Deuteronomii 4

1 Et nunc, Israël, audi præcepta et judicia, quæ ego doceo te: ut faciens ea, vivas, et ingrediens possideas terram, quam Dominus Deus patrum vestrorum daturus est vobis.

Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.

2 Non addetis ad verbum, quod vobis loquor, nec auferetis ex eo: custodite mandata Domini Dei vestri, quæ ego præcipio vobis.

You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you.

3 Oculi vestri viderunt omnia quæ fecit Dominus contra Beelphegor, quomodo contriverit omnes cultores ejus de medio vestri.

Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all who followed Baal of Peor.

4 Vos autem qui adhæretis Domino Deo vestro, vivitis universi usque in præsentem diem.

But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive to this day, every one of you.

5 Scitis quod docuerim vos præcepta atque justitias, sicut mandavit mihi Dominus Deus meus: sic facietis ea in terra, quam possessuri estis:

See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the LORD my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land that you are about to enter and possess.

6 et observabitis et implebitis opere. Hæc est enim vestra sapientia, et intellectus coram populis, ut audientes universa præcepta hæc, dicant: En populus sapiens et intelligens, gens magna.

Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

7 Nec est alia natio tam grandis, quæ habeat deos appropinquantes sibi, sicut Deus noster adest cunctis obsecrationibus nostris.

For what nation is great enough to have a god as near to them as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call on Him?

8 Quæ est enim alia gens sic inclyta, ut habeat cæremonias, justaque judicia, et universam legem, quam ego proponam hodie ante oculos vestros?

And what nation is great enough to have righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?

9 Custodi igitur temetipsum, et animam tuam sollicite. Ne obliviscaris verborum, quæ viderunt oculi tui, et ne excidant de corde tuo cunctis diebus vitæ tuæ. Docebis ea filios ac nepotes tuos,

Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.

10 a die in quo stetisti coram Domino Deo tuo in Horeb, quando Dominus locutus est mihi, dicens: Congrega ad me populum, ut audiant sermones meos, et discant timere me omni tempore quo vivunt in terra, doceantque filios suos.

The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, “Gather the people before Me to hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach them to their children.”

11 Et accessistis ad radices montis, qui ardebat usque ad cælum: erantque in eo tenebræ, et nubes, et caligo.

You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.

12 Locutusque est Dominus ad vos de medio ignis. Vocem verborum ejus audistis, et formam penitus non vidistis.

And the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.

13 Et ostendit vobis pactum suum, quod præcepit ut faceretis, et decem verba, quæ scripsit in duabus tabulis lapideis.

He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to follow—the Ten Commandments that He wrote on two tablets of stone.

14 Mihique mandavit in illo tempore ut docerem vos cæremonias et judicia, quæ facere deberetis in terra, quam possessuri estis.

At that time the LORD commanded me to teach you the statutes and ordinances you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.

15 Custodite igitur sollicite animas vestras. Non vidistis aliquam similitudinem in die, qua locutus est vobis Dominus in Horeb de medio ignis:

So since you saw no form of any kind on the day the LORD spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb, be careful

16 ne forte decepti faciatis vobis sculptam similitudinem, aut imaginem masculi vel feminæ:

that you do not act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves of any form or shape, whether in the likeness of a male or female,

17 similitudinem omnium jumentorum, quæ sunt super terram, vel avium sub cælo volantium,

of any beast that is on the earth or bird that flies in the air,

18 atque reptilium, quæ moventur in terra, sive piscium qui sub terra morantur in aquis:

or of any creature that crawls on the ground or fish that is in the waters below.

19 ne forte elevatis oculis ad cælum, videas solem et lunam, et omnia astra cæli, et errore deceptus adores ea, et colas quæ creavit Dominus Deus tuus in ministerium cunctis gentibus, quæ sub cælo sunt.

When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.

20 Vos autem tulit Dominus, et eduxit de fornace ferrea Ægypti, ut haberet populum hæreditarium, sicut est in præsenti die.

Yet the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today.

21 Iratusque est Dominus contra me propter sermones vestros, et juravit ut non transirem Jordanem, nec ingrederer terram optimam, quam daturus est vobis.

The LORD, however, was angry with me on account of you, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan to enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

22 Ecce morior in hac humo; non transibo Jordanem: vos transibitis, et possidebitis terram egregiam.

For I will not be crossing the Jordan, because I must die in this land. But you shall cross over and take possession of that good land.

23 Cave nequando obliviscaris pacti Domini Dei tui, quod pepigit tecum, et facias tibi sculptam similitudinem eorum, quæ fieri Dominus prohibuit:

Be careful that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God that He made with you; do not make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything He has forbidden you.

24 quia Dominus Deus tuus ignis consumens est, Deus æmulator.

For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

25 Si genueritis filios ac nepotes, et morati fueritis in terra, deceptique feceritis vobis aliquam similitudinem, patrantes malum coram Domino Deo vestro, ut eum ad iracundiam provocetis:

After you have children and grandchildren and you have been in the land a long time, if you then act corruptly and make an idol of any form—doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God and provoking Him to anger—

26 testes invoco hodie cælum et terram, cito perituros vos esse de terra, quam transito Jordane possessuri estis: non habitabitis in ea longo tempore, sed delebit vos Dominus,

I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.

