< Deuteronomy 4 >

1 Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
Nowe therefore hearken, O Israel, vnto the ordinances and to the lawes which I teache you to doe, that ye may liue and goe in, and possesse the lande, which the Lord God of your fathers giueth you.
2 You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you.
Ye shall put nothing vnto the word which I command you, neither shall ye take ought there from, that ye may keepe the commandements of the Lord your God which I commande you.
3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all who followed Baal of Peor.
Your eyes haue seene what the Lord did because of Baal-Peor, for al the men that folowed Baal-Peor the Lord thy God hath destroyed euery one from among you.
4 But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive to this day, every one of you.
But ye that did cleaue vnto the Lord your God, are aliue euery one of you this day.
5 See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the LORD my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land that you are about to enter and possess.
Behold, I haue taught you ordinances, and lawes, as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should doe euen so within the land whither ye goe to possesse it.
6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
Keepe them therefore, and doe them; for that is your wisdome, and your vnderstanding in the sight of the people, which shall heare all these ordinances, and shall say, Onely this people is wise, and of vnderstanding, and a great nation.
7 For what nation is great enough to have a god as near to them as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call on Him?
For what nation is so great, vnto whome the gods come so neere vnto them, as the Lord our God is neere vnto vs, in all that we call vnto him for?
8 And what nation is great enough to have righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?
And what nation is so great, that hath ordinances and lawes so righteous, as all this Lawe, which I set before you this day?
9 Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.
But take heede to thy selfe, and keepe thy soule diligently, that thou forget not the thinges which thine eyes haue seene, and that they depart not out of thine heart, all the dayes of thy life: but teach them thy sonnes, and thy sonnes sonnes:
10 The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, “Gather the people before Me to hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach them to their children.”
Forget not the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said vnto me, Gather me the people together, and I wil cause them heare my wordes, that they may learne to feare me all the dayes that they shall liue vpon the earth, and that they may teache their children:
11 You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.
Then came you neere and stoode vnder the mountaine, and the mountaine burnt with fire vnto the mids of heauen, and there was darkenesse, cloudes and mist.
12 And the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.
And the Lord spake vnto you out of the middes of the fire, and ye heard the voyce of the wordes, but sawe no similitude, saue a voyce.
13 He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to follow—the Ten Commandments that He wrote on two tablets of stone.
Then hee declared vnto you his couenant which he commanded you to doe, euen the ten commandements, and wrote them vpon two tables of stone.
14 At that time the LORD commanded me to teach you the statutes and ordinances you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.
And the Lord commanded me that same time, that I should teach you ordinances and lawes, which ye should obserue in the lande, whither ye goe, to possesse it.
15 So since you saw no form of any kind on the day the LORD spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb, be careful
Take therefore good heede vnto your selues: for ye sawe no image in the day that the Lord spake vnto you in Horeb out of the middes of the fire:
16 that you do not act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves of any form or shape, whether in the likeness of a male or female,
That ye corrupt not your selues, and make you a grauen image or representation of any figure: whither it be the likenes of male or female,
17 of any beast that is on the earth or bird that flies in the air,
The likenes of any beast that is on earth, or the likenesse of any fethered foule that flieth in the aire:
18 or of any creature that crawls on the ground or fish that is in the waters below.
Or the likenesse of any thing that creepeth on the earth, or the likenesse of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth,
19 When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.
And lest thou lift vp thine eyes vnto heauen, and when thou seest the sunne and the moone and the starres with all the host of heauen, shouldest bee driuen to worship them and serue them, which the Lord thy God hath distributed to all people vnder the whole heauen.
20 Yet the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today.
But the Lord hath taken you and brought you out of the yron fornace: out of Egypt to be vnto him a people and inheritance, as appeareth this day.
21 The LORD, however, was angry with me on account of you, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan to enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
And the Lord was angrie with me for your words, and sware that I should not goe ouer Iorden, and that I should not goe in vnto that good land, which the Lord thy God giueth thee for an inheritance.
22 For I will not be crossing the Jordan, because I must die in this land. But you shall cross over and take possession of that good land.
For I must die in this land, and shall not go ouer Iorden: but ye shall goe ouer, and possesse that good land.
23 Be careful that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God that He made with you; do not make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything He has forbidden you.
Take heede vnto your selues, least ye forget the couenant of the Lord your God which hee made with you, and least ye make you any grauen image, or likenes of any thing, as the Lord thy God hath charged thee.
24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, and a ielous God.
