"... In addition to making an oath effectual and divinely enforced, writing the oath down also meant that it would endure through time without losing power of efficacy. A neo-Assyrian loyalty oath would use language indicating that the vassal commitment to the suzerain is everlasting: “Never to break the adê which is henceforth valid for ever” (VTE 377-384:33) for all generations of the vassals “who will exist in days to come after the treaty”. Due to the material efficaciousness of individual instantiations of loyalty oaths, as documents they often included prohibitions against alteration of the writing. The Esarhaddon and Aramaic Sefire treaties alike establish an injunction to never alter or destroy the physical document, which Deuteronomy 13:1 echoes in order to portray the covenant as unchangeable and permanent: “You must diligently observe everything that I command you; do not add to it or take anything from it.” Deuteronomy 4:2 also states, “You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it.” Bernard M. Levinson reminds that “The formula [in Deuteronomy 13:1] actually has a long pre-history in the ancient Near East, where it originally sought to prevent royal inscriptions, including law collections and treaties (compare 1 Maccabees 8:30) from being altered.” ..."