Deuteronomy 4
4
Call to Obedience
1“Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances # 4:1 Ex 15:25; Lv 26:46; Dt 5:1; 11:32; 12:1; 26:16–17; Jos 24:25; 1Sm 30:25; 1Kg 9:4; Ezr 7:10; Ps 81:4; 147:19; Ezk 11:12; 20:18,25; 36:27; Mal 4:4 I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, # 4:1 Lv 25:18; Dt 4:40; 5:16,33; 8:1; 11:9; 25:15; 30:16; 2Kg 18:32; Ezk 18:9; Am 5:14 enter, and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, # 4:1 Ex 3:13,15–16; Dt 1:11,21; 6:3; 12:1; 27:3; Jos 18:3; 2Ch 13:12; 28:9; 29:5; Ezr 8:28; 10:11 is giving you. 2You must not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, # 4:2 Dt 12:32; Pr 30:6; Mk 7:9–13; Rv 22:18–19 so that you may keep the commands of the Lord your God I am giving you. 3Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed every one of you who followed Baal of Peor. # 4:3 Ps 106:28; Hs 9:10; 1Co 10:8 4But you who have remained faithful # 4:4 Lit have held on to the Lord your God are all alive today. 5Look, I have taught you statutes and ordinances as the Lord my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to possess. 6Carefully follow them, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the peoples. When they hear about all these statutes, they will say, ‘This great nation is indeed a wise and understanding people.’ 7For what great nation is there that has a god near to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call to him? # 4:7 1Kg 8:52; Ps 4:3; Is 55:6; Jr 11:14; Hs 11:7; Rm 10:12,14 8And what great nation has righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today? # 4:8 Dt 11:26,32
9“Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, # 4:9 Jos 22:5; Pr 13:3; 16:17; 19:16; 22:5 so that you don’t forget # 4:9 Dt 6:12; 8:11; Pr 3:1; 4:5 the things your eyes have seen and so that they don’t slip from your mind # 4:9 Or don’t depart from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren. # 4:9–10 Ex 12:26; Dt 6:7,20–25; 11:2–7,18–21; 31:12–13,19–22; 32:46; Jos 4:6,21–22; 8:35; Ps 34:11; 78:5 10The day you stood before the Lord your God # 4:10 Gn 18:22; 19:27; Lv 9:5; Dt 10:8; 1Sm 6:20; 1Kg 22:21; 2Ch 20:13 at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people before me, and I will let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me # 4:10 Dt 5:29; Is 57:11; Jr 5:22; 32:39; Zph 3:7; Mal 3:5 all the days they live on the earth and may instruct their children.’ 11You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, # 4:11 Ex 24:4; 32:19 a mountain blazing with fire # 4:11 Ex 3:2; 19:18; Dt 5:23; 9:15; Heb 12:18 into the heavens and enveloped in a totally black cloud. # 4:11 Gn 15:12; Ex 20:21; Dt 5:22; 2Sm 22:10; 1Kg 8:12; 2Ch 6:1; Ps 18:9; 97:2; Is 60:2; Jr 13:16; Ezk 34:12; Jl 2:2; Zph 1:15 12Then the Lord spoke to you from the fire. # 4:12 Ex 3:2–4; Dt 4:33,36; 5:4,22–26; 9:10; 10:4; 33:16; Ezk 1:4; Ac 7:30,35 You kept hearing the sound of the words, but didn’t see a form; there was only a voice. # 4:9–12 Ex 19:10–19; Dt 5:8; Heb 12:18–19 13He declared his covenant # 4:13 Ex 2:24; 19:5; Lv 26:9,15,42,44; Dt 7:12; 8:18; 17:2; 31:16,20; Jos 7:11; Jdg 2:1,20; 2Kg 17:15; 18:12; Ps 25:10,14; 78:37; 103:18; 105:8; 106:45; 111:5,9 to you. He commanded you to follow the Ten Commandments, # 4:13 Ex 34:28; Dt 10:4 which he wrote on two stone tablets. # 4:13 Ex 34:1,4; Dt 5:22; 10:1,3 14At that time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to follow in the land you are about to cross into and possess.
Worshiping the True God
15“Diligently watch yourselves — because you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb — 16so you don’t act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of any figure: a male or female form, 17or the form of any animal on the earth, any winged creature that flies in the sky, 18any creature that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the waters under the earth. 19When you look to the heavens and see the sun, moon, and stars — all the stars in the sky — do not be led astray to bow in worship to them and serve them. # 4:19 Dt 17:3; Ezk 8:16; Zph 1:5; Ac 7:42 The Lord your God has provided them for all people everywhere under heaven. # 4:19 Ps 19:1 20But the Lord selected you and brought you out of Egypt’s iron furnace # 4:20 1Kg 8:51; Jr 11:4 to be a people for his inheritance, as you are today.
