Deuteronomy 4

¹And now give ear, O Israel, to the laws and the decisions which I am teaching you, and do them; so that life may be yours, and you may go in and take for yourselves the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

²Make no addition to the orders which I give you, and take nothing from them, but keep the orders of the Lord your God which I give you.

³Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for destruction came from the Lord on all those among you who went after Baal-peor.

⁴But you who kept faith with the Lord are living, every one of you, today.

⁵I have been teaching you laws and decisions, as I was ordered to do by the Lord my God, so that you might keep them in the land to which you are going to take it for your heritage.

⁶So keep these laws and do them; for so will your wisdom and good sense be clear in the eyes of the peoples, who hearing all these laws will say, Truly, this great nation is a wise and far-seeing people.

⁷For what great nation has a god so near to them as the Lord our God is, whenever we are turned to him in prayer?

⁸And what great nation has laws and decisions so right as all this law which I put before you today?

⁹Only take care, and keep watch on your soul, for fear that the things which your eyes have seen go from your memory and from your heart all the days of your life; but let the knowledge of them be given to your children and to your children's children;

¹⁰That day when you were waiting before the Lord your God in Horeb, and the Lord said to me, Make all the people come together, so that hearing my words they may go in fear of me all the days of their life on earth and give this teaching to their children.

¹¹And you came near, waiting at the foot of the mountain; and flames of fire went up from the mountain to the heart of heaven, with dark clouds, and all was black as night.

¹²And the voice of the Lord came to you out of the fire: the sound of his words came to your ears but you saw no form; there was nothing but a voice.

¹³And he gave you his agreement with you, the ten rules which you were to keep, which he put in writing on the two stones of the law.

¹⁴And the Lord gave me orders at that time to make clear to you these laws and decisions, so that you might do them in the land to which you are going, and which is to be your heritage.

¹⁵So keep watch on yourselves with care; for you saw no form of any sort on the day when the voice of the Lord came to you in Horeb out of the heart of the fire:

¹⁶So that you may not be turned to evil ways and make for yourselves an image in the form of any living thing, male or female,

¹⁷Or any beast of the earth, or winged bird of the air,

¹⁸Or of anything which goes flat on the earth, or any fish in the water under the earth.

¹⁹And when your eyes are lifted up to heaven, and you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the army of heaven, do not let yourselves be moved to give them worship, or become the servants of what the Lord has given equally to all peoples under heaven.

²⁰But the Lord has taken you out of the flaming fire, out of Egypt, to be to him the people of his heritage, as you are today.

²¹And the Lord was angry with me because of you, and made an oath that I was not to go over Jordan into the good land which the Lord is giving you for your heritage:

²²But death is to come to me in this land, I may not go over Jordan: but you will go over and take that good land for your heritage.

²³Take care that you do not let the agreement of the Lord your God, which he has made with you, go out of your mind, or make for yourselves images of any sort, against the orders which the Lord your God has given you.

²⁴For the Lord your God is an all-burning fire, and he will not let the honour which is his be given to any other.

²⁵If, when you have had children and children's children, and have been living a long time in the land, you are turned to evil ways, and make an image of any sort, and do evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, moving him to wrath:

²⁶May heaven and earth be my witnesses against you today, that destruction will quickly overtake you, cutting you off from that land which you are going over Jordan to take; your days will not be long in that land, but you will come to a complete end.

²⁷And the Lord will send you wandering among the peoples; only a small band of you will be kept from death among the nations where the Lord will send you.

²⁸There you will be the servants of gods, made by men's hands, of wood and stone, having no power of seeing or hearing or taking food or smelling.

²⁹But if in those lands you are turned again to the Lord your God, searching for him with all your heart and soul, he will not keep himself from you.

³⁰When you are in trouble and all these things have come on you, if, in the future, you are turned again to the Lord your God, and give ear to his voice:

³¹Because the Lord your God is a God of mercy, he will not take away his help from you or let destruction overtake you, or be false to the agreement which he made by an oath with your fathers.

³²Give thought now to the days which are past, before your time, from the day when God first gave life to man on the earth, and searching from one end of heaven to the other, see if such a great thing as this has ever been, or if anything like it has been talked of in story.

³³Has any people ever gone on living after hearing the voice of God out of the heart of the fire as you did?

³⁴Has God ever before taken a nation for himself from out of another nation, by punishments and signs and wonders, by war and by a strong hand and a stretched-out arm and great acts of wonder and fear, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes?

