So tell the Israelites that I say to them, ‘I am the Lord. I will save you. You will no longer be slaves of the Egyptians. I will use my great power to make you free, and I will bring terrible punishment to the Egyptians.
You will be able to look at these tassels and remember all the commands that the Lord has given you. Then you will obey the commands. You will not do wrong by forgetting about the commands and doing the things that your own bodies and eyes want.
But you must be careful! Be sure that as long as you live you never forget what you have seen. You must teach these things to your children and grandchildren.
“I, the Lord, am the one who made you. With my power I made the earth and spread the sky over the earth. But you have forgotten me, so you are always afraid that angry men will hurt you. Those men planned to destroy you, but where are they now?
Moses said to the people, “Remember this day. You were slaves in Egypt, but on this day the Lord used his great power and made you free. You must not eat bread with yeast.
“In the future, your children will ask why you do this. They will say, ‘What does all this mean?’ And you will answer, ‘The Lord used his great power to save us from Egypt. We were slaves in that place, but he led us out and brought us here.
You must be careful not to forget the agreement that the Lord your God made with you. You must obey the Lord’s command. Don’t make any idols in any form,
It was the Lord, the God their ancestors worshiped, who had brought the Israelites out of Egypt. But they stopped following him and began to worship the false gods of the people living around them. This made the Lord angry.
This will happen because you have forgotten the God who saves you. You have not remembered that God is your place of safety. You brought some very good grapevines from faraway places. You might plant those grapevines, but they will not grow.
“This is what the Lord, the God of the people of Israel, says: ‘I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, where they were slaves. When I did that, I made an agreement with them.
“Israel served false gods, so I will punish her. She burned incense to those false gods. She dressed up—she put on her jewelry and nose ring. Then she went to her lovers and forgot me.” This is what the Lord has said.
Be sure you are not led away by the teaching of those who have nothing worth saying and only plan to deceive you. That teaching is not from Christ. It is only human tradition and comes from the powers that influence this world.