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 Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, 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' 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' 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 Bethpeor, 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.
Deuteronomy 4
English Standard Version
Moses Commands Obedience
1“And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules[1] that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. (Le 18:4; De 6:24; De 8:1)2You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. (De 12:32; Jos 1:7; Pr 30:6; Re 22:18)3Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. (Nu 23:28; Nu 25:3)4But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today.5See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.6Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ (De 29:9; Job 28:28; Ps 111:10; Pr 1:7; Pr 9:10)7For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? (2Sa 7:23; Ps 34:18; Ps 46:1; Ps 145:18; Ps 148:14; Jas 4:8)8And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? (Ro 7:12)9“Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children— (Ge 18:19; De 4:23; De 6:7; De 11:19; De 32:46; Ps 78:4; Pr 4:23)10how on the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ (Ex 19:9; Ex 19:16; De 12:1; De 14:23; De 17:19; De 31:12; De 31:13; 1Ki 8:40; Heb 12:18)11And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. (Ex 19:17; Ex 19:18; Ex 20:18; Ex 20:21; Ex 24:16; De 5:22)12Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. (Ex 20:1; Ex 20:19; Ex 20:22; De 4:15; De 4:33; De 4:36; De 5:4; De 5:22; 1Ki 19:12; Job 4:16)13And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments,[2] and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. (Ex 24:12; Ex 34:28; De 9:9; De 9:11)14And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.
Idolatry Forbidden
15“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, (De 4:12; Jos 23:11)16beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, (Ex 20:4; De 4:23; De 4:25; De 5:8; Ac 17:29; Ro 1:23)17the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air,18the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth.19And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. (Ge 2:1; De 17:3; 2Ki 17:16; 2Ki 21:3; Job 31:26)20But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day. (De 9:29; De 32:9; 1Ki 8:51; Jer 11:4)21Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. (De 1:37)22For I must die in this land; I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of that good land. (De 3:25; De 3:27)23Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. (Ex 20:4; De 4:9; De 5:8; Ac 17:29)24For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. (Ex 20:5; Ex 24:17; De 9:3; Isa 10:16; Isa 29:6; Isa 30:27; Isa 30:30; Isa 42:8; Zep 1:18; Heb 12:29)25“When you father children and children’s children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger, (De 4:16; De 9:18; 2Ki 17:17)26I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. (De 30:18; De 31:28; De 32:1; Isa 1:2; Jer 2:12; Jer 6:19; Mic 6:2)27And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. (Le 26:33; De 28:62)28And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. (De 28:36; De 28:64; Ps 115:4; Ps 135:15; Isa 44:9; Isa 46:7; Jer 16:13)29But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. (Le 26:40; De 30:2; 2Ch 15:4; Ne 1:9; Isa 55:6; Jer 29:13)30When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. (Ge 49:1)31For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them. (Ex 34:6; De 31:6; De 31:8; Jos 1:5; 1Ch 28:20; 2Ch 30:9; Ne 9:31; Jon 4:2)
The Lord Alone Is God
32“For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. (Job 8:8)33Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? (Ge 32:30; Ex 3:6; Ex 19:21; Ex 24:11; Ex 33:20; Ex 33:23; De 4:12; De 5:24; De 5:26; Jud 6:22; Jud 13:22)34Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? (Ex 6:6; Ex 7:3; Ex 15:3; De 7:8; De 11:2; De 26:8; De 34:12; Jer 32:21)35To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. (Ex 10:2; De 4:39; 1Sa 2:2; 2Sa 22:32; Isa 45:5; Isa 45:18; Isa 45:22; Isa 46:9; Mr 12:32)36Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. (Ex 19:9; Ex 19:19; De 4:33; Ne 9:13)37And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them[3] and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, (Ex 33:14; De 10:15; Isa 63:9)38driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, (Ex 23:27; Ex 34:24; De 7:1; De 9:1; De 11:23)39know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. (Jos 2:11; 1Sa 2:2; 2Sa 22:32; 1Ki 8:23; 2Ch 20:6; Ec 5:2; Isa 45:5; Isa 45:18; Isa 45:22; Isa 46:9; Mr 12:32)40Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.” (Le 22:31; De 5:16; De 6:2; De 11:9; De 12:25; De 12:28; De 22:7; Pr 3:1; Pr 10:27)
Cities of Refuge
41Then Moses set apart three cities in the east beyond the Jordan, (Nu 35:6; Nu 35:14)42that the manslayer might flee there, anyone who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without being at enmity with him in time past; he may flee to one of these cities and save his life: (De 19:4)43Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites. (De 3:10; Jos 20:8; Jos 21:36; 1Ch 6:78)
Introduction to the Law
44This is the law that Moses set before the people of Israel.45These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the rules, which Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt,46beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the people of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt. (Nu 21:24; De 1:4; De 3:29)47And they took possession of his land and the land of Og, the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who lived to the east beyond the Jordan; (Nu 21:33; Nu 21:35; De 3:3)48from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, as far as Mount Sirion[4] (that is, Hermon), (De 2:36; De 3:9)49together with all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah. (De 3:17)