Deuteronomy 4
Common English Bible
The events at Mount Horeb
4 Now, Israel, in light of all that, listen to the regulations and the case laws that I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and possess the land that the Lord, your ancestors’ God, is giving to you. 2 Don’t add anything to the word that I am commanding you, and don’t take anything away from it. Instead, keep the commands of the Lord your God that I am commanding all of you.
3 You saw with your own eyes what the Lord did concerning the Baal of Peor. The Lord your God destroyed everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, 4 but all of you who stayed true to the Lord your God are alive today. 5 So pay attention! I am teaching all of you the regulations and the case laws exactly as the Lord my God commanded me. You must do these in the land you are entering to possess. 6 Keep them faithfully because that will show your wisdom and insight to the nations who will hear about all these regulations. They will say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and insightful people!” 7 After all, is there any great nation that has gods[a] as close to it as the Lord our God is close to us whenever we call to him? 8 Or does any great nation have regulations and case laws as righteous as all this Instruction that I am setting before you today?
9 But be on guard and watch yourselves closely so that you don’t forget the things your eyes saw and so they never leave your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren. 10 Remember that[b] day when you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me: “Gather the people to me. I will declare my words to them so that they will learn to fear me every day of their lives on the fertile land, and teach their children to do the same.” 11 Then you all came close and stood at the foot of the mountain. The mountain was blazing with fire up to the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick smoke! 12 The Lord spoke to you out of the very fire itself. You heard the sound of words, but you didn’t see any form. There was only a voice. 13 The Lord declared his covenant to you, which he commanded you to do—the Ten Commandments[c]—and wrote them on two stone tablets. 14 At that time, the Lord commanded me to teach you all the regulations and the case laws that you must keep in the land that you are entering to possess.
15 So watch your conduct closely, because you didn’t see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the very fire itself. 16 Don’t ruin everything and make an idol for yourself: a form of any image, any likeness—male or female— 17 or any likeness whatsoever, whether of a land animal, a bird that flies in the sky, 18 an insect that crawls on the earth, or a fish that lives in the sea. 19 Don’t look to the skies, to the sun or the moon or the stars, all the heavenly bodies, and be led astray, worshipping and serving them. The Lord your God has granted these things to all the nations who live under heaven. 20 But the Lord took you and brought you out of that iron furnace, out of Egypt, so that you might be his own treasured people, which is what you are right now.
21 The Lord was angry with me because of your deeds and swore that I couldn’t cross the Jordan River or enter the wonderful land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. 22 I will die here in this land. I won’t cross the Jordan River. But you will, and you will take possession of that wonderful land. 23 So all of you, watch yourselves! Don’t forget the covenant that the Lord your God made with you by making an idol or an image of any kind or anything the Lord your God forbids, 24 because the Lord your God is an all-consuming fire. He is a passionate God.
Warnings and teachings about future disobedience
25 Once you have had children and grandchildren and have grown old on the land, if you ruin things by making an idol, in any form whatsoever, and do what is evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and anger him, 26 I call heaven and earth as my witnesses against you today: You will definitely disappear—and quickly—from the land that you are crossing over the Jordan River to possess. You won’t extend your time there but will instead be totally destroyed. 27 The Lord will scatter you among the nations. Only a very few of you will survive in the countries where the Lord will drag you. 28 There you will worship other[d] gods, made of wood and stone by human hands—gods that cannot see, listen, eat, or smell. 29 You will seek the Lord your God from there, and you will find him[e] if you seek him with all your heart and with all your being. 30 In your distress, when all these things happen to you in the future, you will return to the Lord your God and you will obey his voice, 31 because the Lord your God is a compassionate God. He won’t let you go, he won’t destroy you, and he won’t forget the covenant that he swore to your ancestors.
