Deuteronomy 4
1“And now, O Israel, listen to the precepts and judgments which I am teaching to you, so that, by doing these, you may live, and you may enter and possess the land, which the Lord, the God of your fathers, will give to you.
2You shall not add to the word which I speak to you, neither shall you take away from it. Preserve the commandments of the Lord your God which I am teaching to you.
3Your eyes have seen all that the Lord has done against Baal-peor, in what manner he has crushed all of his worshippers from among you.
4But you who adhere to the Lord your God are all still alive, to the present day.
5You know that I have taught you precepts as well as justices, just as the Lord my God has commanded me. And so shall you do in the land that you will possess.
6And you shall observe and fulfill these in practice. For this is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, so that, upon hearing all these precepts, they may say: ‘Lo, a wise and understanding people, a great nation.’
7Neither is there any other nation so great, which has its gods so near to them, as our God is present to all our petitions.
8For what other nation is there so renowned as to have ceremonies, and just judgments, and the entire law that I will set forth today before your eyes?
9And so, guard yourself and your soul carefully. You should not forget the words that your eyes have seen, and do not let them be cut away from your heart, throughout all the days of your life. You shall teach them to your sons and to your grandsons,
10from the day on which you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord spoke to me, saying: ‘Gather the people to me, so that they may listen to my words, and may learn to fear me, throughout all the time that they are alive on earth, and so that they may teach their children.’
11And you approached the base of the mountain, which was burning even toward heaven. And there was a darkness upon it, and a cloud, and a mist.
12And the Lord spoke to you from the midst of fire. You heard the voice of his words, but you did not see any form at all.
13And he revealed his covenant to you, which he instructed you to carry out, and the ten words which he wrote on two tablets of stone.
14And he commanded me, at that time, that I should teach you the ceremonies and judgments which you must carry out, in the land that you shall possess.
15And so, guard your souls carefully. You saw no likeness on the day that the Lord God spoke to you on Horeb from the midst of fire.
16Otherwise, perhaps being deceived, you might have made a graven image, or an image of male or female,
17a likeness of any of the beasts, which are upon the earth, or of birds, which fly under heaven,
18or of reptiles, which move across the earth, or of fish, which abide in the waters under the earth.
19Otherwise, perhaps lifting up your eyes to heaven, you might look upon the sun and the moon and all the stars of heaven, and being deceived by error, you might adore and worship these things, which the Lord your God created for the service of all the nations, which are under heaven.
20But the Lord has taken you up, and led you away from the iron furnaces of Egypt, in order to have a people of inheritance, just as it is to the present day.
21And the Lord became angry against me because of your words, and he swore that I would not cross over the Jordan, nor enter into the excellent land, which he will give to you.
22Behold, I shall die on this soil. I shall not cross over the Jordan. You shall cross it, and you shall possess the singular land.
23Be careful, lest you at some time forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he has formed with you, and lest you make for yourselves a graven likeness of those things which the Lord has prohibited to be made.
24For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
25When you will have conceived sons and grandsons while abiding in the land, and if, having been deceived, you make for yourselves any likeness, accomplishing evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to wrath,
26I call heaven and earth as witnesses this day, that you shall quickly perish from the land, which, when you have crossed over the Jordan, you will possess. You will not live in it for a long time; instead, the Lord will destroy you.
27And he will scatter you among all the nations, and few of you will remain among those nations, to which the Lord will lead you.
28And there, you will serve gods which were fabricated by the hands of men: gods of wood and of stone, who neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29And when you will seek the Lord your God in that place, you shall find him, if only you seek him with all your heart, and in all the tribulation of your soul.
30After all these things which have been foretold have found you, in the end time, you shall return to the Lord your God, and you will hear his voice.
31For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not abandon you, nor will he entirely destroy you, nor will he forget the covenant, which he swore to your fathers.
32Inquire concerning the days of antiquity, which were before you, from the day when God created man upon the earth, from one end of heaven to another, if anything similar has ever occurred, or whether any such thing has ever been known,
33that a people would hear the voice of God, speaking from the midst of fire, just as you have heard it, and live,
34whether God has acted so as to enter and take for himself a nation from the midst of the nations, by means of tests, signs, and wonders, by means of fighting, and a strong hand, and an outstretched arm, and terrible visions, in accord with all the things which the Lord your God has accomplished for you in Egypt, in the sight of your eyes.
35So may you know that the Lord himself is God, and there is no other beside him.
36He has caused you to hear his voice from heaven, so that he might teach you. And he showed you his exceedingly great fire on earth, and you heard his words from the midst of the fire.
37For he loved your fathers, and he chose their offspring after them. And he led you away from Egypt, advancing before you with his great power,
38so as to wipe away, upon your arrival, nations, very great and stronger than you, and so as to lead you in, and to present to you their land as a possession, just as you discern in the present day.
39Therefore, know on this day and consider in your heart, that the Lord himself is God in heaven above, and on earth below, and there is no other.
40Keep his precepts and commandments, which I am teaching to you, so that it may be well with you, and with your sons after you, and so that you may remain for a long time upon the land, which the Lord your God will give to you.”
41Then Moses set aside three cities, across the Jordan toward the eastern region,
42so that anyone might flee to these if he has killed his neighbor unwillingly, who was not his enemy a day or two earlier, and so that he would be able to escape to one of these cities:
43Bezer in the wilderness, which is situated in the plains of the tribe of Ruben; and Ramoth in Gilead, which is in the tribe of Gad; and Golan in Bashan, which is in the tribe of Manasseh.
44This is the law, which Moses set forth before the sons of Israel.
45And these are the testimonies and ceremonies as well as judgments, which he spoke to the sons of Israel, when they departed from Egypt,
46across the Jordan, in the valley opposite the shrine of Peor, in the land of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses struck down. Accordingly, the sons of Israel, having departed from Egypt,
47possessed his land, and the land of Og, the king of Bashan, the land of the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun:
48from Aroer, which is situated above the bank of the torrent Arnon, as far as Mount Zion, which is also called Hermon,
49the entire plain across the Jordan, from its eastern region, as far as the sea of the wilderness, and even to the base of Mount Pisgah.
1Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.
2Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.
3Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal–peor: for all the men that followed Baal–peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you.
4But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.
5Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.
6Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
7For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?
8And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
9Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;
10Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.
11And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.
12And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.
13And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.
14And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.
15Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
16Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
18The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:
19And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
20But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.
21Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance:
22But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.
23Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee.
24For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
25When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger:
26I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
27And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you.
28And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
30When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
31(For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
32For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?
33Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
34Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him.
36Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.
37And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;
38To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.
39Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
40Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for ever.
41Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sunrising;
42That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live:
43Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.
44And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:
45These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt,
46On this side Jordan, in the valley over against Beth–peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they were come forth out of Egypt:
47And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were on this side Jordan toward the sunrising;
48From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which is Hermon,
49And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.