96:5.6

Moses feared to proclaim the mercy of Yahweh, preferring to awe his people with the fear of the justice of God, saying: “The Lord your God is God of Gods, and Lord of Lords, a great God, a mighty and terrible God, who regards not man.” Again he sought to control the turbulent clans when he declared that “your God kills when you disobey him; he heals and gives life when you obey him.” But Moses taught these tribes that they would become the chosen people of God only on condition that they “kept all his commandments and obeyed all his statutes.”