Deuteronomy 4
4
1‘And now, Israel, hearken unto the statutes, and unto the judgments which I am teaching you to do, so that ye live, and have gone in, and possessed the land which Jehovah God of your fathers is giving to you.
2Ye do not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor diminish from it, to keep the commands of Jehovah your God which I am commanding you.
3‘Your eyes are seeing that which Jehovah hath done in Baal-Peor, for every man who hath gone after Baal-Peor, Jehovah thy God hath destroyed him from thy midst;
4and ye who are cleaving to Jehovah your God, [are] alive, all of you, to-day.
5‘See, I have taught you statutes and judgments, as Jehovah my God hath commanded me — to do so, in the midst of the land whither ye are going in to possess it;
6and ye have kept and done [them] (for it [is] your wisdom and your understanding) before the eyes of the peoples who hear all these statutes, and they have said, Only, a people wise and understanding [is] this great nation.
7‘For which [is] the great nation that hath God near unto it, as Jehovah our God, in all we have called unto him?
8and which [is] the great nation which hath righteous statutes and judgments according to all this law which I am setting before you to-day?
9‘Only, take heed to thyself, and watch thy soul exceedingly, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they turn aside from thy heart, all days of thy life; and thou hast made them known to thy sons, and to thy sons' sons.
10‘The day when thou hast stood before Jehovah thy God in Horeb — in Jehovah's saying unto me, Assemble to Me the people, and I cause them to hear My words, so that they learn to fear Me all the days that they are alive on the ground, and their sons they teach; —
11and ye draw near and stand under the mountain, and the mountain is burning with fire unto the heart of the heavens — darkness, cloud, yea, thick darkness:
12‘And Jehovah speaketh unto you out of the midst of the fire; a voice of words ye are hearing and a similitude ye are not seeing, only a voice;
13and He declareth to you His covenant, which He hath commanded you to do, the Ten Matters, and He writeth them upon two tables of stone.
14‘And me hath Jehovah commanded at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, for your doing them in the land whither ye are passing over to possess it;
15and ye have been very watchful of your souls, for ye have not seen any similitude in the day of Jehovah's speaking unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire,
16lest ye do corruptly, and have made to you a graven image, a similitude of any figure, a form of male or female —
17a form of any beast which [is] in the earth — a form of any winged bird which flieth in the heavens —
18a form of any creeping thing on the ground — a form of any fish which [is] in the waters under the earth;
19‘And lest thou lift up thine eyes towards the heavens, and hast seen the sun, and the moon, and the stars, all the host of the heavens, and thou hast been forced, and hast bowed thyself to them, and served them, which Jehovah thy God hath apportioned to all the peoples under the whole heavens.
20‘And you hath Jehovah taken, and He is bringing you out from the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be to Him for a people — an inheritance, as [at] this day.
21‘And Jehovah hath shewed himself wroth with me because of your words, and sweareth to my not passing over the Jordan, and to my not going in unto the good land which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee — an inheritance;
22for I am dying in this land; I am not passing over the Jordan, and ye are passing over, and have possessed this good land.
23‘Take heed to yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of Jehovah your God, which He hath made with you, and have made to yourselves a graven image, a similitude of anything [concerning] which Jehovah thy God hath charged thee:
24for Jehovah thy God is a fire consuming — a zealous God.
25‘When thou begettest sons and sons' sons, and ye have become old in the land, and have done corruptly, and have made a graven image, a similitude of anything, and have done the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, to provoke Him to anger: —
26I have caused to testify against you this day the heavens and the earth, that ye do perish utterly hastily from off the land whither ye are passing over the Jordan to possess it; ye do not prolong days upon it, but are utterly destroyed;
27and Jehovah hath scattered you among the peoples, and ye have been left few in number among the nations, whither Jehovah leadeth you,
28and ye have served there gods, work of man's hands, wood and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29‘And — ye have sought from thence Jehovah thy God, and hast found, when thou seekest Him with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
30in distress [being] to thee, and all these things have found thee, in the latter end of the days, and thou hast turned back unto Jehovah thy God, and hast hearkened to His voice;
31for a merciful God [is] Jehovah thy God; He doth not fail thee, nor destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which He hath sworn to them.
