Deuteronomy 4
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 4
Benefits of Obedience. 1 Now listen, O Israel, to the statutes and the ordinances that I am teaching you to observe so that you might live and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 [a]You will not add to what I command you, nor will you take away from it, so that you might observe the commandments of the Lord, your God, that I am giving you. 3 Your own eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor, for the Lord, your God, wiped out from all of those who followed Baal-peor from your midst. 4 But every one of you who clung to the Lord, your God, is alive today.
5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the Lord, my God, commanded me, so that you might enter into the land into which you are going and take possession of it. 6 Carefully observe them, for the nations will consider this is your wisdom and your understanding. They will hear all these statutes and say, “Truly this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” 7 For what nation is as great as we are? Who has God as near to them, as the Lord, our God, is whenever we call upon him? 8 What nation is so great that it has statutes and ordinances as righteous as this law that I set before you today?
9 Only be careful and watch yourselves closely lest you ever forget the things that your eyes have seen or you let them slip out of your mind. Teach them to your children and your children’s children, 10 especially about the day that you stood before the Lord, your God, in Horeb, when the Lord said to me, “Assemble the people before me so that I might let them hear my words. They will thus learn to fear me all the days that they live upon the earth, and they will be able to teach their children.” 11 You approached and stood at the base of the mountain. The mountain blazed with flames reaching the very heavens, and it was covered with dark clouds and thick darkness. 12 The Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but you did not see a form. There was only a voice. 13 He proclaimed his covenant to you which he ordered you to fulfill, the Ten Commandments, that he wrote upon two tablets of stone. 14 The Lord then commanded me to teach you the statutes and ordinances so that you might observe them in the land that you were crossing over to possess.
15 Pitfalls of Idolatry. Therefore, guard yourselves carefully, for you did not see any kind of form when the Lord spoke to you on Horeb from the midst of the fire. 16 Do not become perverse and make an idol for yourselves of any shape or likeness, whether male or female, 17 whether it be a land animal or a bird that flies in the skies, 18 or like something that crawls on the ground or a fish in the waters beneath the earth. 19 When you look up into the skies and you see the sun and the moon and stars, all the hosts of heaven, do not be enticed to worship and serve the things that the Lord, your God, has assigned to every other nation under the heavens. 20 But as for you, the Lord has chosen you and taken you out from the iron furnace,[b] out of Egypt, to be a people who are his own possession, as you are today.
21 The Lord was angry with me because of you and he swore that I would not cross over the Jordan nor enter the fertile land that the Lord, your God, has given to you as an inheritance. 22 I must die in this land; I will not cross over the Jordan. But you will cross over and take possession of this fertile land. 23 Therefore, keep guard over yourselves, lest you forget the covenant that the Lord, your God, has made with you and you make an idol in the form of anything that the Lord, your God, has prohibited. 24 The Lord, your God, is a consuming fire and a jealous God.
25 When you have borne children and grandchildren and have dwelt in the land for a long time, if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord, your God, and provoking him to anger, 26 I will call upon the heavens and the earth to give witness against you on that day so that you might be utterly obliterated from the land that you are crossing over the Jordan to possess. You will not remain there long, but you will be totally wiped out.
27 The Lord will scatter you among the nations and only a few of you will survive among the foreign peoples where the Lord has led you. 28 There you will serve gods, the work of human hands, made of wood and stone, which cannot see nor hear nor eat nor smell.
The Lord Is God.29 But if you seek the Lord, your God, and you strive with all your heart and your soul, you will find him there. 30 When you are in distress and all of these things happen to you in the future, you are to return to the Lord,[c] your God, and obey his voice, 31 and he will not abandon you, nor destroy you nor forget the covenant that he made with your fathers, confirming it to them by oath, for the Lord, your God, is a merciful God.