32 Now look into it: into days long past, before your time—all the way back to the day God first created human beings on earth, from one end of heaven to the other. Has anything this amazing ever happened? Has anything like it ever been heard of before? 33 Has any people ever listened to a god’s voice speaking out of fire, as each of you have, and survived? 34 Or has any god ever tried to take one nation out of another nation using tests, miracles, wonders, war, a strong hand and outstretched arm, or awesome power like all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt while you watched? 35 You were shown these things so that you would know this: The Lord is the only God. There’s no other god except him. 36 From heaven he made you hear his voice in order to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire. You heard his words from that very fire. 37 And because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, God brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his own great power, 38 in order to remove larger and stronger nations from before you and bring you into their land, giving it to you as an inheritance. That’s where things stand right now. 39 Know then today and keep in mind that the Lord is the only God in heaven above or on earth below. There is no other. 40 Keep the Lord’s regulations and his commandments. I’m commanding them to you today for your well-being and for the well-being of your children after you, so that you may extend your time on the fertile land that the Lord your God is giving you forever.
Cities of refuge
41 Then Moses set aside three cities on the eastern side of the Jordan River 42 so that anyone who killed someone accidentally and without prior hatred could flee to one of these cities and be safe: 43 Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
The second heading: Recounting the Horeb covenant
44 Now this is the Instruction that Moses set before the Israelites. 45 These are the laws and the regulations and the case laws that Moses spoke to the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. 46 This took place across the Jordan River, in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon the Amorite king who ruled in Heshbon, whom Moses and the Israelites defeated when they came out of Egypt. 47 They took possession of his land and the land of Og, Bashan’s king—the two Amorite kings across the Jordan River to the east— 48 from Aroer, which is on the banks of the Arnon River, all the way to Mount Sion,[f] also known as Hermon, 49 and all the desert regions across the Jordan River, on the east, down to the Dead Sea, beneath the slopes of Mount Pisgah.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 4:7 MT; LXX, Syr, Tg a god so close
- Deuteronomy 4:10 Heb lacks remember that.
- Deuteronomy 4:13 Or the ten words
- Deuteronomy 4:28 LXX; MT lacks other.
- Deuteronomy 4:29 Heb lacks him.
- Deuteronomy 4:48 Syr Sirion; see 3:9.
Deuteronomy 4
New American Standard Bible
Israel Urged to Obey God’s Law
4 “Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which (A)I am teaching you to perform, so that (B)you will live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 (C)You shall not add to the word which (D)I am commanding you, nor take away from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I am commanding you. 3 (E)Your eyes have seen what the Lord has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who followed Baal-peor, the Lord your God has destroyed [a]them from among you. 4 But you who clung to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you.
5 “See, I have taught you statutes and judgments (F)just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you are to do these things in the land where you are entering to take possession of it. 6 So keep and do them, (G)for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For (H)what great nation is there that has a god (I)so near to it as is the Lord our God (J)whenever we call on Him? 8 Or what great nation is there that has (K)statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole Law which I am setting before you today?
9 “Only (L)be careful for yourself and watch over your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart (M)all the days of your life; but (N)make them known to your sons and your grandsons. 10 Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may have them hear My words (O)so that they may learn to [b]fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may (P)teach their children.’ 11 You came forward and stood at the foot of the mountain, (Q)and the mountain was burning with fire to the heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud, and thick gloom. 12 Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—there was only a voice. 13 So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, (R)the Ten [c]Commandments; and (S)He wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14 The Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, so that you would perform them in the land where you are going over to take possession of it.
15 “So (T)be very careful [d]yourselves, since you did not see any (U)form on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, 16 so that you do not (V)act corruptly and (W)make a carved image for yourselves in the form of any figure, a representation of male or female, 17 a representation of any animal that is on the earth, a representation of (X)any winged bird that flies in the sky, 18 a representation of anything that crawls on the ground, or a representation of any fish that is in the water below the earth. 19 And be careful not to raise your eyes to heaven and look at the sun, the moon, and the stars, (Y)all the heavenly [e]lights, (Z)and allow yourself to be drawn away and worship them and serve them, things which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20 But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of (AA)the iron furnace, from Egypt, to (AB)be a people of His own possession, as today.
