Deuteronomy 4
1 “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.
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.
2 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.
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.
3 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;
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.
4 and you who are cleaving to your God YHWH [are] alive today—all of you.
Those of you who were faithful to the Lord your God are still alive today, every one of you.
5 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;
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.
6 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.
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.”
7 For which [is] the great nation that has God [so] near to it, as our God YHWH, in all we have called to Him?
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?
8 And which [is] the great nation which has righteous statutes and judgments according to all this law which I am setting before you today?
What nation is as great as us, having such good rules and regulations like all these laws that I'm placing before you today?
9 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.
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.
10 [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;
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.”
11 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,
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.
12 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;
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.
13 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.
He explained to you his agreement, the Ten Commandments, which he ordered you to follow. He wrote them down on two tablets of stone.
14 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.
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.
15 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,
You didn't see any form when the Lord spoke to you from the fire at Horeb, so be very careful
16 lest you do corruptly, and have made for yourselves a carved image, a likeness of any figure: a form of male or female,
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,
17 a form of any beast which [is] in the earth, a form of any winged bird which flies in the heavens,
or any land animal or bird that flies,
18 a form of any creeping thing on the ground, a form of any fish which [is] in the waters below the earth.
or of any animal that crawls on the ground or any fish in the deep sea.
19 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.
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.
20 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.
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.
21 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;
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.
22 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.
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.
23 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;
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.
24 for your God YHWH is a consuming fire—a zealous God.
For the Lord your God is a fire that burns everything up. He is an exclusive God.
25 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,
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.
26 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;
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.
27 and YHWH has scattered you among the peoples, and you have been left few in number among the nations to where YHWH leads you,
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.
28 and you have served gods there, work of man’s hands, wood and stone, which do not see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
There you will worship gods of wood and stone made by human beings. These idols can't see or hear or eat or smell.
29 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.
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.
30 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—
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.
31 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.
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.
32 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.
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?
33 Has a people heard the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, you—and live?
Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, like you have, and survived?
34 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?
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?
35 You—you have been shown [it], to know that He, YHWH, [is] God; there is none else besides Him.
You were shown all this so you could be certain that the Lord is God and there is no one like him.
36 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.
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.
37 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,
Because he loved your forefathers, he chose you, their descendants. He himself led you out of Egypt by his great power,
38 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.
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.
39 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;
So today be sure about this and never forget: the Lord is the only God in heaven above and on the earth below.
40 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.”
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.
41 Then Moses separates three cities beyond the Jordan, toward the sun-rising,
Then Moses assigned three sanctuary towns to the east of the Jordan
42 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:
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:
43 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.
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.
44 And this [is] the law which Moses has set before the sons of Israel;
This is the law that Moses placed before the Israelites.
45 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,
These are the laws, rules, and regulations Moses gave them after they had come out of Egypt.
46 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;
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.
47 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,
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.)
48 from Aroer, which [is] by the edge of the Brook of Arnon, even to Mount Zion, which [is] Hermon—
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,
49 and all the plain beyond the Jordan eastward, even to the Sea of the Plain, below the Springs of Pisgah.
and included all the Arabah to the east of the Jordan down as far as the Dead Sea beside the slopes of Mount Pisgah.