32 Ask now about the days of old, the former times. From the day that God created humans upon the earth, inquire from one end of the heavens to the other, has anything so great ever happened or has anything like it been heard of? 33 Has any other people heard the voice of God speak from the midst of the flame, as you heard, and still live? 34 Did God ever go and lead one nation from the midst of another nation by trials, signs, wonders, and battle, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great and wondrous deeds, all things that the Lord, your God, did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
35 You were shown these things so that you might come to know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. 36 He had you hear his voice from out of the heavens so that he might instruct you. He showed you his great fire upon the earth so that you might hear his voice from the midst of the flames. 37 It was because he loved your fathers and had chosen their descendants after them that he brought you out of Egypt before him by his great strength. 38 He drove out greater and more powerful nations before you so that he might bring you into their land to give it to you as an inheritance, just as it is today.
39 So today acknowledge it and take it to heart that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on the earth below. There is no other. 40 You shall obey his statutes and the commandments that I give you today, so that all may go well with you and your children after you, and that you may live long in the land that the Lord, your God, has given you for all time.
41 Cities of Refuge. Then Moses set aside three cities on the east of the Jordan 42 to which anyone who unintentionally killed another person with whom he had not previously been at enmity might flee. He could flee to one of these cities and save his life. 43 They were Bezer,[d] on the desert plateau, for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the men of Manasseh.
Moses’ Second Address
The Covenant with Israel[e]
44 Introduction. This is the law that Moses set before the Israelites. 45 These are the stipulations, the statutes, and the judgments that Moses declared to the Israelites when they came out of Egypt 46 and they were dwelling in the valley near Beth-peor on the east of the Jordan, in the land of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and who was defeated by Moses and the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. 47 They took possession of his land and also the land of Og, the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites who reigned on the east side of the Jordan. 48 This land extended from Aroer, that is on the bank of the Arnon River, up to Mount Sion (that is Hermon). 49 It included all of the plain on the east side of the Jordan up to the Sea in the Arabah, at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 4:2 Observing God’s laws in their entirety secures for us the fullness of life.
- Deuteronomy 4:20 Iron furnace: referring to Egypt by this term implies the spiritual cleansing “by fire” that the Israelites encountered there. Also used in 1 Ki 8:51 and Jer 11:4.
- Deuteronomy 4:30 Return to the Lord: reconciliation and restoration of our relationship with the Lord, then as now, hinges on the sinner’s repentance.
- Deuteronomy 4:43 Bezer: perhaps Umm el-Aniad, to the east of Mount Nebo; Ramoth: perhaps Tell Ramit, east of the Jordan between the Jabbok and Yarmuk Rivers; Golan: perhaps Sahem el-Giolan, east of the Lake of Gennesaret.
- Deuteronomy 4:44 This discourse existed, in great part, in the first edition of the book. The author hides behind the authority of Moses as he urges Israel to live the covenant to the full.
Deuteronomy 4
English Standard Version
Moses Commands Obedience
4 “And now, O Israel, listen to (A)the statutes and the rules[a] that I am teaching you, and do them, (B)that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 (C)You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. 3 Your eyes have seen what the Lord did (D)at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. 4 But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. 5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6 (E)Keep them and do them, for (F)that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ 7 For (G)what great nation is there that has (H)a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so (I)righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
9 (J)“Only take care, and (K)keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. (L)Make them known to your children and your children's children— 10 how on (M)the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, (N)‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, (O)so that they may learn to fear (P)me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ 11 And (Q)you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while (R)the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. 12 Then (S)the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, (T)but saw no form; (U)there was only a voice. 13 (V)And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, (W)the Ten Commandments,[b] (X)and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14 And (Y)the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.
Idolatry Forbidden
15 (Z)“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since (AA)you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 beware (AB)lest you act corruptly (AC)by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, (AD)the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. 19 And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see (AE)the sun and the moon and the stars, (AF)all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20 But the Lord has taken you and (AG)brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, (AH)to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day. 21 Furthermore, (AI)the Lord was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. 22 For I must die in this land; (AJ)I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of (AK)that good land. 23 (AL)Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and (AM)make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. 24 For (AN)the Lord your God is a consuming fire, (AO)a jealous God.
