< 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, O Israel, hear the commandments and judgments which I teach thee: that doing them, thou mayst live, and entering in mayst possess the land which the Lord the God of your fathers will give 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.
You shall not add to the word that I speak to you, neither shall you take away from it: keep the commandments of the Lord 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 all that the Lord hath done against Beelphegor, how he hath destroyed all his worshippers from among you.
4 But you who kept faith with the Lord are living, every one of you, today.
But you that adhere to the Lord your God, are all alive until this present 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.
You know that I have taught you statutes and justices, as the Lord my God hath commanded me: so shall you do them in the land which you shall possess:
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 you shall observe, and fulfill them in practice. For this is your wisdom, and understanding in the sight of nations, that hearing all these precepts, they may say: Behold a wise and understanding people, a great nation.
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?
Neither is there any other nation so great, that hath gods so nigh them, as our God is present to all our petitions.
8 And what great nation has laws and decisions so right as all this law which I put before you today?
For what other nation is there so renowned that hath ceremonies, and just judgments, and all the law, which I will set forth this day before your eyes?
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;
Keep thyself therefore, and thy soul carefully. Forget not the words that thy eyes have seen, and let them not go out of thy heart all the days of thy life. Thou shalt teach them to thy sons and to thy grandsons,
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.
From the day in which thou didst stand before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord spoke to me, saying: Call together the people unto me, that they may hear my words, and may learn to fear me all the time that they live on the earth, and may teach 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 you came to the foot of the mount, which burned even unto heaven: and there was darkness, and a cloud and obscurity in it.
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 the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the voice of his words, but you saw not any form at all.
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 shewed you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, and the ten words that he wrote in 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 he commanded me at that time that I should teach you the ceremonies and judgments which you shall do in the land, that you shall possess.
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:
Keep therefore your souls carefully. You saw not any similitude in the day that the Lord God 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 perhaps being deceived you might make you a graven similitude, or image of male or female,
17 Or any beast of the earth, or winged bird of the air,
The similitude of any beasts, that are upon the earth, or of birds, that fly under heaven,
18 Or of anything which goes flat on the earth, or any fish in the water under the earth.
Or of creeping things, that move on the earth, or of fishes, that abide 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.
Lest perhaps lifting up thy eyes to heaven, thou see the sun and the moon, and all the stars of heaven, and being deceived by error thou adore and serve them, which the Lord thy God created for the service of all the nations, that are under 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 the Lord hath taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace of Egypt, to make you his people of inheritance, as it is this present 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 the Lord was angry with me for your words, and he swore that I should not pass over the Jordan, nor enter into the excellent land, which he will give you.
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.
Behold I die in this land, I shall not pass over the Jordan: you shall pass, and possess the goodly 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.
Beware lest thou ever forget the covenant of the Lord thy God, which he hath made with thee: and make to thyself a graven likeness of those things which the Lord hath forbid to be made:
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.
Because the Lord 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:
If you shall beget sons and grandsons, and abide in the land, and being deceived, make to yourselves any similitude, committing evil before the Lord your God, to provoke him to wrath:
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 this day heaven and earth to witness, that you shall quickly perish out of the land, which, when you have passed over the Jordan, you shall possess. You shall not dwell therein long, but the Lord will destroy you,
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 scatter you among all nations, and you shall remain a few among the nations, to which the Lord shall 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 there you shall serve gods, that were framed with men’s hands: wood and stone, that 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 when thou shalt seek there the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him: yet so, if thou seek him with all thy heart, and all the affliction of thy 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:
After all the things aforesaid shall and thee, in the latter time thou shalt return to the Lord thy God, and shalt hear 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.
Because the Lord thy God is a merciful God: he will not leave thee, nor altogether destroy thee, nor forget the covenant, by which he swore to thy fathers.
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.
Ask of the days of old, that have been before thy time from the day that God created man upon the earth, from one end of heaven to the other end thereof, if ever there was done the like thing, or it hath been known at any time,
33 Has any people ever gone on living after hearing the voice of God out of the heart of the fire as you did?
That a people should hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of fire, as thou hast heard, and lived:
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?
If God ever did so as to go, and take to himself a nation out of the midst of nations by temptations, signs, and wonders, by fight, and a strong hand, and stretched out arm, and horrible visions according to all the things that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, before thy eyes.
35 All this he let you see, so that you might be certain that the Lord is God and there is no other.
That thou mightest know that the Lord he is God, and there is no 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 heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might teach thee. And upon earth he shewed thee his exceeding great fire, and thou didst hear his words out of 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;
Because he loved thy fathers, and chose their seed after them. And he brought thee out of Egypt, going before thee with his great power,
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 destroy at thy coming very great nations, and stronger than thou art, and to bring thee in, and give thee their land for a possession, as thou seest at this present 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.
Know therefore this day, and think in thy heart that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and in the earth beneath, and there is no other.
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.
Keep his precepts and commandments, which I command thee: that it may be well with thee, and thy children after thee, and thou mayst remain a long time upon the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee.
41 Then Moses had three towns marked out on the far side of Jordan looking to the east;
Then Moses set aside three cities beyond the Jordan at the east side,
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 any one might flee to them who should kill his neighbour unwillingly, and was not his enemy a day or two before, and that he might escape to some one of these cities:
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.
Bosor in the wilderness, which is situate in the plains of the tribe of Ruben: and Ramoth in Galaad, which is in the tribe of Gad: and Golan in Basan, which is in the tribe of Manasses.
44 This is the law which Moses put before the children of Israel:
This is the law, that 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;
And these are the testimonies and ceremonies and judgments, which he spoke 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:
Beyond the Jordan in the valley over against the temple of Phogor, in the land of Sehon king of the Amorrhites, that dwelt in Hesebon, whom Moses slew. And the children of Israel coming 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;
Possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Basan, of the two kings of the Amorrhites, who were beyond the Jordan towards the rising of the sun:
48 From Aroer on the edge of the valley of the Arnon as far as Mount Sion, which is Hermon,
From Aroer, which is situate upon the bank of the torrent Amen, unto mount Sion, which is also called 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.
All the plain beyond the Jordan at the east side, unto the see of the wilderness, and unto the foot of mount Phasga.

< Deuteronomy 4 >