< Deuteronomy 4 >
1 And 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.
And now, Israel, hearken to the statutes and to the ordinances which I teach you, to do [them], that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which Jehovah the God of your fathers giveth you.
2 Make 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.
Ye shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall ye take from it, that ye may keep the commandments of Jehovah your God which I command you.
3 Your 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.
Your eyes have seen what Jehovah did because of Baal-Peor; for all the men that followed Baal-Peor, Jehovah thy God hath destroyed them from among you;
4 But you who kept faith with the Lord are living, every one of you, today.
but ye that did cleave to Jehovah your God are alive every one of you this day.
5 I 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.
See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as Jehovah my God commanded me, that ye may do so in the land into which ye enter to possess it.
6 So 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.
And ye shall keep and do them; for that will be your wisdom and your understanding before the eyes of the peoples that shall hear all these statutes, and say, Verily this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
7 For what great nation has a god so near to them as the Lord our God is, whenever we are turned to him in prayer?
For what great nation is there that hath God near to them as Jehovah our God is in everything we call upon him for?
8 And what great nation has laws and decisions so right as all this law which I put before you today?
And what great nation is there that hath righteous statutes and ordinances, as all this law which I set before you this day?
9 Only 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;
Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things that thine eyes have seen (and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; but thou shalt make them known to thy sons and to thy sons' sons),
10 That 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.
the day that thou stoodest before Jehovah thy God in Horeb, when Jehovah said to me, Gather me the people together, that I may cause them to hear my words, that they may learn them, and fear me all the days that they live upon the earth, and teach them to their children.
11 And 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.
And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and obscurity.
12 And 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.
And Jehovah spoke to you from the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but ye saw no form; only [ye heard] a voice.
13 And 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.
And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, the ten words; and he wrote them on two tables of stone.
14 And 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.
And Jehovah commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that ye might do them in the land whither ye are passing over to possess it.
15 So 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:
And take great heed to your souls (for ye saw no form on the day that Jehovah spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the fire),
16 So 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,
lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the form of any figure, the pattern of male or female,
17 Or any beast of the earth, or winged bird of the air,
the pattern of any beast that is on the earth, the pattern of any winged fowl that flieth in the heaven,
18 Or of anything which goes flat on the earth, or any fish in the water under the earth.
the pattern of anything that creepeth on the ground, the pattern of any fish that is in the waters under the earth;
19 And 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.
and lest thou lift up thine eyes to the heavens, and see the sun, and the moon, and the stars, the whole host of heaven, and be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, which Jehovah thy God hath assigned unto all peoples under the whole heaven.
20 But 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.
But you hath Jehovah taken, and hath brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, that ye might be to him a people of inheritance, as it is this day.
21 And 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:
And Jehovah was angry with me on your account, and swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not enter in to that good land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance;
22 But 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.
for I shall die in this land, I shall not go over the Jordan; but ye shall go over, and possess this good land.
23 Take 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.
Take heed to yourselves lest ye forget the covenant of Jehovah your God, which he made with you, and make yourselves a graven image, the form of anything which Jehovah thy God hath forbidden thee.
24 For the Lord your God is an all-burning fire, and he will not let the honour which is his be given to any other.
For Jehovah thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
25 If, 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:
When thou begettest sons, and sons' sons, and ye have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of Jehovah thy God, to provoke him to anger,
26 May 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.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye pass over the Jordan to possess it: ye shall not prolong your days on it, but shall be utterly destroyed.
27 And 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.
And Jehovah will scatter you among the peoples, and ye shall be left a small company among the nations to which Jehovah will lead you.
28 There 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.
And ye shall there serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29 But 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.
And from thence ye shall seek Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt find him, if thou shalt seek him with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul.
30 When 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:
In thy tribulation, and when all these things shall come upon thee, at the end of days, thou shalt return to Jehovah thy God, and shalt hearken to his voice,
31 Because 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.
— for Jehovah thy God is a merciful God, — he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he swore unto them.
32 Give 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.
For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from one end of the heavens to the other end of the heavens, whether there hath been anything as this great thing is, or if anything hath been heard like it?
33 Has any people ever gone on living after hearing the voice of God out of the heart of the fire as you did?
Did [ever] people hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
34 Has 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?
Or hath God essayed to come to take him a nation from the midst of a nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a powerful hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Jehovah your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35 All this he let you see, so that you might be certain that the Lord is God and there is no other.
Unto thee it was shewn, that thou mightest know that Jehovah, he is God — there is none other besides him.
36 Out 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.
From the heavens he made thee hear his voice, that he might instruct thee; and on the earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words from the midst of the fire.
37 And 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;
And because he loved thy fathers, and chose their seed after them, he brought thee out with his countenance, with his great power, out of Egypt,
38 Driving 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.
to dispossess 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.
39 So 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.
Thou shalt know therefore this day, and consider it in thy heart, that Jehovah, he is God in the heavens above, and on the earth beneath: [there is] none else.
40 Then 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.
And thou shalt keep his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may be well with thee and with thy sons after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days on the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, for ever.
41 Then Moses had three towns marked out on the far side of Jordan looking to the east;
Then Moses separated three cities on this side the Jordan toward the sun-rising,
42 To 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:
that the manslayer might flee thither, who should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him not previously, that fleeing to one of these cities, he might live:
43 The 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.
Bezer in the wilderness, in the plateau, of the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.
44 This is the law which Moses put before the children of Israel:
And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:
45 These are the rules and the laws and the decisions which Moses gave to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt;
these are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances that Moses declared to the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt,
46 On 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:
on this side the Jordan, in the valley opposite to Beth-Peor, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote when they came out of Egypt;
47 And 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;
and they took possession of his land, and the land of Og the king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, who were on this side the Jordan, toward the sun-rising;
48 From Aroer on the edge of the valley of the Arnon as far as Mount Sion, which is Hermon,
from Aroer, which is on the bank of the river Arnon, as far as mount Sion, which is Hermon,
49 And 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.
and all the plain on this side the Jordan, eastward, and as far as the sea of the plain, under the slopes of Pisgah.