Testament still binding?

10 Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words,
that they may learn to fear me
all the days that they shall live upon the earth,
and that they may teach their children.

(4.10)
“That they may learn to fear me … and that they may teach their children”
132 Should we fear God?

11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.

12 And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.

13 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

14 And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:

(4.16-24) All art is an abomination to God. No image of anything (humans, mammals, birds, fish, or insects) is permitted.
106 Is it OK to make images?

16
Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

(4.16)
“Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,”

17
The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,

(4.17)
“The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,”

18
The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:

(4.18)
“The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth.”

19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

20 But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

21 Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance:

22 But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.

23
Take heed
unto yourselves,
lest ye forget
the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you,
and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.

(4.23)
“Take heed … lest ye forget … and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.”

24
For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

(4.24)
“For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.”

(4.25-26) If someone makes an image of anything (like a bird or flower) then God will destroy the entire nation.