21“The Lord was angry with me on your account. # 4:21 Dt 1:37 He swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land # 4:21 Dt 8:7 the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. # 4:21 Dt 15:4 22I won’t be crossing the Jordan because I am going to die in this land. # 4:22 Dt 34:1–8 But you are about to cross over and take possession of this good land. 23Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you, and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of anything he has forbidden you. 24For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, # 4:24 Ex 24:17; Dt 9:3; 2Sm 22:9; Is 29:6; 30:27,30; 34:14 a jealous God. # 4:23–24 Ex 20:5; 34:14; Dt 5:9; 6:15; Jos 24:19; Heb 12:29
25“When you have children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, and if you act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, angering him, 26I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will quickly perish # 4:26 Dt 8:19 from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there, but you will certainly be destroyed. 27The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, # 4:27 Lv 26:33; Dt 28:64; 1Kg 14:15; Neh 1:8; Est 3:8; Ps 44:11; 106:27; Jr 9:16; 31:10; Ezk 6:8; 11:16–17; 12:15; Zch 1:19,21; 2:6 and you will be reduced to a few survivors # 4:27 Lit be left few in number among the nations where the Lord your God will drive you. 28There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see, hear, eat, or smell. 29But from there, you will search for the Lord your God, and you will find him when you seek him with all your heart and all your soul. # 4:29 Jr 29:13 30When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, in the future you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. 31He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant # 4:31 Lv 26:45; Dt 5:3; 7:12; 8:18; 31:20 with your ancestors that he swore to them by oath, because the Lord your God is a compassionate God. # 4:31 Ex 34:6
32“Indeed, ask about the earlier days that preceded you, from the day God created mankind # 4:32 Or Adam on the earth and from one end of the heavens to the other: Has anything like this great event ever happened, or has anything like it been heard of? 33Has a people heard God’s voice speaking from the fire as you have, and lived? 34Or has a god attempted to go and take a nation as his own out of another nation, by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, by great terrors, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35You were shown these things so that you would know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. # 4:35 1Kg 8:60; Is 43:11; 44:8; 45:5–6,18–22; 46:9; Dn 3:29; Jl 2:27; Mk 12:32 36He let you hear his voice from heaven to instruct you. # 4:36 Ex 20:22 He showed you his great fire on earth, and you heard his words from the fire. # 4:36 Ex 19:18 37Because he loved # 4:37 Dt 7:6–8; 10:15; 23:5; 33:3; Jr 31:3; Hs 11:1; Mal 1:2 your ancestors, he chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by his presence and great power, 38to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you in and give you their land as an inheritance, # 4:38 Lv 20:24 as is now taking place. 39Today, recognize and keep in mind that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is no other. 40Keep his statutes and commands, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper and so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”
Cities of Refuge
41Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the east. 42Someone could flee there who committed manslaughter, killing his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him. He could flee to one of these cities and stay alive: 43Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau land, belonging to the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, belonging to the Gadites; or Golan in Bashan, belonging to the Manassites. # 4:41–43 Nm 35:6–15; Dt 19:2–13; Jos 20:7–9
Introduction to the Law
44This is the law Moses gave the Israelites. 45These are the decrees, statutes, and ordinances Moses proclaimed to them after they came out of Egypt, 46across the Jordan in the valley facing Beth-peor in the land of King Sihon of the Amorites. He lived in Heshbon, and Moses and the Israelites defeated him after they came out of Egypt. 47They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two Amorite kings who were across the Jordan to the east, 48from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Sion (that is, Hermon) 49and all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Dead Sea below the slopes of Pisgah.
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Deuteronomy 4: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Deuteronomy 4
4
Israel must obey God
Moses said:
1Israel, listen to these laws and teachings! If you obey them, you will live, and you will go in and take the land that the LORD is giving you. He is the God your ancestors worshipped, 2and now he is your God. I am telling you everything he has commanded, so don't add anything or take anything away.#Rev 22.18,19.
3You saw how he killed everyone who worshipped the god Baal-Peor.#4.3 Baal-Peor: See Numbers 25.1-9.#Nu 25.1-9. 4But all of you who were faithful to the LORD your God are still alive today.
5-8No other nation has laws that are as fair as the ones the Lord my God told me to give you. If you faithfully obey them when you enter the land, you will show other nations how wise you are. In fact, everyone who hears about your laws will say, “That great nation certainly is wise!” And what makes us greater than other nations? We have a God who is close to us and answers our prayers.
9You must be very careful not to forget the things you have seen God do for you. Keep reminding yourselves, and tell your children and grandchildren as well. 10Do you remember the day you stood in the LORD's presence at Mount Sinai?#4.10 Mount Sinai: See the note at 1.1-5. The LORD said, “Moses, bring the people of Israel here. I want to speak to them so they will obey me as long as they live, and so they will teach their children to obey me too.”
