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Deuteronomy 4
International Standard Version

Moses Presents the Privileges of the Covenant

4 “Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the ordinances that I’m teaching you to observe so you may live and go in to take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is about to give you. 2 Do not add or subtract a thing to what I’m commanding you. Observe the commands of the Lord your God.[a] 3 You saw with your own eyes what he did in Baal Peor. The Lord your God exterminated from among you every man who followed Baal of Peor. 4 But all of you who are clinging to the Lord your God are alive today. 5 See! I taught you the statutes and the ordinances, just as the Lord God commanded. Therefore, observe them[b] when you enter the land you are about to possess. 6 Observe them carefully, because this will show your wisdom and discernment in the eyes of people who’ll listen to all these decrees. Then they’ll say: ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people.’ 7 For what great nation has a god so near like the Lord our God whenever we call on him? 8 And what great nation has all the decrees and righteous ordinances like all this teaching that I’m giving you today? 9 Only guard yourselves carefully so you won’t forget the things that you saw and let them slip from your mind for the rest of your life. Tell them to your children and to your grandchildren. 10 The day you stood in the presence of the Lord your God in Horeb, the Lord told me, ‘Gather the people before me so they may hear my words, learn to revere me the whole time that they live in the land, and teach them[c] to their children.’”

Moses Warns against Idolatry

11 “When you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain—a mountain that was blazing with fire at its core[d] while the sky was covered with thick, dark clouds— 12 the Lord your God spoke from the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but you saw no form; there was only a voice. 13 He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to observe—the Ten Commandments that he wrote on two stone tablets. 14 The Lord commanded me at that time to teach you to observe the statutes and ordinances in the land after you cross over to take possession of it.

15 “Therefore, for your own sake, be very careful, since you did not see any form on the day that the Lord your God spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the fire. 16 Be careful![e] Otherwise, you will be destroyed when you make carved images for yourself—all sorts of images in the form of man, woman, 17 any animal on earth, any winged bird that flies in the sky, 18 any creeping thing on the ground, or any fish in the sea.[f] 19 Do not gaze toward the heavens and observe the sun, the moon, the stars—the entire array of the sky—with the intent[g] to worship and serve what the Lord your God gave every nation.[h] 20 For the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace—out of Egypt—to be the people of his inheritance, as you are today.

21 “But the Lord was angry with me because of you. So he swore that I’ll never cross the Jordan River to enter the good land that the Lord your God is about to give you as an inheritance. 22 I’m going to die in this land and I won’t cross the Jordan River, but you’re about to cross over to possess that good land. 23 Be careful! Otherwise, you will forget the covenant of the Lord your God, who established that covenant with you. Don’t make carved images of any likeness in violation of everything that you were commanded by the Lord your God. 24 Indeed, the Lord your God is a consuming[i] fire. He is a jealous God.”

Warnings against Angering God

25 “After you’ve borne children and grandchildren, have been there for a long time in the land, have become so corrupted that you make images of any form, and have done evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, you will provoke him to anger. 26 Heaven and earth will testify against what has occurred[j] today: you’ll surely and swiftly be destroyed from the land that you are about to possess by crossing the Jordan River. You won’t live long in it, because you’ll certainly be exterminated. 27 Moreover, the Lord will scatter you among the nations, and you’ll be fewer in number in the nations where the Lord your God will drive you. 28 There you’ll serve gods made by human hands, serving[k] trees and stones that cannot see, hear, eat, nor smell. 29 If from there you will seek the Lord your God, then you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and soul. 30 In your distress, when all these things happen to you in days to come and you return to the Lord your God, then you will hear his voice. 31 For God is compassionate. The Lord your God won’t fail you. He won’t destroy you or forget the covenant that he confirmed with your ancestors.”

Who is Like the Lord?

32 “Indeed, ask from one end of the heavens to the other about days of old, before your time, when God created mankind on the earth. Did we ever have anything as great as this, or ever hear of anything like it? 33 Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the middle of a fire just as you did,[l] and survived it? 34 Or has any god ever taken for himself one nation out from another nation with testings, signs, wonders, wars, awesome power,[m] and magnificent, terrifying deeds[n] as the Lord your God did in Egypt before your eyes?

