Deuteronomy 4
1 People of Israel, pay attention to the rules and regulations I'm teaching you to observe. That way you can stay alive, and go in and take over the country the Lord, the God of your forefathers, is giving you.
Now, Israel [God prevails], sh'ma ·hear obey· the statutes and to the judgments, which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which Adonai, the God of your fathers, gives you.
2 You are not to add to or take away from what I'm telling you, so that you can keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I'm ordering you to follow.
You shall not add to the word which I enjoin you, neither shall you take away from it, that you may keep the mitzvot ·instructions· of Adonai your God which I enjoin you.
3 You've seen for yourselves what the Lord did at Baal-peor where the Lord your God killed everyone among you who worshiped Baal of Peor.
Your eyes have seen what Adonai did because of Baal Peor; for all the men who followed Baal Peor, Adonai your God has destroyed them from among you.
4 Those of you who were faithful to the Lord your God are still alive today, every one of you.
But you who were faithful to Adonai your God are all alive today.
5 Listen, I have taught you the rules and regulations just as the Lord my God ordered me to do, so you can follow them in the country that you are about to enter and take over.
Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as Adonai my God enjoined me, that you should do so in the middle of the land where you go in to possess it.
6 Be careful to observe them, because this will demonstrate your wisdom and insight to the other people living there who are watching. They will find out about all these rules and say, “The people of this great nation are very wise and have good insight.”
Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who shall sh'ma ·hear obey· all these statutes, and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
7 What nation is as great as us, having a god so close to them as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call on him?
For what great nation is there, that has a deity so near to them, as Yahweh Eloheikhem [Yahweh our God] is whenever we call on him?
8 What nation is as great as us, having such good rules and regulations like all these laws that I'm placing before you today?
What great nation is there, that has statutes and judgement so upright as all this Torah ·Teaching·, which I set before you today?
9 Just make sure to be very careful, and really watch what you do, so you don't forget the things you've have seen. Keep them in mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.
Only be careful, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your children and your children’s children;
10 That day when you stood in the presence of the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord told me, “Have the people come to me and to hear what I have to say, so they may learn to have respect for me throughout their lives here on earth, and so they may teach this to their children.”
the day that you stood before Adonai your God in Horeb [Desert], when Adonai said to me, “Assemble the people to me, and I will make them sh'ma ·hear obey· my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.”
11 You gathered and stood at the foot of the mountain. The mountain was on fire, shooting out flames into the sky and producing thick dark clouds.
You came near and stood under the mountain. The mountain burned with fire to the heart of the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.
12 The Lord spoke to you from the fire. You heard the words, but you didn't see the form of anyone speaking—there was just a voice.
Adonai spoke to you out of the middle of the fire: you sh'ma ·hear obey· the voice of words, but you saw no form; you only heard a voice.
13 He explained to you his agreement, the Ten Commandments, which he ordered you to follow. He wrote them down on two tablets of stone.
He declared to you his covenant ·binding contract between two or more parties·, which he enjoined you to perform, even the Ten Words. He wrote them on two stone tablets.
14 This was the time that the Lord ordered me to teach you the rules and regulations that you are to follow when you arrive in the country you're going to own once you've crossed the Jordan.
Adonai enjoined me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it.
15 You didn't see any form when the Lord spoke to you from the fire at Horeb, so be very careful
Be very careful, for you saw no kind of form on the day that Adonai spoke to you in Horeb [Desert] out of the middle of the fire,
16 that you don't spoil your relationship with the Lord by making an idol for yourselves in any shape or form, whether it looks like a male or female,
lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourself an engraved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17 or any land animal or bird that flies,
the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky,
18 or of any animal that crawls on the ground or any fish in the deep sea.
the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth;
19 When you look up at the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the heavenly bodies—don't be tempted to bow down to them. Don't worship them like all the other nations on earth in the way that the Lord has allowed.
and lest you lift up your eyes to the sky, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the army of the sky, you are drawn away and worship them, and abad ·serve· them, which Adonai your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky.
20 Remember that the Lord took you and led you out of the iron furnace which was Egypt to be his own people, just as you are today.
But Adonai has taken you, and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt [Abode of slavery], to be to him a people of inheritance, as it is today.
21 But the Lord was angry with me because of you, and he vowed that I wouldn't cross the Jordan to enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving you to own.
Furthermore Adonai was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I should not go over the Jordan [Descender], and that I should not go in to that good land, which Adonai your God gives you for an inheritance;
22 So I will not be crossing the Jordan, because I have to die here in this land. But you will cross over and occupy that good land.
but I must die in this land. I must not go over the Jordan [Descender]; but you shall go over, and possess that good land.
23 However, be careful not to forget the agreement of the Lord your God that he made with you. Don't make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything, because he has forbidden you to do this.
Be careful, lest you forget the covenant ·binding contract between two or more parties· of Adonai your God, which he made with you, and make yourselves an engraved image in the form of anything which Adonai your God has enjoined forbidden for you.
24 For the Lord your God is a fire that burns everything up. He is an exclusive God.
For Yahweh [He sustains breathing] your God is 'Akal 'Esh [Consuming Fire], El Kana' [Jealous God].
25 After you have been living in the country for a long time and have had children and grandchildren, if you then spoil the relationship you have with the Lord and make an idol in any form. The Lord your God sees this as evil makes him angry.
