Deuteronomy 4

1 Now, Israel, listen to the laws and the decrees that I am about to teach you, to do them; so that you may live and go in and possess the land that Yahweh, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

“And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and to the judgments which I am teaching you to do, so that you live, and have gone in, and possessed the land which YHWH God of your fathers is giving to you.

2 You will not add to the words that I command you, neither will you diminish them, so that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God that I am about to command you.

You do not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor diminish from it, to keep the commands of your God YHWH which I am commanding you.

3 Your eyes have seen what Yahweh did because of Baal Peor; for all the men who followed the Baal of Peor, Yahweh your God has destroyed them from among you.

Your eyes are seeing that which YHWH has done in Ba‘al-Peor, for every man who has gone after Ba‘al-Peor, your God YHWH has destroyed him from your midst;

4 But you who clung to Yahweh your God are alive today, every one of you.

and you who are cleaving to your God YHWH [are] alive today—all of you.

5 Look, I have taught you laws and decrees, as Yahweh my God had commanded me, that you should do so in the midst of the land which you are going into in order to possess it.

See, I have taught you statutes and judgments, as my God YHWH has commanded me, to do so in the midst of the land to where you are going in to possess it;

6 Therefore keep them and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear about all these statutes and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'

and you have kept and done [them] (for it [is] your wisdom and your understanding) before the eyes of the peoples who hear all these statutes, and they have said, Surely a people wise and understanding [is] this great nation.

7 For what other great nation is there that has a god so near to them, as Yahweh our God is whenever we call upon him?

For which [is] the great nation that has God [so] near to it, as our God YHWH, in all we have called to Him?

8 What other great nation is there that has laws and decrees so righteous as all this law that I am setting before you today?

And which [is] the great nation which has righteous statutes and judgments according to all this law which I am setting before you today?

9 Only pay attention and carefully guard yourself, so that you do not forget the things that your eyes have seen, so that they do not leave your heart for all the days of your life. Instead, make them known to your children and your children's children.

Only, take heed to yourself, and watch your soul exceedingly, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they turn aside from your heart all [the] days of your life; and you have made them known to your sons and to your sons’ sons.

10 On the day that you stood before Yahweh your God at Horeb, when Yahweh said to me, 'Assemble me the people, and I will make them hear 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.'

[Never forget] the day when you have stood before your God YHWH in Horeb, in YHWH’s saying to me, Assemble the people to Me, and I cause them to hear My words, so that they learn to fear Me all the days that they are alive on the ground, and they teach their sons;

11 You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain. The mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.

and you draw near and stand under the mountain, and the mountain is burning with fire to the heart of the heavens, [with] darkness, cloud, and thick darkness,

12 Yahweh spoke to you out of the middle of the fire; you heard the voice with its words, but you saw no form; you only heard a voice.

and YHWH speaks to you out of the midst of the fire; you are hearing a voice of words, but you are seeing no likeness, only a voice;

13 He declared to you his covenant that he commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments. He wrote them on two tablets of stone.

and He declares His covenant to you, which He has commanded you to do, the Ten Commandments, and He writes them on two tablets of stone.

14 Yahweh commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, so that you might do them in the land that you are crossing over to take possession of.

And YHWH has commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, for your doing them in the land to where you are passing over to possess it.

15 So take great heed to yourselves—for you saw no kind of form on the day that Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb out of the middle of the fire—

And you have been very watchful of your souls, for you have not seen any likeness in the day of YHWH’s speaking to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire,

16 that you do not corrupt yourselves and by making a carved image in the form of any figure, in the likeness of male or female,

lest you do corruptly, and have made for yourselves a carved image, a likeness of any figure: a form of male or female,

17 the likeness of any animal on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the heavens,

a form of any beast which [is] in the earth, a form of any winged bird which flies in the heavens,

18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, or the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth.

a form of any creeping thing on the ground, a form of any fish which [is] in the waters below the earth.

19 You shall not lift your eyes up to the heavens and look at the sun, the moon, or the stars—all the host of the heavens—and be drawn away to worship them and adore them—those things of which Yahweh your God has given a share all the peoples under the whole sky.

And lest you lift up your eyes to the heavens, and have seen the sun, and the moon, and the stars, all the host of the heavens, and have been drawn away, and have bowed yourself to them and served them, which your God YHWH has apportioned to all the peoples under all the heavens.

20 But Yahweh has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of his own inheritance, as you are today.

And YHWH has taken you, and He is bringing you out from the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be to Him for a people, an inheritance, as [at] this day.

21 Yahweh was angry with me because of you; he swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go into that good land, the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance.

And YHWH has showed Himself angry with me because of your words, and swears to my not passing over the Jordan, and to my not going into the good land which your God YHWH is giving to you [for] an inheritance;

22 Instead, I must die in this land; I must not go over the Jordan; but you will go over and possess that good land.

for I am dying in this land; I am not passing over the Jordan, but you are passing over and have possessed this good land.

23 Pay attention to yourselves, so that you do not forget the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything that Yahweh your God has forbidden you to make.