35 “You have been shown this in order to know that ‘the Lord is God’ and there is no one like him. 36 You have been made to hear his voice from heaven so you may be instructed.[o] And he showed you his great fire here on earth, and you heard his voice from the middle of that fire. 37 Moreover, he loved your ancestors, chose their descendants after them, and brought you out of Egypt, accompanied by his presence and great power, 38 in order to drive out nations that are stronger and more powerful than you, to bring you into this land,[p] and to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is today.

39 “May you acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in the heavens above and over the earth below—there is no other God.[q] 40 May you observe his statutes and keep his commands that I’m giving you today, so that life may go well for you and for your descendants after you. That way, you’ll live a long life in the land that the Lord your God is about to give you permanently.”[r]

Cities of Refuge

41 Then Moses designated three cities on the east side of the Jordan, 42 where a person who accidentally killed someone could flee, if he killed his neighbor without having enmity toward him in the past. He may flee to one of these cities and live: 43 Bezer in the desert plain for the descendants of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead for the descendants of Gad, and Golan in Bashan for the descendants of Manasseh.

Moses Reviews the Law

44 This is the Law that Moses reviewed in the presence of the Israelis. 45 These are the instructions, decrees, and ordinances that Moses declared to the Israelis when they came out of Egypt. 46 He did this[s] east of the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and whom Moses and the Israelis defeated after leaving Egypt. 47 So they took possession of his land, as well as the land of King Og of Bashan. Both Amorite kings lived east of the Jordan— 48 from Aroer on the edge of the Wadi[t] Arnon as far as Mount Sirion,[u] which is also called Hermon, 49 and all the Arabah east of the Jordan as far as the Dead Sea[v] below the slopes of Pisgah.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 4:2 Lit. God that I’m commanding you
  2. Deuteronomy 4:5 The Heb. lacks them
  3. Deuteronomy 4:10 The Heb. lacks them
  4. Deuteronomy 4:11 Lit. heart
  5. Deuteronomy 4:16 The Heb. lacks be careful
  6. Deuteronomy 4:18 Lit. in the waters below ground
  7. Deuteronomy 4:19 The Heb. lacks with the intent
  8. Deuteronomy 4:19 I.e. as lights in the night sky; cf. Gen 1:14-18
  9. Deuteronomy 4:24 So MT; LXX reads is an all-consuming
  10. Deuteronomy 4:26 Lit. I invoke heaven and earth against you
  11. Deuteronomy 4:28 The Heb. lacks serving
  12. Deuteronomy 4:33 Lit. heard
  13. Deuteronomy 4:34 Lit. wars, a mighty hand and an outstretched arm,
  14. Deuteronomy 4:34 The Heb. lacks deeds
  15. Deuteronomy 4:36 Or disciplined
  16. Deuteronomy 4:38 The Heb. lacks this land
  17. Deuteronomy 4:39 The Heb. lacks God
  18. Deuteronomy 4:40 Lit. all the days
  19. Deuteronomy 4:46 The Heb. lacks He did this
  20. Deuteronomy 4:48 I.e. a seasonal stream or river that channels water during rain seasons but is dry at other times
  21. Deuteronomy 4:48 MT reads Sion; cf. Deut 3:9
  22. Deuteronomy 4:49 Lit. the Sea of the Arabah
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Deuteronomy 4
Lexham English Bible

Introduction to the Stipulations

4 “Now, Israel, listen to the rules and to the regulations that I am teaching you to do, in order that you may live and you may go in and you may take possession of the land that Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,[a] is giving to you. 2 You must not add to the word that I am commanding you, and you shall not take away from it in order to keep[b] the commands of Yahweh your God that I am commanding you to observe. 3 Your eyes have seen[c] what Yahweh did with[d] the case of Baal Peor, for each[e] man that followed after Baal Peor Yahweh your God destroyed from your midst. 4 But you, the ones holding fast to Yahweh your God, are all alive today.[f]