When you shall father children, and children’s children, and you shall have been long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make an engraved image in the form of anything, and shall do that which is evil in Adonai your God’s sight, to provoke him to anger;
26 If you do this, I call on heaven and earth to be witnesses against you today that you will be completely wiped out from the country that you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. You will not live long there—you will be totally destroyed.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from off the land which you go over the Jordan [Descender] to possess it. You will not prolong your days on it, but will utterly be destroyed.
27 The Lord will scatter you among the other nations, and not many of you will survive in the countries where the Lord has exiled you.
Adonai will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations, where Adonai will lead you away.
28 There you will worship gods of wood and stone made by human beings. These idols can't see or hear or eat or smell.
There you shall abad ·serve· deities, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor sh'ma ·hear obey·, nor eat, nor smell.
29 However, if while you're there you decide to come to the Lord your God, you will find him if you come to him whole-heartedly, with complete commitment.
But from there you shall seek Adonai your God, and you shall find him, when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
30 When you are in trouble, after you've experienced all these things, then eventually you will return to the Lord your God and do what he says.
When you are in oppression, and all these things have come on you, in the latter days you shall teshuvah ·completely return· to Adonai your God, and sh'ma ·hear obey· to his voice.
31 The Lord your God is a merciful God. He won't abandon you or destroy you or forget the agreement he made with your forefathers, confirmed by a solemn promise.
For Adonai your God is a merciful God. He will not fail you, neither destroy you, nor forget the covenant ·binding contract between two or more parties· of your fathers which he swore to them.
32 Think about it! Examine the whole of history from the beginning of time, long before you existed, when God made human beings, right up until now. Ask this question anywhere, from one end of the earth to the other: Has anything as amazing as this ever happened before; has anyone ever heard anything like this?
For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from the one end of the sky to the other, whether there has been anything as this great thing is, or has been sh'ma ·heard obeyed· like it?
33 Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, like you have, and survived?
Did a people ever sh'ma ·hear obey· the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as you have sh'ma ·heard obeyed·, and live?
34 Has any god tried to take a nation out of another nation and make them his own, using tests and signs and miracles and war—with his great power and incredible strength and terrifying actions—like the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes?
Or has God tried to go and take a nation for himself from among another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Adonai your God did for you in Egypt [Abode of slavery] before your eyes?
35 You were shown all this so you could be certain that the Lord is God and there is no one like him.
It was shown to you so that you might know that Yahweh [He sustains breathing] is God. There is no one else besides him,
36 He made you hear his voice from heaven so you would obey him. On earth he revealed himself though blazing fire, and you heard him speak to you from the fire.
Out of heaven he made you to sh'ma ·hear obey· his voice, that he might instruct you. On earth he made you to see his great fire; and you sh'ma ·heard obeyed· his words out of the middle of the fire.
37 Because he loved your forefathers, he chose you, their descendants. He himself led you out of Egypt by his great power,
Because he 'ahav ·affectionately loved· your fathers, therefore he chose their offspring after them, and brought you out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt [Abode of slavery];
38 driving out ahead of you nations that were greater and stronger than you, in order to lead you to their land and give it to you as yours to own, just as you do today.
to drive out nations from before you greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today.
39 So today be sure about this and never forget: the Lord is the only God in heaven above and on the earth below.
Know therefore today, and take it to heart, that Yahweh [He sustains breathing] himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no one else.
40 Observe his rules and regulations that I'm giving you right now, so that you and your children will do well, and that you may have long lives in the country that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.
You shall keep his statutes, and his mitzvot ·instructions·, which I enjoin 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, which Adonai your God gives you, forever.
41 Then Moses assigned three sanctuary towns to the east of the Jordan
Then Moses [Drawn out] set apart three cities beyond the Jordan [Descender] toward the sunrise;
42 where a person could run to after accidentally killing someone without deliberate hatred. To save their life they could run to one of these towns:
that the man slayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unawares, and didn’t hate him in time past; and that fleeing to one of these cities he might live:
43 Bezer in the desert plain belonging to the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the tribe of Gad, or Golan in Bashan belonging to the tribe of Manasseh.
Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.
44 This is the law that Moses placed before the Israelites.
This is the Torah ·Teaching· which Moses [Drawn out] set before the children of Israel [God prevails].
45 These are the laws, rules, and regulations Moses gave them after they had come out of Egypt.
These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses [Drawn out] spoke to the children of Israel [God prevails], when they came out of Egypt [Abode of slavery],
46 This was when they were in the valley to the east of the Jordan near Beth-peor in the country of Sihon king of the Amorites. He had ruled from Heshbon and had been defeated by Moses and the Israelites after they had left Egypt.
beyond the Jordan [Descender], in the valley over against Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites [Descendants of Talkers], who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses [Drawn out] and the children of Israel [God prevails] struck, when they came out of Egypt [Abode of slavery].
47 They took over his country and the country of Og king of Bashan. (They were the two kings of the Amorites who previously ruled on the east side of the Jordan.)
They took his land in possession, and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites [Descendants of Talkers], who were beyond the Jordan [Descender] toward the sunrise;
48 The territory went from the town of Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Valley all the way to Mount Sirion, otherwise known as Mount Hermon,
from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, even to Mount Sion (also called Hermon [Devoted to destruction]),
49 and included all the Arabah to the east of the Jordan down as far as the Dead Sea beside the slopes of Mount Pisgah.
and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan [Descender] eastward, even to the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.
