Deuteronomy 4

1 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.

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.

2 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.

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.

3 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.

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.

4 But ye that did cleaue vnto the Lord your God, are aliue euery one of you this day.

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

5 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.

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.

6 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.

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.

7 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?

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?

8 And what nation is so great, that hath ordinances and lawes so righteous, as all this Lawe, which I set before you this day?

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

9 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:

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;

10 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:

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.

11 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.

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.

12 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.

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.

13 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.

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.

14 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.

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.

15 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:

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:

16 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,

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,

17 The likenes of any beast that is on earth, or the likenesse of any fethered foule that flieth in the aire:

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

18 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,

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

19 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.

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.

20 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.

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.

21 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.

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:

22 For I must die in this land, and shall not go ouer Iorden: but ye shall goe ouer, and possesse that good land.

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.

23 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.

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.

24 For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, and a ielous God.

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.

25 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,

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:

26 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.

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.

27 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:

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.

28 And there ye shall serue gods, euen ye worke of mans hand, wood, and stone, which neither see, nor heare, nor eate, nor smelll.

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.

29 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.

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.

30 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,

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:

31 (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.

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.

32 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.

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.

33 Did euer people heare the voyce of God speaking out of the middes of a fire, as thou hast heard, and liued?

Has any people ever gone on living after hearing the voice of God out of the heart of the fire as you did?

34 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?

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?

35 Vnto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest knowe, that the Lord hee is God, and that there is none but he alone.

All this he let you see, so that you might be certain that the Lord is God and there is no other.

36 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.

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.

37 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,

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;

38 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.

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.

39 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.

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.

40 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.

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.

41 Then Moses separated three cities on this side of Iorden toward the sunne rising:

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

42 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:

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:

43 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.

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.

44 So this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel.

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

45 These are the witnesses, and the ordinances, and the lawes which Moses declared to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt,

These are the rules and the laws and the decisions which Moses gave to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt;

46 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:

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:

47 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:

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;

48 From Aroer, which is by the banke of the riuer Arnon, euen vnto mount Sion, which is Hermon,

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

49 And all the plaine by Iorden Eastwarde, euen vnto the Sea, of ye plaine, vnder the springs of Pisgah.

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.