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
- Deuteronomy 4:1 Or “fathers”
- Deuteronomy 4:2 Or “observe”
- Deuteronomy 4:3 Literally “your eyes the seeing what”
- Deuteronomy 4:3 Or “in”
- Deuteronomy 4:3 Literally “every one of”
- Deuteronomy 4:4 Literally “the day”
- Deuteronomy 4:5 Or “I have taught” (compare NASB, NEB)
- Deuteronomy 4:6 Literally “you must observe and you must do”
- Deuteronomy 4:7 Literally “in every matter/every time we call ”
- Deuteronomy 4:8 Literally “which/that is for him it”
- Deuteronomy 4:8 Literally “as”
- Deuteronomy 4:8 Literally “all of”
- Deuteronomy 4:8 Literally “to the face of”
- Deuteronomy 4:8 Literally “the day”
- Deuteronomy 4:9 Literally “watch”
- Deuteronomy 4:9 Or “soul”
- Deuteronomy 4:9 Literally “the children of your children”
- Deuteronomy 4:10 Literally “to the face of”
- Deuteronomy 4:10 Literally “when to say Yahweh”
- Deuteronomy 4:11 Literally “darkness, cloud, and very thick darkness”
- Deuteronomy 4:12 Literally “you were hearing”
- Deuteronomy 4:12 Literally “you were not seeing”
- Deuteronomy 4:13 Literally “the ten words”
- Deuteronomy 4:13 Literally “to do”
- Deuteronomy 4:14 Literally “for your doing them”
- Deuteronomy 4:14 Literally “about to cross into there”
- Deuteronomy 4:15 Literally “watch yourselves diligently with respect to your souls”
- Deuteronomy 4:15 Or “have not seen”
- Deuteronomy 4:16 Literally “corrupt yourselves”
- Deuteronomy 4:18 Literally “under”
- Deuteronomy 4:19 Literally “And lest you lift up”
- Deuteronomy 4:19 Literally “see”
- Deuteronomy 4:20 Or “for”; a people of inheritance = a people who is his very own possession
- Deuteronomy 4:20 Literally “as the day the this” = as you are now
- Deuteronomy 4:21 Literally “because of your matter”
- Deuteronomy 4:21 Literally “not I to cross the Jordan”
- Deuteronomy 4:21 Literally “not I going to the land”
- Deuteronomy 4:23 Literally “cut”
- Deuteronomy 4:23 Literally “has commanded you about”
- Deuteronomy 4:24 Or “zealous” or “impassioned”
- Deuteronomy 4:25 Literally “children of children”
- Deuteronomy 4:26 Or “I shall call to witness”
- Deuteronomy 4:26 Literally “you will not extend days”
- Deuteronomy 4:27 Literally “people of number,” as opposed to people without number
- Deuteronomy 4:27 Literally “he will lead Yahweh you there”
- Deuteronomy 4:28 Literally “the work of the hands of human”
- Deuteronomy 4:29 Or “inner self”
- Deuteronomy 4:30 Literally “In the distress for you”
- Deuteronomy 4:30 Hebrew “and”
- Deuteronomy 4:30 Literally “in the last of the days”
- Deuteronomy 4:30 Hebrew “and”
- Deuteronomy 4:31 Literally “will not leave you alone”
- Deuteronomy 4:31 Or “fathers”
- Deuteronomy 4:32 Literally “that they were to the face of you”
- Deuteronomy 4:32 Literally “was it ever”
- Deuteronomy 4:32 Literally “was it ever heard as it”
- Deuteronomy 4:34 Hebrew “for him”
- Deuteronomy 4:35 Emphatic use of pronoun; plural meaning implied
- Deuteronomy 4:35 The definite article indicates that Israel’s God is alone the true God and the one who revealed himself to them
- Deuteronomy 4:35 Literally “except him” or “to him alone”
- Deuteronomy 4:37 Or “fathers”
- Deuteronomy 4:37 Literally “seed”
- Deuteronomy 4:37 Literally “with his faces”
- Deuteronomy 4:38 Literally “from your face”
- Deuteronomy 4:39 Literally “the day”
- Deuteronomy 4:39 Literally “you shall bring back to your heart”
- Deuteronomy 4:40 Literally “the day”
- Deuteronomy 4:40 Literally “he/it is good”
- Deuteronomy 4:40 Or “descendants”
- Deuteronomy 4:40 Literally “you may make long/prolong days”
- Deuteronomy 4:41 Literally “in the beyond of the Jordan”
- Deuteronomy 4:41 Literally “toward rising of the sun”
- Deuteronomy 4:42 Literally “a killer of a man”
- Deuteronomy 4:42 Literally “without previous knowledge”
- Deuteronomy 4:42 Literally “the day before yesterday”
- Deuteronomy 4:42 Literally “and live”
- Deuteronomy 4:43 Or “desert”
- Deuteronomy 4:43 Hebrew “Reubenite”
- Deuteronomy 4:43 Hebrew “Gadite”
- Deuteronomy 4:43 Hebrew “Manassite”
- Deuteronomy 4:44 Hebrew “the torah” = teaching, instruction, law
- Deuteronomy 4:44 Literally “before the faces of”
- Deuteronomy 4:44 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Deuteronomy 4:45 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Deuteronomy 4:45 Literally “at their going out from Egypt”
- Deuteronomy 4:46 Hebrew “Amorite”
- Deuteronomy 4:46 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Deuteronomy 4:46 Literally “at their going out from Egypt”
- Deuteronomy 4:47 Hebrew “Amorite”
- Deuteronomy 4:47 Literally “toward the rising of the sun”
- Deuteronomy 4:48 A valley that is dry most of the year, but contains a stream during the rainy season
- Deuteronomy 4:49 Or “valley” in this instance
- Deuteronomy 4:49 Commonly known today as the Dead Sea
Deuteronomy 4
Christian Standard Bible
Call to Obedience
4 “Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances(A) I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live,(B) enter, and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors,(C) is giving you. 2 You must not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it,(D) so that you may keep the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you. 3 Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed every one of you who followed Baal of Peor.(E) 4 But you who have remained faithful[a] to the Lord your God are all alive today. 5 Look, I have taught you statutes and ordinances as the Lord my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to possess. 6 Carefully follow them, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the peoples. When they hear about all these statutes, they will say, ‘This great nation is indeed a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For what great nation is there that has a god near to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call to him?(F) 8 And what great nation has righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?(G)
