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, thou Israel, here the comaundementis and domes whiche Y teche thee, that thou do tho, and lyue, and that thow entre and welde the lond which the Lord God of youre fadris schal yyue to 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 schulen not adde to the word which Y speke to you, nether ye schulen take awei `fro it; kepe ye the comaundementis of youre Lord God, which Y comaunde to 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.

Youre iyen sien alle thingis whiche the Lord dide ayens Belphegor; how he alto brak alle the worschiperis `of hym fro the myddis of you.

4 But you who kept faith with the Lord are living, every one of you, today.

Forsothe ye that cleuen to youre Lord God lyuen alle `til in to 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.

Ye witen that Y tauyte you the comaundementis and riytfulnessis, as my Lord God comaundide to me; so ye schulen do tho in the lond whiche ye schulen welde,

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 schulen kepe, and schulen fille in werk. For this is youre wisdom and vndurstondyng bifor puplis, that alle men here these comaundementis, and seie, Lo! a wise puple and vnderstondynge! a greet folk!

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?

Noon other nacioun is so greet, `not in noumbre ether in bodili quantite, but in dignite, that hath Goddis neiyynge to it silf, as oure God is redi to alle oure bisechyngis.

8 And what great nation has laws and decisions so right as all this law which I put before you today?

For whi what other folk is so noble, that it hath cerymonyes and iust domes, and al the lawe which Y schal `sette forth to dai bifor youre iyen?

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;

Therfor kepe thi silf, and thi soule bisili; foryete thou not the wordis whiche thin iyen sien, and falle tho not doun fro thin herte, in alle the daies of thi lijf. Thou schalt teche tho thi sones and thi sones sones.

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.

Telle thou the day in which thou stodist bifor thi Lord God in Oreb, whanne the Lord spak to me, and seide, Gadere thou the puple to me, that it here my wordis, and lerne for to drede me in al tyme in which it lyueth in erthe, and teche hise sones.

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 neiyiden to the `roote of the hille, that brente `til to heuene; and derknessis, and cloude, and myist weren therynne.

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 spak to you fro the myddis of fier; ye herden the vois of hise wordis, and outirli ye sien no fourme.

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 schewide to you his couenaunt, which he comaundide, that ye schulden do, and `he schewide ten wordis, whiche he wroot in two tablis of stoon.

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 comaundide to me in that tyme, that Y schulde teche you cerymonyes and domes, whiche ye owen to do in the lond whiche ye schulen welde.

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:

Therfor kepe ye bisili youre soulis; ye sien not ony licnesse in the dai in which the Lord spak to you in Oreb, fro the myddis of the fier;

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 perauenture ye be disseyued and make to you a grauun licnesse, ether an ymage of male, ether of female;

17 Or any beast of the earth, or winged bird of the air,

a licnesse of alle beestis that ben on erthe, ether of bridis fleynge vndur heuene,

18 Or of anything which goes flat on the earth, or any fish in the water under the earth.

and of crepynge beestis that ben moued in erthe, ether of fischis that dwellen vndur the erthe in watris; lest perauenture,

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.

whanne thin iyen ben reisid to heuene, thou se the sonne, and moone, and alle the sterris of heuene, and be disseyued bi errour, and worschipe tho, `bi outermer reuerence, and onour, `bi ynner reuerence, `tho thingis whiche thi Lord God made of nouyt, in to seruyce to alle folkis that ben vndur heuene.

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.

Forsothe the Lord took you, and ledde out of the yrun furneys of Egipt, that he schulde haue a puple of eritage, as it is in `present dai.

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 wrooth ayens me for youre wordis, and swoor that Y schulde not passe Jordan, and schulde not entre in to the beeste lond, which he schal yyue to 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.

Lo! Y die in this erthe; Y schal not passe Jordan; ye schulen passe, and schulen welde the noble lond.

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.

Be thou war, lest ony tyme thou foryete the couenaunt of thi Lord God, which he made with thee, and lest thou make to thee a grauun licness of tho thingis whiche the Lord forbeed to make.

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 thi Lord God is fier wastynge; `God, a feruent louyere.

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 ye gendren sones, and sones of sones, and ye dwellen in the lond, and ye be disceyued, and make to you ony licnesse, and doen yuel bifor youre Lord God, that ye terren hym to greet wrathe,

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.