32‘For, ask, I pray thee, at the former days which have been before thee, from the day that God prepared man on the earth, and from the [one] end of the heavens even unto the [other] end of the heavens, whether there hath been as this great thing — or hath been heard like it?
33Hath a people heard the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, thou — and doth live?
34Or hath God tried to go in to take to Himself, a nation from the midst of a nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a strong hand, and by a stretchedout arm, and by great terrors — according to all that Jehovah your God hath done to you, in Egypt, before your eyes?
35Thou, thou hast been shewn [it], to know that Jehovah He [is] God; there is none else besides Him.
36‘From the heavens He hath caused thee to hear His voice, to instruct thee, and on earth He hath shewed thee His great fire, and His words thou hast heard out of the midst of the fire.
37‘And because that He hath loved thy fathers, He doth also fix on their seed after them, and doth bring thee out, in His presence, by His great power, from Egypt:
38to dispossess nations greater and stronger than thou, from thy presence, to bring thee in to give to thee their land — an inheritance, as [at] this day.
39‘And thou hast known to-day, and hast turned [it] back unto thy heart, that Jehovah He [is] God, in the heavens above, and on the earth beneath — there is none else;
40and thou hast kept His statutes and His commands which I am commanding thee to-day, so that it is well to thee, and to thy sons after thee, and so that thou prolongest days on the ground which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee — all the days.’
41Then Moses separateth three cities beyond the Jordan, towards the sun-rising,
42for the fleeing thither of the man-slayer, who slayeth his neighbour unknowingly, and he is not hating him heretofore, and he hath fled unto one of these cities, and he hath lived:
43Bezer, in the wilderness, in the land of the plain, of the Reubenite; and Ramoth, in Gilead, of the Gadite; and Golan, in Bashan, of the Manassahite.
44And this [is] the law which Moses hath set before the sons of Israel;
45these [are] the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses hath spoken unto the sons of Israel, in their coming out of Egypt,
46beyond the Jordan, in the valley over-against Beth-Peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorite, who is dwelling in Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel have smitten, in their coming out of Egypt,
47and they possess his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorite who [are] beyond the Jordan, [towards] the sun-rising;
48from Aroer, which [is] by the edge of the brook Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which [is] Hermon —
49and all the plain beyond the Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.
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Deuteronomy 4: YLT98
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maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society
Deuteronomy 4
4
Moses Reminds Israel to Be Loyal to the LORD
1Israel, listen to the laws and rules I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you will live and be able to enter and take possession of the land that the Lord God of your ancestors is giving you. 2Never add anything to what I command you, or take anything away from it. Then you will be able to obey the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.
3With your own eyes you saw what the Lord did at Baal Peor. The Lord your God destroyed everyone among you who worshiped the god Baal while you were at Peor. 4But you were loyal to the Lord your God and are still alive today.
5I have taught you laws and rules as the Lord my God commanded me. You must obey them when you’ve entered the land and taken possession of it. 6Faithfully obey these laws. This will show the people of the world your wisdom and insight. When they hear about all these laws, they will say, “What wise and insightful people there are in this great nation!”
7What great nation ever had their gods as near to them as the Lord our God is near to us whenever we pray to him? 8Or what other great nation has such fair laws and rules as all these teachings I am giving you today?
9However, be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you don’t forget the things which you have seen with your own eyes. Don’t let them fade from your memory as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren. 10Never forget the day you stood in front of the Lord your God at Mount Horeb. The Lord had said to me, “Assemble the people in front of me, and I will let them hear my words. Then they will learn to fear me as long as they live on earth, and they will teach their children the same thing.”
11So you came and stood at the foot of the mountain, which was on fire with flames shooting into the sky. It was dark, cloudy, and gloomy. 12The Lord spoke to you from the fire. You heard a voice speaking but saw no one. There was only a voice. 13The Lord told you about the terms of his promise, the ten commandments, which he commanded you to do. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets. 14The Lord also commanded me to teach you the laws and rules you must obey after you cross ⌞the Jordan River⌟ and take possession of the land.