25 “When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, (AP)and you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and (AQ)by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger, 26 I (AR)call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 And the Lord (AS)will scatter you among the peoples, (AT)and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. 28 And (AU)there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, (AV)that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29 (AW)But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you (AX)in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. 31 For the Lord your God is (AY)a merciful God. (AZ)He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.
The Lord Alone Is God
32 “For (BA)ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. 33 (BB)Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? 34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, (BC)by signs, by wonders, and (BD)by war, (BE)by a mighty hand and (BF)an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35 To you it was shown, (BG)that you might know that the Lord is God; (BH)there is no other besides him. 36 (BI)Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and (BJ)you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. 37 And because (BK)he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them[c] and brought you out of Egypt (BL)with his own presence, by his great power, 38 (BM)driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, 39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that (BN)the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; (BO)there is no other. 40 (BP)Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, (BQ)that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”
Cities of Refuge
41 Then Moses (BR)set apart three cities in the east beyond the Jordan, 42 that (BS)the manslayer might flee there, anyone who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without being at enmity with him in time past; he may flee to one of these cities and save his life: 43 (BT)Bezer in the wilderness on the (BU)tableland for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
Introduction to the Law
44 This is the law that Moses set before the people of Israel. 45 These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the rules, which Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt, 46 beyond the Jordan (BV)in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, (BW)whom Moses and the people of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt. 47 And they took possession of his land and the land (BX)of Og, the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who lived to the east beyond the Jordan; 48 (BY)from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, as far as Mount (BZ)Sirion[d] (that is, (CA)Hermon), 49 together with all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as (CB)the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 4:1 Or just decrees; also verses 5, 8, 14, 45