Y clepe witnesses to dai heuene and erthe, `that is, ech resonable creature beynge in heuene and in erthe, that ye schulen perische soone fro the lond, which ye schulen welde, whanne ye han passid Jordan; ye schulen not dwelle long tyme therynne, but the Lord schal do awey 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 schal scatere `in to alle hethen men, and ye schulen leeue fewe among naciouns, to whiche the Lord schal lede 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 ye schulen serue to goddis, that ben maad bi `the hond of men, to a tre and a stoon, that `seen not, nether heren, nether eten, nether smellen.

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 whanne thou hast souyt there thi Lord God, thou schalt fynde hym; if netheles thou sekist with al the herte, and with al the tribulacioun of thi soule.

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:

Aftir that alle thingis han founde thee, that ben biforseid, forsothe in the laste tyme, thou schalt turne ayen to thi Lord God, and thou schalt here his vois.

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 thi Lord God is merciful God; he schal not forsake thee, nethir he schal do awey outirli, nethir he schal foryete the couenaunt, in which he swoor to thi fadris.

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.

Axe thou of elde daies that weren bifor thee, fro the day in which thi Lord God made of nouyt man on erthe, axe thou fro that oon ende of heuene `til to the tother ende therof, if sich a thing was doon ony tyme, ether if it was euere knowun,

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 puple herde the vois of God spekynge fro the myddis of the fier, as thou herdist, and siest;

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 `dide, that he entride, and took to him silf a folc fro the middis of naciouns, bi temptaciouns, myraclis, and grete wondris, bi batel, and strong hond, and arm holdun forth, and orrible siytis, bi alle thingis whiche youre Lord God dide for you in Egipt, `while thin iyen sien;

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 schuldist wite, that the Lord hym silf is God, and noon other is, outakun oon.

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.

Fro heuene he made thee to here his vois, that he schulde teche thee; and in erthe he schewide to thee his grettiste fier, and thou herdist the wordis `of hym fro the myddis of the fier;

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;

for he louyde thi fadris, and chees her seed aftir hem. And he ledde thee out of Egipt, and yede bifore in his greet vertu,

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.

that he schulde do awei grettiste naciouns, and strongere than thou, in thin entryng, and that he schulde lede thee ynne, and schulde yyue to thee the lond `of hem in to possessioun, as thou seest in `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.

Therfor wite thou to dai, and thenke in thin herte, that the Lord him silfe is God in heuene aboue, and in erthe bynethe, and noon other is.

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.

Kepe thou hise heestis, and comaundementis, whiche Y comaunde to thee, that it be wel to thee, and to thi sones after thee, and that thou dwelle mych tyme on the lond, which thi Lord God schal yyue to thee.

41 Then Moses had three towns marked out on the far side of Jordan looking to the east;

Thanne Moises departide thre citees biyende Jordan at the eest coost,

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 he fle to tho, that sleeth his neighbore not wilfuli, and was not enemy bifore oon and `the tother dai, and that he mai fle to summe of these citees;

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 wildirnesse, which is set in the feeldi lond, of the lynage of Ruben; and Ramoth in Galaad, which is in the lynage of Gad; and Golan in Basan, which is in the lynage of Manasses.

44 This is the law which Moses put before the children of Israel:

This is the lawe which Moises `settide forth bifor the sones 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 ben the witnessyngis, and cerymonyes, and domes, whiche he spak to the sones of Israel, whanne thei yeden out of Egipt,

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:

biyende Jordan, in the valey ayens the temple of Phegor, in the lond of Seon, kyng of Ammorreis, that dwellide in Esebon, whom Moises killide. And the sones of Israel yeden out of Egipt, and weldiden `the lond of him,

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 the lond of Og, kyng of Basan, twei kyngis of Ammoreis, that weren biyende Jordan, at the rysyng of the sunne;

48 From Aroer on the edge of the valley of the Arnon as far as Mount Sion, which is Hermon,

fro Aroer which is set on the brenke of the stronde of Arnon, `til to the hil of Seon, 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.

thei weldiden al the pleyn biyende Jordan, at the eest coost, `til to the see of wildirnesse, and `til to the rootis of the hil of Phasga.