15You didn’t see the Lord the day he spoke to you from the fire at Mount Horeb. So be very careful 16that you don’t become corrupt and make your own carved idols. Don’t make statues that represent men or women, 17any animal on earth, any creature with wings that flies, 18any creature that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the water. 19Don’t let yourselves be tempted to worship and serve what you see in the sky—the sun, the moon, the stars, or anything else. The Lord your God has given them to all people everywhere. 20But you are the people the Lord brought out of Egypt, the iron smelter, in order to make you his own people as you still are today.
21The Lord was angry with me because of you. So the Lord your God took an oath that I wouldn’t cross the Jordan River and enter the good land he is giving you as your property. 22I’m going to die in this land and not cross the Jordan River, but you’re going to go across and take possession of that good land. 23Be careful that you don’t forget the promise #4:23 Or “covenant.” that the Lord your God made to you. Don’t make your own carved idols or statues that represent anything the Lord your God has forbidden. 24The Lord your God is a raging fire, a God who does not tolerate rivals.
25Even when you have children and grandchildren and have grown old in that land, don’t become corrupt and make carved idols or statues that represent anything. I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today: #4:25 The first part of verse 26 (in Hebrew) has been placed in verse 25 to express the complex Hebrew sentence structure more clearly in English. If you do this thing that the Lord your God considers evil, making him furious, 26you will quickly disappear from the land you’re going to possess on the other side of the Jordan River. You won’t live very long there. You’ll be completely wiped out. 27The Lord will scatter you among the people of the world, and only a few of you will be left among the nations where the Lord will force you to live. 28There you will worship wooden and stone gods made by human hands. These gods can’t see, hear, eat, or smell.
29But if you look for the Lord your God when you are among those nations, you will find him whenever you search for him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30When you’re in distress and all these things happen to you, then you will finally come back to the Lord your God and obey him. 31The Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not abandon you, destroy you, or forget the promise to your ancestors that he swore he would keep.
32Search the distant past, long before your time. Start from the very day God created people on earth. Search from one end of heaven to the other. Has anything as great as this ever happened before, or has anything like it ever been heard of? 33Have any ⌞other⌟ people ever heard God speak from a fire and lived? You did! 34Or has any god ever tried to come and take one nation away from another for himself? The Lord your God used his mighty hand and powerful arm to do this for you in Egypt. He did this using plagues, miraculous signs, amazing things, and war. He did his great and awe-inspiring deeds in front of you.
35You were shown these things so that you would know that the Lord is God. There is no other god. 36He let you hear his voice from heaven so that he could instruct you. He showed you his great fire on earth, and you heard him speak from the column of fire. 37Because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants, he was with you as he brought you out of Egypt by his great power. 38He forced nations greater and stronger than you out of your way to bring you into their land and give it to you. This land is your own possession today.
39Remember today, and never forget that the Lord is God in heaven above and here on earth. There is no other god. 40Obey his laws and commands which I’m giving you today. Then things will go well for you and your descendants. You will live for a long time in the land. The Lord your God is giving you the land for as long as you live.
Three Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan River
41Then Moses set aside three cities on the east side of the Jordan River. 42Those who unintentionally killed someone whom they had never hated could flee to one of these cities and save their lives. 43The cities were Bezer on the desert plateau for the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead for the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan for the tribe of Manasseh.
Introduction to Moses’ Teachings
44This is what Moses taught the people of Israel. 45These are the commandments, laws, and rules Moses gave the Israelites after they had left Egypt. 46He gave these to the people when they were east of the Jordan River in the valley near Beth Peor, in the land of King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon. Moses and Israel defeated him after they left Egypt. 47They took possession of his land and the land of King Og of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites who were east of the Jordan River. 48This land went from Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Valley to Mount Siyon (that is, Mount Hermon). 49It included all the plains on the east side of the Jordan River as far as the Dead Sea at the foot of the slopes of Mount Pisgah.
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