Take heed to yourselves lest you forget the covenant of your God YHWH which He has made with you, and have made a carved image for yourselves, a likeness of anything [concerning] which your God YHWH has charged you;

24 For Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.

for your God YHWH is a consuming fire—a zealous God.

25 When you beget children and children's children, and when you will have been in the land for a long time, and if you corrupt yourselves and make a carved figure in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, to provoke him to anger—

When you beget sons and sons’ sons, and you have become old in the land, and have done corruptly, and have made a carved image, a likeness of anything, and have done evil in the eyes of YHWH to provoke Him to anger,

26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that you will soon utterly perish from off the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but you will be completely destroyed.

I have caused the heavens and the earth to testify against you this day, that you perish utterly quickly from off the land to where you are passing over the Jordan to possess it; you do not prolong days on it, but are utterly destroyed;

27 Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations, where Yahweh will lead you away.

and YHWH has scattered you among the peoples, and you have been left few in number among the nations to where YHWH leads you,

28 There you will serve other gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, hear, eat, nor smell.

and you have served gods there, work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which do not see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

29 But from there you will seek Yahweh your God, and you will find him, when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

And you have sought your God YHWH from there, and have found [Him] when you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

30 When you are in distress, and when all these things will have come on you, in those later days you will return to Yahweh your God and listen to his voice.

In the distress of yours, when all these things have found you in the latter end of the days, and you have turned back to your God YHWH and have listened to His voice—

31 For Yahweh your God is a merciful God; he will not fail you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers that he swore to them.

for your God YHWH [is] a merciful God—He does not fail you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He has sworn to them.

32 Ask now about the days that are past, which were before your time, since the day that God created man on the earth, ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether there has been anything so great as this, or has anything like it ever been heard?

For ask now of the former days which have been before you, from the day that God created man on the earth, and from the [one] end of the heavens even to the [other] end of the heavens, whether there has been as this great thing, or [if anything] has been heard like it.

33 Did ever a people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live?

Has a people heard the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, you—and live?

34 Or has God ever attempted to go and take for himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, as everything that Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

Or has God tried to go in to take a nation for Himself from the midst of a nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a strong hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that your God YHWH has done to you in Egypt before your eyes?

35 To you these things were shown, so that you might know that Yahweh is God, and that there is no one else besides him.

You—you have been shown [it], to know that He, YHWH, [is] God; there is none else besides Him.

36 Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, so that he might instruct you; on earth he made you see his great fire; you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.

He has caused you to hear His voice from the heavens, to instruct you; and on earth He has showed you His great fire, and you have heard His words out of the midst of the fire.

37 Because he loved your fathers, he chose their descendants after them, and brought you out of Egypt with his presence, with his great power;

And because that He has loved your fathers, He also fixes on their seed after them, and brings you out in His presence, by His great power, from Egypt,

38 in order to drive out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as today.

to dispossess nations greater and stronger than you from your presence, to bring you in to give their land to you [for] an inheritance, as [at] this day.

39 Know therefore today, and lay it on your heart, that Yahweh is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no one else.

And you have known today, and have turned [it] back to your heart, that He, YHWH, [is] God in the heavens above and on the earth below—there is none else;

40 You will keep his statutes and his commandments that I command 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 that Yahweh your God is giving you forever.”

and you have kept His statutes and His commands which I am commanding you today, so that it is well for you, and for your sons after you, and so that you prolong days on the ground which your God YHWH is giving to you—all the days.”

41 Then Moses selected three cities on the east side of the Jordan,

Then Moses separates three cities beyond the Jordan, toward the sun-rising,

42 so that anyone might flee to one of them if he killed another person accidentally, without being his enemy previously. By fleeing to one of these cities, he might survive.

for the fleeing there of the manslayer who slays his neighbor unknowingly, and he is not hating him before, and he has fled to one of these cities and he has lived:

43 They were: Bezer in the wilderness, the plain country, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.

Bezer in the wilderness, in the land of the plain, for the Reubenite; and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadite; and Golan in Bashan for the Manassite.

44 This is the law that Moses placed before the people of Israel;

And this [is] the law which Moses has set before the sons of Israel;

45 these are the covenant decrees, laws, and other decrees that he spoke to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt,

these [are] the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses has spoken to the sons of Israel in their coming out of Egypt,

46 when they were east of the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the people of Israel had defeated when they came out of Egypt.

beyond the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth-Peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorite, who is dwelling in Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel have struck in their coming out of Egypt;

47 They took his land as a possession, and the land of Og king of Bashan—these, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan toward the east.

and they possess his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorite who [are] beyond the Jordan, [toward] the sun-rising,

48 This territory went from Aroer, on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, to Mount Sion (or Mount Hermon),

from Aroer, which [is] by the edge of the Brook of Arnon, even to Mount Zion, which [is] Hermon—

49 and included all of the plain of the Jordan River valley, eastward beyond the Jordan, to the Sea of the Arabah, to the slopes of Mount Pisgah.

and all the plain beyond the Jordan eastward, even to the Sea of the Plain, below the Springs of Pisgah.