5 See, I now teach[g] you rules and regulations just as Yahweh my God has commanded me, to observe them just so in the midst of the land where you are going, to take possession of it. 6 And you must observe them diligently,[h] for that is your wisdom and your insight before the eyes of the people, who will hear all of these rules, and they will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people.’ 7 For what great nation has for it a god near to it as Yahweh our God, whenever[i] we call upon him? 8 And what other great nation has for it[j] just rules and regulations just like[k] this whole[l] law that I am setting before[m] you today?[n]

9 “However, take care[o] for yourself and watch your inner self[p] closely, so that you do not forget the things that your eyes have seen, so that they do not slip from your mind all the days of your life; and you shall make them known to your children and to your grandchildren.[q] 10 Remember the day that you stood before[r] Yahweh your God at Horeb when Yahweh said to me,[s] ‘Summon for me the people so that I can tell them my words, that they may learn to fear me all of the days they are alive on the earth and so that they may teach their children.’ 11 And so you came near, and you stood under the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire up to the heart of the heaven, dark with a very thick cloud.[t] 12 And Yahweh spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard[u] a sound of words, but you did not see[v] a form—only a voice. 13 And he declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments,[w] which he charged you to observe,[x] and he wrote them on the two tablets of stone. 14 And Yahweh charged me at that time to teach you rules and regulations for your observation of them[y] in the land that you are about to cross into[z] to take possession of it.

15 “So you must be very careful for yourselves,[aa] because you did not see[ab] any form on the day Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, 16 so that you do not ruin yourselves[ac] and make for yourselves a divine image in a form of any image, a replica of male or female, 17 a replica of any animal that is upon the earth, a replica of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 a replica of any creeping thing on the ground, a replica of any fish that is in the water below[ad] the earth. 19 And do this so that you do not lift[ae] your eyes toward heaven and observe[af] the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of the heaven, and be led astray and bow down to them and serve them, things that Yahweh your God has allotted to all of the peoples under all of the heaven. 20 But Yahweh has taken you and brought you out from the furnace of iron, from Egypt, to be a people of inheritance to[ag] him, as it is this day.[ah]

21 “And Yahweh was angry with me because of you,[ai] and he swore that I would not cross the Jordan[aj] and that I would not go to the good land[ak] that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance. 22 For I am going to die in this land; I am not going to cross the Jordan, but you are going to cross, and you are going to take possession of this good land. 23 Watch out for yourselves so that you do not forget the covenant of Yahweh your God that he had made[al] with you and make for yourselves a divine image of the form of anything that Yahweh your God has forbidden,[am] 24 for Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous[an] God.

25 “When you have had children and grandchildren[ao] and you have grown old in the land and you act corruptly and you make a divine image of the form of anything and you do evil in the eyes of Yahweh your God, thus provoking him to anger, 26 I call[ap] to witness against you today the heaven and the earth, that you will perish soon and completely from the land that you are crossing the Jordan into it to take possession of it; you will not live long on it,[aq] but you will be completely destroyed. 27 And Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number[ar] among the nations to where Yahweh will lead you.[as] 28 And you will there serve gods made by human hands,[at] of wood and stone, gods that cannot see and cannot hear and cannot eat and cannot smell. 29 But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God and will find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.[au] 30 In your distress[av] when[aw] all these things have found you in the latter days,[ax] then[ay] you will return to Yahweh your God, and you will listen to his voice. 31 For Yahweh your God is a compassionate God; he will not abandon you,[az] and he will not destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant of your ancestors[ba] that he swore to them.

