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Moses Presents the Privileges of the Covenant

“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. Do not add or subtract a thing to what I’m commanding you. Observe the commands of the Lord your God.[a] 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. But all of you who are clinging to the Lord your God are alive today. 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. 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.’ For what great nation has a god so near like the Lord our God whenever we call on him? And what great nation has all the decrees and righteous ordinances like all this teaching that I’m giving you today?

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 4:2 Lit. God that I’m commanding you
  2. Deuteronomy 4:5 The Heb. lacks them

Introduction to the Stipulations

“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. 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. 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. But you, the ones holding fast to Yahweh your God, are all alive today.[f]

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. 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.’ For what great nation has for it a god near to it as Yahweh our God, whenever[i] we call upon him? 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]

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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”