9 “Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves,(H) so that you don’t forget(I) the things your eyes have seen and so that they don’t slip from your mind[b] as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren.(J) 10 The day you stood before the Lord your God(K) at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people before me, and I will let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me(L) all the days they live on the earth and may instruct their children.’ 11 You came near and stood at the base of the mountain,(M) a mountain blazing with fire(N) into the heavens and enveloped in a totally black cloud.(O) 12 Then the Lord spoke to you from the fire.(P) You kept hearing the sound of the words, but didn’t see a form; there was only a voice.(Q) 13 He declared his covenant(R) to you. He commanded you to follow the Ten Commandments,(S) which he wrote on two stone tablets.(T) 14 At that time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to follow in the land you are about to cross into and possess.
Worshiping the True God
15 “Diligently watch yourselves—because you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb— 16 so you don’t act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of any figure: a male or female form, 17 or the form of any animal on the earth, any winged creature that flies in the sky, 18 any creature that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the waters under the earth. 19 When you look to the heavens and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the stars in the sky—do not be led astray to bow in worship to them and serve them.(U) The Lord your God has provided them for all people everywhere under heaven.(V) 20 But the Lord selected you and brought you out of Egypt’s iron furnace(W) to be a people for his inheritance, as you are today.
21 “The Lord was angry with me on your account.(X) He swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land(Y) the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.(Z) 22 I won’t be crossing the Jordan because I am going to die in this land.(AA) But you are about to cross over and take possession of this good land. 23 Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you, and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of anything he has forbidden you. 24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire,(AB) a jealous God.(AC)
25 “When you have children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, and if you act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, angering him, 26 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will quickly perish(AD) from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there, but you will certainly be destroyed. 27 The Lord will scatter you among the peoples,(AE) and you will be reduced to a few survivors[c] among the nations where the Lord your God will drive you. 28 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see, hear, eat, or smell. 29 But from there, you will search for the Lord your God, and you will find him when you seek him with all your heart and all your soul.(AF) 30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, in the future you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. 31 He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant(AG) with your ancestors that he swore to them by oath, because the Lord your God is a compassionate God.(AH)
32 “Indeed, ask about the earlier days that preceded you, from the day God created mankind[d] on the earth and from one end of the heavens to the other: Has anything like this great event ever happened, or has anything like it been heard of? 33 Has a people heard God’s voice speaking from the fire as you have, and lived? 34 Or has a god attempted to go and take a nation as his own out of another nation, by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, by great terrors, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 You were shown these things so that you would know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him.(AI) 36 He let you hear his voice from heaven to instruct you.(AJ) He showed you his great fire on earth, and you heard his words from the fire.(AK) 37 Because he loved(AL) your ancestors, he chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by his presence and great power, 38 to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you in and give you their land as an inheritance,(AM) as is now taking place. 39 Today, recognize and keep in mind that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is no other. 40 Keep his statutes and commands, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper and so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”
Cities of Refuge
41 Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the east. 42 Someone could flee there who committed manslaughter, killing his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him. He could flee to one of these cities and stay alive: 43 Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau land, belonging to the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, belonging to the Gadites; or Golan in Bashan, belonging to the Manassites.(AN)
Introduction to the Law
44 This is the law Moses gave the Israelites. 45 These are the decrees, statutes, and ordinances Moses proclaimed to them after they came out of Egypt, 46 across the Jordan in the valley facing Beth-peor in the land of King Sihon of the Amorites. He lived in Heshbon, and Moses and the Israelites defeated him after they came out of Egypt. 47 They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two Amorite kings who were across the Jordan to the east, 48 from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Sion (that is, Hermon) 49 and all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Dead Sea below the slopes of Pisgah.
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