32 “Yes, ask, please, about former days that preceded you[bb] from the day that God created humankind on the earth; ask even from one end of the heaven up to the other end of heaven whether anything ever happened[bc] like this great thing or whether anything like it was ever heard.[bd] 33 Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, just as you heard it, and lived? 34 Or has a god ever attempted to go to take for himself[be] a nation from the midst of a nation, using trials and signs and wonders and war, with an outstretched arm and with great and awesome deeds, like all that Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 You yourselves[bf] were shown this wonder in order for you to acknowledge that Yahweh is the God;[bg] there is no other God besides him.[bh] 36 From heaven he made you hear his voice to teach you, and on the earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from the midst of the fire. 37 And because he loved your ancestors[bi] he chose their descendants[bj] after them. And he brought you forth from Egypt with his own presence,[bk] by his great strength, 38 to drive out nations greater and more numerous than you from before you,[bl] to bring you and to give to you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day. 39 So you shall acknowledge today,[bm] and you must call to mind[bn] that Yahweh is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no other God. 40 And you shall keep his rules and his commandments that I am commanding you today,[bo] so that it may go well[bp] for you and for your children[bq] after you, and so that you may remain a long time[br] on the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you during all of those days.”

41 Then Moses set apart three cities on the other side of the Jordan,[bs] toward the east,[bt] 42 in order for a manslayer[bu] to flee there who has killed his neighbor without intent[bv] and was not hating him previously,[bw] and so he could flee to one of these cities and be safe.[bx] 43 He set apart Bezer in the wilderness[by] in the land of the plateau of the Reubenites;[bz] Ramoth in Gilead of the Gadites,[ca] and Golan in Bashan of the Manassites.[cb]