³⁵All this he let you see, so that you might be certain that the Lord is God and there is no other.

³⁶Out of heaven itself his voice came to you, teaching you; and on earth he let you see his great fire; and his words came to your ears out of the heart of the fire.

³⁷And because of his love for your fathers, he took their seed and made it his, and he himself, present among you, took you out of Egypt by his great power;

³⁸Driving out before you nations greater and stronger than you, to take you into their land and give it to you for your heritage, as at this day.

³⁹So today be certain, and keep the knowledge deep in your hearts, that the Lord is God, in heaven on high and here on earth; there is no other God.

⁴⁰Then keep his laws and his orders which I give you today, so that it may be well for you and for your children after you, and that your lives may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for ever.

⁴¹Then Moses had three towns marked out on the far side of Jordan looking to the east;

⁴²To which anyone causing the death of his neighbour in error and not through hate, might go in flight; so that in one of these towns he might be kept from death:

⁴³The names of the towns were Bezer in the waste land, in the table-land, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for Manasseh.

⁴⁴This is the law which Moses put before the children of Israel:

⁴⁵These are the rules and the laws and the decisions which Moses gave to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt;

⁴⁶On the far side of Jordan, in the valley facing Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was ruling in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel overcame after they had come out of Egypt:

⁴⁷And they took his land for a heritage, and the land of Og, king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, whose lands were on the other side of Jordan to the east;

⁴⁸From Aroer on the edge of the valley of the Arnon as far as Mount Sion, which is Hermon,

⁴⁹And all the Arabah on the far side of Jordan to the east, as far as the sea of the Arabah under the slopes of Pisgah.

Deuteronomy 4

¹Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, gives you.

²You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it, that you 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 who followed Baal Peor, the Lord your God has destroyed them from the midst of you.

⁴But you who were faithful to the Lord your God are all alive this day.

⁵Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do so in the midst of the land where you go in to possess it.

⁶Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who shall hear all these statutes, and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people."

⁷For what great nation is there, that has a god so near to them, as the Lord our God is whenever we call on him?

⁸What great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

⁹Only take heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your children and your children's children;

¹⁰the day that you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb, when the Lord said to me, "Assemble me the people, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children."

¹¹You came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.

¹²The Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire: you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; you only heard a voice.

¹³He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments; and he wrote them on two tables of stone.

¹⁴The Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it.

¹⁵Take therefore good heed to yourselves; for you saw no kind of form on the day that the Lord spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire.

¹⁶Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourself an engraved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

¹⁷the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky,

¹⁸the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth;

¹⁹and lest you lift up your eyes to the sky, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the army of the sky, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky.

²⁰But the Lord has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as at this day.

²¹Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in to that good land, which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance:

²²but I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan; but you shall go over, and possess that good land.

²³Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you an engraved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you.

²⁴For the Lord your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.

²⁵When you shall father children, and children's children, and you shall have been long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make an engraved image in the form of anything, and shall do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, to provoke him to anger;

²⁶I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto you go over the Jordan to possess it; you shall not prolong your days on it, but shall utterly be destroyed.

²⁷The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, where the Lord shall lead you away.

²⁸There you shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

²⁹But from there you shall seek the Lord your God, and you shall find him, when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

³⁰When you are in oppression, and all these things have come on you, in the latter days you shall return to the Lord your God, and listen to his voice:

³¹for the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not fail you, neither destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them.

³²For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from the one end of the sky to the other, whether there has been anything as this great thing is, or has been heard like it?

³³Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live?

³⁴Or has God tried to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

³⁵It was shown to you so that you might know that the Lord is God. There is no one else besides him.

³⁶Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, that he might instruct you: and on earth he made you to see his great fire; and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.

³⁷Because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought you out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt;

³⁸to drive out nations from before you greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as at this day.

³⁹Know therefore this day, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is none else.

⁴⁰You shall keep his statutes, and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land, which the Lord your God gives you, forever.

⁴¹Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise;

⁴²that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unawares, and did not hate him in time past; and that fleeing to one of these cities he might live:

⁴³Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.

⁴⁴This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:

⁴⁵these are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spoke to the children of Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt,

⁴⁶beyond the Jordan, in the valley over against Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel struck, when they came forth out of Egypt.

⁴⁷They took his land in possession, and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise;

⁴⁸from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, even to Mount Sion (the same is Hermon),

⁴⁹and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, even to the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.