25 After you have children and grandchildren and you have been in the land a long time, if you then act corruptly and make an idol of any form—doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God and provoking Him to anger—
When thou shalt beget children and childrens children, and shalt haue remained long in the land, if ye corrupt your selues, and make any grauen image, or likenes of any thing, and worke euill in the sight of the Lord thy God, to prouoke him to anger,
26 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.
I call heauen and earth to record against you this day, that ye shall shortly perish from the land, whereunto ye goe ouer Iorden to possesse it: ye shall not prolong your dayes therein, but shall vtterly be destroyed.
27 Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you.
And the Lord shall scatter you among the people, and ye shall be left few in nomber among the nations, whither the Lord shall bring you:
28 And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.
And there ye shall serue gods, euen ye worke of mans hand, wood, and stone, which neither see, nor heare, nor eate, nor smelll.
29 But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.
But if from thence thou shalt seeke the Lord thy God, thou shalt finde him, if thou seeke him with all thine heart, and with all thy soule.
30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.
When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come vpon thee, at the length if thou returne to the Lord thy God, and bee obedient vnto his voyce,
31 For the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers, which He swore to them by oath.
(For the Lord thy God is a mercifull God) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the couenant of thy fathers, which hee sware vnto them.
32 Indeed, ask now from one end of the heavens to the other about the days that long preceded you, from the day that God created man on earth: Has anything as great as this ever happened or been reported?
For inquire now of the dayes that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man vpon the earth, and aske from the one ende of heauen vnto the other, if there came to passe such a great thing as this, or whether any such like thing hath bene heard.
33 Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived?
Did euer people heare the voyce of God speaking out of the middes of a fire, as thou hast heard, and liued?
34 Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation—by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes?
Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from among nations, by tentations, by signes, and by wonders, and by warre, and by a mightie hand, and by a stretched out arme, and by great feare, according vnto all that the Lord your God did vnto you in Egypt before your eyes?
35 You were shown these things so that you would know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him.
Vnto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest knowe, that the Lord hee is God, and that there is none but he alone.
36 He let you hear His voice from heaven to discipline you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire.
Out of heauen hee made thee heare his voyce to instruct thee, and vpon earth he shewed thee his great fire, and thou heardest his voyce out of the middes of the fire.
37 Because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by His presence and great power,
And because hee loued thy fathers, therefore hee chose their seede after them, and hath brought thee out of Egypt in his sight by his mightie power,
38 to drive out before you nations greater and mightier than you, and to bring you into their land and give it to you for your inheritance, as it is this day.
To thrust out nations greater and mightier then thou, before thee, to bring thee in, and to giue thee their land for inheritance: as appeareth this day.
39 Know therefore this day and take to heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.
Vnderstande therefore this day, and consider in thine heart, that the Lord, he is God in heauen aboue, and vpon the earth beneath: there is none other.
40 Keep His statutes and commandments, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.
Thou shalt keepe therefore his ordinances, and his commandements which I commaund thee this day, that it may goe well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayst prolong thy dayes vpon the earth, which the Lord thy God giueth thee for euer.
41 Then Moses set aside three cities across the Jordan to the east
Then Moses separated three cities on this side of Iorden toward the sunne rising:
42 to which a manslayer could flee after killing his neighbor unintentionally without prior malice. To save one’s own life, he could flee to one of these cities:
That the slayer should flee thither, which had killed his neighbour at vnwares, and hated him not in time past, might flee, I say, vnto one of those cities, and liue:
43 Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the Gadites, or Golan in Bashan belonging to the Manassites.
That is, Bezer in the wildernesse, in the plaine countrey of the Reubenites: and Ramoth in Gilead among the Gadites: and Golan in Bashan among them of Manasseh.
44 This is the law that Moses set before the Israelites.
So this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel.
45 These are the testimonies, statutes, and ordinances that Moses proclaimed to them after they had come out of Egypt,
These are the witnesses, and the ordinances, and the lawes which Moses declared to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt,
46 while they were in the valley across the Jordan facing Beth-peor in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites after they had come out of Egypt.
On this side Iorden, in the valley ouer against Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon King of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they were come out of Egypt:
47 They took possession of the land belonging to Sihon and to Og king of Bashan—the two Amorite kings across the Jordan to the east—
And they possessed his land, and the lande of Og King of Bashan, two Kings of the Amorites, which were on this side Iorden towarde the sunne rising:
48 extending from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Siyon (that is, Hermon),
From Aroer, which is by the banke of the riuer Arnon, euen vnto mount Sion, which is Hermon,
49 including all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan and as far as the Sea of the Arabah, below the slopes of Pisgah.
And all the plaine by Iorden Eastwarde, euen vnto the Sea, of ye plaine, vnder the springs of Pisgah.

< Deuteronomy 4 >