Deuteronomy 4:9-14
Legacy Standard Bible
9 “Only (A)keep yourself and keep your soul very carefully, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your heart (B)all the days of your life. But (C)make them known to your sons and to your grandsons. 10 Remember the day you stood before Yahweh your God at Horeb, when Yahweh said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may cause them to hear My words (D)so they may learn to [a]fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may (E)teach their children.’ 11 And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, (F)and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud, and dense gloom. 12 Then Yahweh spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—only a voice. 13 So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to do, that is, (G)the Ten [b]Commandments; and (H)He wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14 And Yahweh commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it.
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- Deuteronomy 4:10 Or reverence
- Deuteronomy 4:13 Lit Words
Deuteronomy 4:9-14
New English Translation
Reminder of the Horeb Covenant
9 Again, however, pay very careful attention,[a] lest you forget the things you have seen and disregard them for the rest of your life; instead teach them to your children and grandchildren. 10 You[b] stood before the Lord your God at Horeb and he[c] said to me, “Assemble the people before me so that I can tell them my commands.[d] Then they will learn to revere me all the days they live in the land, and they will instruct their children.” 11 You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain ablaze to the sky above it[e] and yet dark with a thick cloud.[f] 12 Then the Lord spoke to you from the middle of the fire; you heard speech but you could not see anything—only a voice was heard.[g] 13 And he revealed to you the covenant[h] he has commanded you to keep, the Ten Commandments,[i] writing them on two stone tablets. 14 Moreover, at that same time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to keep in the land that you are about to enter and possess.[j]
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- Deuteronomy 4:9 tn Heb “watch yourself and watch your soul carefully.”
- Deuteronomy 4:10 tn The text begins with “(the) day (in) which.” In the Hebrew text v. 10 is subordinate to v. 11, but for stylistic reasons the translation treats v. 10 as an independent clause, necessitating the omission of the subordinating temporal phrase at the beginning of the verse.
- Deuteronomy 4:10 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 4:3.
- Deuteronomy 4:10 tn Heb “my words.” See v. 13; in Hebrew the “ten commandments” are the “ten words.”
- Deuteronomy 4:11 tn Heb “a mountain burning with fire as far as the heart of the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
- Deuteronomy 4:11 tn Heb “darkness, cloud, and heavy cloud.”
- Deuteronomy 4:12 tn The words “was heard” are supplied in the translation to avoid the impression that the voice was seen.
- Deuteronomy 4:13 sn This is the first occurrence of the word בְּרִית (berit, “covenant”) in the Book of Deuteronomy but it appears commonly hereafter (4:23, 31; 5:2, 3; 7:9, 12; 8:18; 9:9, 10, 11, 15; 10:2, 4, 5, 8; 17:2; 29:1, 9, 12, 14, 15, 18, 21, 25; 31:9, 16, 20, 25, 26; 33:9). Etymologically, it derives from the notion of linking or yoking together. See M. Weinfeld, TDOT 2:255.
- Deuteronomy 4:13 tn Heb “the ten words.”
- Deuteronomy 4:14 tn Heb “to which you are crossing over to possess it.”
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