- Deuteronomy 4:13 Hebrew the ten words
- Deuteronomy 4:37 Hebrew his offspring after him
- Deuteronomy 4:48 Syriac; Hebrew Sion
申命記 4
Chinese Contemporary Bible (Traditional)
當守律法
4 「以色列人啊，要聆聽我傳授給你們的律法，要切實遵行，以便你們可以存活，並進入你們祖先的上帝耶和華賜給你們的那片土地。 2 我吩咐你們的，你們不可做任何增減，這是你們的上帝耶和華的命令，你們要遵守。 3 你們親眼看見耶和華在巴力·毗珥事件中的作為，你們的上帝耶和華毀滅了你們中間所有拜巴力·毗珥的人， 4 但你們這些信靠你們的上帝耶和華的人至今還活著。 5 看啊，遵照我的上帝耶和華的吩咐，我把律例和典章傳授給你們，好讓你們在將要佔領的土地上遵守。 6 你們要謹遵這些律例和典章，因為這樣就會讓外族人看見你們的智慧和聰明。他們聽見這些律法後，必說，『這偉大的民族真有智慧和聰明！』 7 我們的上帝耶和華與我們如此親近，隨時垂聽我們的呼求，有哪個偉大民族的神明能與之相比？ 8 有哪個偉大的民族擁有我今天所傳授給你們的如此公義的律例和典章？
9 「要謹慎、小心，不可忘記親眼所見的事，要一生銘記在心，並且告訴子子孫孫。 10 那天，你們在何烈山站在你們的上帝耶和華面前，耶和華對我說，『把民眾招聚起來，讓他們聽我的教誨，學習一生敬畏我，並傳授給自己的兒女。』 11 你們來到山腳下，站在那裡，山上烈焰沖天、烏雲密佈、極其幽暗。 12 耶和華在火焰中對你們說話，你們只聽見祂的聲音，卻看不見祂的形像。 13 祂向你們宣告祂的約，就是祂吩咐你們遵守的十誡，並寫在兩塊石版上。 14 那時，耶和華吩咐我把律例和典章傳授給你們，好讓你們在將要佔領的土地上遵守。
不可拜偶像
15 「你們要格外小心，耶和華在何烈山的火焰中對你們說話時，你們沒有看見任何形像， 16 所以不可墮落，去為自己製造任何形狀的神像——男人、女人、 17 飛禽走獸、 18 爬蟲或魚類。 19 當你們舉目觀看你們的上帝耶和華賜給天下萬民的日、月、星辰等天上萬象時，不要受誘惑去跪拜、供奉它們。 20 耶和華拯救你們脫離埃及那座熔鐵爐，讓你們做祂自己的子民，正如今日的情形。 21 因你們的緣故，耶和華向我發怒，起誓不讓我過約旦河、進入祂賜給你們作產業的那片佳美之地。 22 我將死在約旦河這邊，過不了約旦河。但你們必過去得到那片佳美之地。 23 你們要謹慎，不可忘記你們的上帝耶和華與你們所立的約，不可違背你們上帝耶和華的禁令，去製造任何形狀的神像。 24 因為你們的上帝耶和華是烈火，是痛恨不貞的上帝。
25 「將來，即使你們在那裡安頓已久、子孫滿堂，也不可墮落、製造任何形狀的神像，不可做你們的上帝耶和華視為邪惡的事，惹祂發怒。 26 否則，今天我叫天地作證，你們必很快從約旦河對面將要佔領的土地上滅亡，你們必被徹底消滅，不得在那裡長久居住。 27 耶和華必把你們驅散到列邦，使你們在列邦中的人數所剩無幾。 28 你們必在那裡供奉人用木石造的不會看、不會聽、不會吃、不會聞的神像。 29 但你們若在那裡尋求你們的上帝耶和華，全心全意地尋求祂，就必尋見。 30 日後，當你們遭遇這些事，受盡苦難的時候，必歸向你們的上帝耶和華，聽從祂。 31 因為你們的上帝耶和華充滿憐憫，祂不會拋棄你們，滅絕你們，也不會忘記祂與你們祖先所立的誓約。
獨一的上帝
32 「你們可以查考歷史，自上帝創造世人以來，這樣的奇事，天地之間何曾有過？誰曾聽聞？ 33 有哪個民族像你們一樣，聽見了上帝在火中說話，還活了下來？ 34 有哪個神明像你們的上帝耶和華那樣在埃及當著你們的面降災禍、行神蹟奇事、興起戰爭、伸出臂膀、施展大能的手、以偉大而可畏的作為拯救一族脫離異邦？ 35 耶和華行這樣的事，是要叫你們知道祂是上帝，除祂以外，別無他神。 36 祂讓你們聽見祂從天上來的聲音，好教導你們，又在地上讓你們看見祂的烈火，並聽見祂在烈火中說的話。 37 因為祂愛你們的祖先，所以揀選你們，親自用大能把你們從埃及領出來， 38 趕走比你們強大的民族，領你們進入他們的土地，把他們的土地賜給你們作產業，正如今日的情形。 39 所以，今天你們要知道並謹記，耶和華是天上地下的上帝，此外別無他神。 40 我今天將祂的律例和誡命傳授給你們，你們要遵守，以便你們及子孫都蒙福，在你們上帝耶和華所賜的土地上得享長壽。」
設立避難城
41 那時，摩西在約旦河東劃出三座城作避難城， 42 供素無冤仇卻誤殺他人者逃往避難。 43 三座城分別是曠野高原的比悉——供呂便人避難，基列的拉末——供迦得人避難，巴珊的哥蘭——供瑪拿西人避難。
重申律法
44 以下是摩西頒佈給以色列人的律法， 45 即在離開埃及後傳授給他們的法度、律例和典章。 46 當時他們在約旦河以東伯·毗珥對面的山谷，那裡原屬於希實本的亞摩利王西宏。摩西領以色列人離開埃及後消滅了西宏， 47 佔領了他的土地，還佔領了巴珊王噩的土地。西宏和噩是約旦河東亞摩利人的兩個王， 48 其國土從亞嫩谷邊的亞羅珥一直到西雲山，即黑門山， 49 包括約旦河東的整個亞拉巴，遠至毗斯迦山腳的亞拉巴海。
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