27 atque disperget in omnes gentes, et remanebitis pauci in nationibus, ad quas vos ducturus est Dominus.

Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you.

28 Ibique servietis diis, qui hominum manu fabricati sunt, ligno et lapidi qui non vident, nec audiunt, nec comedunt, nec odorantur.

And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

29 Cumque quæsieris ibi Dominum Deum tuum, invenies eum: si tamen toto corde quæsieris, et tota tribulatione animæ tuæ.

But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

30 Postquam te invenerint omnia quæ prædicta sunt, novissimo tempore reverteris ad Dominum Deum tuum, et audies vocem ejus.

When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.

31 Quia Deus misericors Dominus Deus tuus est: non dimittet te, nec omnino delebit, neque obliviscetur pacti, in quo juravit patribus tuis.

For the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers, which He swore to them by oath.

32 Interroga de diebus antiquis, qui fuerunt ante te ex die quo creavit Deus hominem super terram, a summo cælo usque ad summum ejus, si facta est aliquando hujuscemodi res, aut umquam cognitum est,

Indeed, ask now from one end of the heavens to the other about the days that long preceded you, from the day that God created man on earth: Has anything as great as this ever happened or been reported?

33 ut audiret populus vocem Dei loquentis de medio ignis, sicut tu audisti, et vixisti:

Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived?

34 si fecit Deus ut ingrederetur, et tolleret sibi gentem de medio nationum, per tentationes, signa atque portenta, per pugnam et robustam manum, extentumque brachium, et horribiles visiones juxta omnia quæ fecit pro vobis Dominus Deus vester in Ægypto, videntibus oculis tuis:

Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation—by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes?

35 ut scires quoniam Dominus ipse est Deus, et non est alius præter eum.

You were shown these things so that you would know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him.

36 De cælo te fecit audire vocem suam, ut doceret te, et in terra ostendit tibi ignem suum maximum, et audisti verba illius de medio ignis:

He let you hear His voice from heaven to discipline you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire.

37 quia dilexit patres tuos, et elegit semen eorum post eos. Eduxitque te præcedens in virtute sua magna ex Ægypto,

Because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by His presence and great power,

38 ut deleret nationes maximas et fortiores te in introitu tuo: et introduceret te, daretque tibi terram earum in possessionem, sicut cernis in præsenti die.

to drive out before you nations greater and mightier than you, and to bring you into their land and give it to you for your inheritance, as it is this day.

39 Scito ergo hodie, et cogitato in corde tuo quod Dominus ipse sit Deus in cælo sursum, et in terra deorsum, et non sit alius.

Know therefore this day and take to heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.

40 Custodi præcepta ejus atque mandata, quæ ego præcipio tibi: ut bene sit tibi, et filiis tuis post te, et permaneas multo tempore super terram, quam Dominus Deus tuus daturus est tibi.

Keep His statutes and commandments, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.

41 Tunc separavit Moyses tres civitates trans Jordanem ad orientalem plagam,

Then Moses set aside three cities across the Jordan to the east

42 ut confugiat ad eas qui occiderit nolens proximum suum, nec sibi fuerit inimicus ante unum et alterum diem, et ad harum aliquam urbium possit evadere:

to which a manslayer could flee after killing his neighbor unintentionally without prior malice. To save one’s own life, he could flee to one of these cities:

43 Bosor in solitudine, quæ sita est in terra campestri de tribu Ruben: et Ramoth in Galaad, quæ est in tribu Gad: et Golan in Basan, quæ est in tribu Manasse.

Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the Gadites, or Golan in Bashan belonging to the Manassites.

44 Ista est lex, quam proposuit Moyses coram filiis Israël:

This is the law that Moses set before the Israelites.

45 et hæc testimonia et cæremoniæ atque judicia, quæ locutus est ad filios Israël, quando egressi sunt de Ægypto,

These are the testimonies, statutes, and ordinances that Moses proclaimed to them after they had come out of Egypt,

46 trans Jordanem in valle contra fanum Phogor in terra Sehon regis Amorrhæi, qui habitavit in Hesebon, quem percussit Moyses. Filii quoque Israël egressi ex Ægypto

while they were in the valley across the Jordan facing Beth-peor in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites after they had come out of Egypt.

47 possederunt terram ejus, et terram Og regis Basan, duorum regum Amorrhæorum, qui erant trans Jordanem ad solis ortum:

They took possession of the land belonging to Sihon and to Og king of Bashan—the two Amorite kings across the Jordan to the east—

48 ab Aroër, quæ sita est super ripam torrentis Arnon, usque ad montem Sion, qui est et Hermon,

extending from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Siyon (that is, Hermon),

49 omnem planitiem trans Jordanem ad orientalem plagam, usque ad mare solitudinis, et usque ad radices montis Phasga.

including all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan and as far as the Sea of the Arabah, below the slopes of Pisgah.