44 Now this is the law[cc] that Moses set before[cd] the Israelites;[ce] 45 these are the legal provisions and the rules and the regulations that Moses spoke to the Israelites[cf] when they left Egypt,[cg] 46 beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth Peor in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites,[ch] who was reigning in Heshbon and whom Moses and the Israelites[ci] defeated when they came out of Egypt.[cj] 47 And so they took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites[ck] who were beyond the Jordan, eastward,[cl] 48 from Aroer, which is on the bank of the wadi[cm] of Arnon and as far as Mount Sirion; that is, Hermon, 49 and all of the Arabah[cn] beyond the Jordan, eastward, and as far as the Sea of the Arabah[co] under the slopes of Pisgah.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 4:1 Or “fathers”
  2. Deuteronomy 4:2 Or “observe”
  3. Deuteronomy 4:3 Literally “your eyes the seeing what”
  4. Deuteronomy 4:3 Or “in”
  5. Deuteronomy 4:3 Literally “every one of”
  6. Deuteronomy 4:4 Literally “the day”
  7. Deuteronomy 4:5 Or “I have taught” (compare NASB, NEB)
  8. Deuteronomy 4:6 Literally “you must observe and you must do”
  9. Deuteronomy 4:7 Literally “in every matter/every time we call ”
  10. Deuteronomy 4:8 Literally “which/that is for him it”
  11. Deuteronomy 4:8 Literally “as”
  12. Deuteronomy 4:8 Literally “all of”
  13. Deuteronomy 4:8 Literally “to the face of”
  14. Deuteronomy 4:8 Literally “the day”
  15. Deuteronomy 4:9 Literally “watch”
  16. Deuteronomy 4:9 Or “soul”
  17. Deuteronomy 4:9 Literally “the children of your children”
  18. Deuteronomy 4:10 Literally “to the face of”
  19. Deuteronomy 4:10 Literally “when to say Yahweh”
  20. Deuteronomy 4:11 Literally “darkness, cloud, and very thick darkness”
  21. Deuteronomy 4:12 Literally “you were hearing”
  22. Deuteronomy 4:12 Literally “you were not seeing”
  23. Deuteronomy 4:13 Literally “the ten words”
  24. Deuteronomy 4:13 Literally “to do”
  25. Deuteronomy 4:14 Literally “for your doing them”
  26. Deuteronomy 4:14 Literally “about to cross into there”
  27. Deuteronomy 4:15 Literally “watch yourselves diligently with respect to your souls”
  28. Deuteronomy 4:15 Or “have not seen”
  29. Deuteronomy 4:16 Literally “corrupt yourselves”
  30. Deuteronomy 4:18 Literally “under”
  31. Deuteronomy 4:19 Literally “And lest you lift up”
  32. Deuteronomy 4:19 Literally “see”
  33. Deuteronomy 4:20 Or “for”; a people of inheritance = a people who is his very own possession
  34. Deuteronomy 4:20 Literally “as the day the this” = as you are now
  35. Deuteronomy 4:21 Literally “because of your matter”
  36. Deuteronomy 4:21 Literally “not I to cross the Jordan”
  37. Deuteronomy 4:21 Literally “not I going to the land”
  38. Deuteronomy 4:23 Literally “cut”
  39. Deuteronomy 4:23 Literally “has commanded you about”
  40. Deuteronomy 4:24 Or “zealous” or “impassioned”
  41. Deuteronomy 4:25 Literally “children of children”
  42. Deuteronomy 4:26 Or “I shall call to witness”
  43. Deuteronomy 4:26 Literally “you will not extend days”
  44. Deuteronomy 4:27 Literally “people of number,” as opposed to people without number
  45. Deuteronomy 4:27 Literally “he will lead Yahweh you there”
  46. Deuteronomy 4:28 Literally “the work of the hands of human”
  47. Deuteronomy 4:29 Or “inner self”
  48. Deuteronomy 4:30 Literally “In the distress for you”
  49. Deuteronomy 4:30 Hebrew “and”
  50. Deuteronomy 4:30 Literally “in the last of the days”
  51. Deuteronomy 4:30 Hebrew “and”
  52. Deuteronomy 4:31 Literally “will not leave you alone”
  53. Deuteronomy 4:31 Or “fathers”
  54. Deuteronomy 4:32 Literally “that they were to the face of you”
  55. Deuteronomy 4:32 Literally “was it ever”
  56. Deuteronomy 4:32 Literally “was it ever heard as it”
  57. Deuteronomy 4:34 Hebrew “for him”
  58. Deuteronomy 4:35 Emphatic use of pronoun; plural meaning implied
  59. Deuteronomy 4:35 The definite article indicates that Israel’s God is alone the true God and the one who revealed himself to them
  60. Deuteronomy 4:35 Literally “except him” or “to him alone”
  61. Deuteronomy 4:37 Or “fathers”
  62. Deuteronomy 4:37 Literally “seed”
  63. Deuteronomy 4:37 Literally “with his faces”
  64. Deuteronomy 4:38 Literally “from your face”
  65. Deuteronomy 4:39 Literally “the day”
  66. Deuteronomy 4:39 Literally “you shall bring back to your heart”
  67. Deuteronomy 4:40 Literally “the day”
  68. Deuteronomy 4:40 Literally “he/it is good”
  69. Deuteronomy 4:40 Or “descendants”
  70. Deuteronomy 4:40 Literally “you may make long/prolong days”
  71. Deuteronomy 4:41 Literally “in the beyond of the Jordan”
  72. Deuteronomy 4:41 Literally “toward rising of the sun”
  73. Deuteronomy 4:42 Literally “a killer of a man”
  74. Deuteronomy 4:42 Literally “without previous knowledge”
  75. Deuteronomy 4:42 Literally “the day before yesterday”
  76. Deuteronomy 4:42 Literally “and live”
  77. Deuteronomy 4:43 Or “desert”
  78. Deuteronomy 4:43 Hebrew “Reubenite”
  79. Deuteronomy 4:43 Hebrew “Gadite”
  80. Deuteronomy 4:43 Hebrew “Manassite”
  81. Deuteronomy 4:44 Hebrew “the torah” = teaching, instruction, law
  82. Deuteronomy 4:44 Literally “before the faces of”
  83. Deuteronomy 4:44 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  84. Deuteronomy 4:45 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  85. Deuteronomy 4:45 Literally “at their going out from Egypt”
  86. Deuteronomy 4:46 Hebrew “Amorite”
  87. Deuteronomy 4:46 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  88. Deuteronomy 4:46 Literally “at their going out from Egypt”
  89. Deuteronomy 4:47 Hebrew “Amorite”
  90. Deuteronomy 4:47 Literally “toward the rising of the sun”
  91. Deuteronomy 4:48 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
  92. Deuteronomy 4:49 Or “valley” in this instance
  93. Deuteronomy 4:49 Commonly known today as the Dead Sea
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Deuteronomy 3
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