For what great nation has a god so near like the LORD our God whenever we call on him?

Then I saw how you had really sinned against the LORD your God! You had made for yourselves a calf, a cast idol. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD your God had commanded.

Now, when you made the calf that made you sin, I grabbed it, burned it with fire, crushed it, and ground it thoroughly until it was pulverized to powder. Then I threw the powder into the river that was flowing from the mountain."

Be careful not to think this wicked thought to yourselves: "The seventh year, the year of remission, is drawing near,' and you show ill will toward your poor relative and not give to him. He may then call to the LORD on account of you, and you will be guilty of sin.

I call heaven and earth to testify against you today! I've set life and death before you today: both blessings and curses. Choose life, that it may be well with you you and your children.

Then the LORD told Moses: "Look! Because your time to die is approaching, call Joshua, present yourselves at the Tent of Meeting, and then I will commission him." Moses and Joshua complied and presented themselves at the Tent of Meeting.

Gather together the leaders of your tribes and your foremen so I can speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and the earth as witnesses against them,

They will call the nations to the mountain, and there they will offer righteous sacrifices, for they'll draw from the abundance of the sea and from the hidden treasures of the sand."