11Mount Sinai#4.11 Mount Sinai: See the note at 1.1-5. was surrounded by deep dark clouds, and fire went up to the sky. You came to the foot of the mountain,#Ex 19.16-18; He 12.18,19. 12and the LORD spoke to you from the fire. You could hear him and understand what he was saying, but you couldn't see him. 13The LORD said he was making an agreement with you, and he told you that your part of the agreement is to obey the Ten Commandments. Then the LORD wrote these Commandments on two flat stones.#Ex 31.18; 34.28; Dt 9.10.
14That's when the LORD commanded me to give you the laws and teachings you must obey in the land that you will conquer west of the River Jordan.#Ex 21.1.
Don't worship idols
Moses said to Israel:
15When God spoke to you from the fire, he was invisible. So be careful 16not to commit the sin of worshipping idols. Don't make idols to be worshipped, whether they are shaped like men, women,#Ex 20.4; Lv 26.1; Dt 5.8; 27.15. 17animals, birds,#Ro 1.23. 18reptiles, or fish. 19And when you see the sun or moon or stars, don't be tempted to bow down and worship them. The LORD put them there for all the other nations to worship. 20But you are the LORD's people, because he led you through fiery trials and rescued you from Egypt.#Ex 19.5; Dt 7.6; 14.2; 26.18; Titus 2.14; 1 P 2.9.
21The LORD was angry with me because of what you said,#4.21 what you said: Or “you people”. and he told me that he would not let me cross the River Jordan into the good land that he is giving you.#4.21 The LORD was angry…giving you: See 1.37; 3.26.#Nu 20.12. 22So I must stay here and die on this side of the Jordan, but you will cross the river and take the land.
23Always remember the agreement that the LORD your God made with you, and don't make an idol in any shape or form. 24The LORD will be angry if you worship other gods, and he can be like a fire destroying everything in its path.#He 12.29.
25-26Soon you will cross the River Jordan and settle down in the land. Then in the years to come, you will have children, and they will give you grandchildren. After many years, you might lose your sense of right and wrong and make idols, even though the LORD your God hates them. So I am giving you fair warning today, and I call the earth and the sky as witnesses. If you ever make idols, the LORD will be angry, and you won't have long to live, because the LORD will let you be wiped out. 27Only a few of you will survive, and the LORD will force you to leave the land and will scatter you among the nations.#Dt 28.36. 28There you will have to worship gods made of wood and stone, and these are nothing but idols that can't see or hear or eat or smell.
29-30In all your troubles, you may finally decide that you want to worship only the LORD. And if you turn back to him and obey him completely, he will again be your God.#Jr 29.13. 31The LORD your God will have mercy—he won't destroy you or desert you. The LORD will remember his promise, and he will keep the agreement he made with your ancestors.
32-34When the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt, you saw how he fought for you and showed his great power by performing terrifying miracles. You became his people, and at Mount Sinai you heard him talking to you out of fiery flames. And yet you are still alive! Has anything like this ever happened since the time God created humans? No matter where you go or who you ask, you will get the same answer. No one has ever heard of another god even trying to do such things as the LORD your God has done for you.
35-36The LORD wants you to know he is the only true God, and he wants you to obey him. That's why he let you see his mighty miracles and his fierce fire on earth, and why you heard his voice from that fire and from the sky.#Mk 12.32.
37The LORD loved your ancestors and decided that you would be his people. So the LORD used his great power to bring you out of Egypt. 38Now you face other nations more powerful than you are, but the LORD has already started forcing them out of their land and giving it to you.
39So remember that the LORD is the only true God, whether in the sky above or on the earth below. 40Today I am explaining his laws and teachings. And if you always obey them, you and your descendants will live long and be successful in the land the LORD is giving you.
Safe Towns
41-43Moses said, “People of Israel, you must set aside the following three towns east of the River Jordan as Safe Towns: Bezer in the desert highlands belonging to the Reuben tribe; Ramoth in Gilead, belonging to the Gad tribe; and Golan in Bashan, belonging to the Manasseh tribe. If you kill a neighbour without meaning to, and if you had not been angry with that person, you can run to one of these towns and find safety.”#4.41-43 find safety: From the victim's clan, who might appoint one of their men to track down and put to death the killer (see also 19.1-13).#Js 20.8,9.
The second speech: Moses tells what the Lord demands
Israel at Beth-Peor
44-46The Israelites had come from Egypt and were camped east of the River Jordan near Beth-Peor, when Moses gave these laws and teachings. The land around their camp had once belonged to King Sihon of Heshbon. But Moses and the Israelites defeated him 47and King Og of Bashan, and took their lands. These two Amorite kings had ruled the territory east of the River Jordan 48from the town of Aroer on the edge of the gorge of the River Arnon, north to Mount Hermon.#4.48 Hermon: The Hebrew text also includes the name “Sion”, probably another form of “Sirion”, the name used by the Sidonians. 49Their land included the eastern side of the Jordan valley, as far south as the Dead Sea#4.49 the Dead Sea: Hebrew “the Sea of the Arabah”. below the slopes of Mount Pisgah.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012