21 “(AC)Now the Lord was angry with me on your account, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. 22 For (AD)I am going to die in this land; I am not crossing the Jordan, but you are going to cross, and you will take possession of this (AE)good land. 23 So be careful [f]yourselves, (AF)that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and (AG)make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you. 24 For the Lord your God is a (AH)consuming fire, a (AI)jealous God.
25 “When you father children and have [g]grandchildren, and you grow old in the land, and you (AJ)act corruptly, and (AK)make [h]an idol in the form of anything, and (AL)do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, 26 I (AM)call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that you will (AN)certainly perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to take possession of it. You will not [i]live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 The Lord will (AO)scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord drives you. 28 (AP)There you will serve gods, the work of human hands, (AQ)wood and stone, (AR)which neither see nor hear, nor eat nor smell anything. 29 (AS)But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him (AT)with all your heart and all your soul. 30 When you (AU)are in distress and all these things happen to you, (AV)in the latter days (AW)you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. 31 For the Lord your God is a (AX)compassionate God; (AY)He will not abandon you nor (AZ)destroy you, nor (BA)forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.
32 “Indeed, (BB)ask now about the earlier days that were [j]before your time, since the (BC)day that God created [k]mankind on the earth, and inquire (BD)from one end of the heavens to the other. (BE)Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it? 33 (BF)Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived? 34 (BG)Or has a god ventured to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation (BH)by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, (BI)by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, [l]just as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord, He is God; (BJ)there is no other besides Him. 36 (BK)Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice (BL)to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire. 37 (BM)Because He loved your fathers, He chose [m]their descendants after them. And He [n](BN)personally brought you from Egypt by His great power, 38 driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and (BO)to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is today. 39 Therefore know today, and take it to your heart, that (BP)the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. 40 (BQ)So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am [o]giving you today, so that (BR)it may go well for you and for your children after you, and (BS)that you may [p]live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”
41 (BT)Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the [q]east, 42 for [r]one to flee there who unintentionally killed his neighbor, without having hatred for him in time past; and by fleeing to one of these cities he might live: 43 (BU)Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
44 Now this is the Law which Moses set before the sons of Israel; 45 these are the testimonies and the statutes, and the ordinances which Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, when they came out of Egypt, 46 across the Jordan, in the valley (BV)opposite Beth-peor, in the land of (BW)Sihon king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel [s]defeated when they came out of Egypt. 47 And they took possession of his land and the land of (BX)Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were across the Jordan to the [t]east, 48 from (BY)Aroer, which is on the edge of the [u]Valley of Arnon, even as far as (BZ)Mount Sion (that is, Hermon), 49 with all the Arabah across the Jordan to the east, even as far as the sea of the Arabah, [v]at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 4:3 Lit him
- Deuteronomy 4:10 Or revere
- Deuteronomy 4:13 Lit Words
- Deuteronomy 4:15 Or for your own lives
- Deuteronomy 4:19 Lit host
- Deuteronomy 4:23 Or for yourselves
- Deuteronomy 4:25 Lit children’s children
- Deuteronomy 4:25 Or a carved image
- Deuteronomy 4:26 Lit prolong your days
- Deuteronomy 4:32 Lit before you
- Deuteronomy 4:32 Or Adam
- Deuteronomy 4:34 Lit according to all that
- Deuteronomy 4:37 Lit his seed
- Deuteronomy 4:37 Lit with His presence
- Deuteronomy 4:40 Lit commanding
- Deuteronomy 4:40 Lit prolong your days
- Deuteronomy 4:41 Lit sunrise
- Deuteronomy 4:42 Lit one who committed manslaughter
- Deuteronomy 4:46 Lit struck
- Deuteronomy 4:47 Lit sunrise
- Deuteronomy 4:48 Or wadi
- Deuteronomy 4:49 Lit under
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