Deuteronomy 4
1 Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, gives 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 shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command 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 have seen what the LORD did because of Baal Peor; for all the men who followed Baal Peor, the LORD your God has destroyed them from the midst of you.
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 But you who were faithful to the LORD your God are all alive this day.
Those of you who were faithful to the Lord your God are still alive today, every one of you.
5 Look, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do so in the midst of the land where you go 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 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who shall hear all these statutes, and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people."
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 what great nation is there, that has a god so near to them, as the LORD our God is whenever we call on 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 What great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
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 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;
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 the day that you stood before the LORD your God in Horeb, when the LORD 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."
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 You came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of the sky, 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 The LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire: you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; you only heard 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 He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments; and he wrote 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 The LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that you might do them in the land where you go 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 Therefore watch yourselves carefully; for you saw no kind of form on the day that the LORD spoke 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 corrupt yourselves, and make yourself an engraved image in the form of any figure, the likeness 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 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky,
or any land animal or bird that flies,
18 the likeness of any crawling creature that crawls on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the land;
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 sky, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the host of heaven, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky.
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 But God has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of 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 Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in to that good land, which the LORD your God gives 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 but I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan; but you shall go over, and possess that 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 Be careful, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you an engraved image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden 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 the LORD your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.
For the Lord your God is a fire that burns everything up. He is an exclusive God.
25 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 the sight of the LORD your God, 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 call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto you go over the Jordan to possess it; you shall not prolong your days on it, but shall utterly be 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 The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, where the LORD will drive 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 There you shall serve other gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither 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 But from there you shall seek the LORD your God, and you shall find him, when you search after 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 When you are in oppression, and all these things have come on you, in the latter days you shall return to the LORD your God, and listen 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 the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not fail you, neither destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore 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 days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created humankind 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 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 Did a people ever hear the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, 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 and take a nation for himself 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, according to all that the LORD your God did for 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 It was shown to you so that you might know that the LORD is God. There is no one 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 Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, that he might instruct you: and on earth he made you to see his great fire; and you 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 Because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their descendants after them, and brought you out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt;
Because he loved your forefathers, he chose you, their descendants. He himself led you out of Egypt by his great power,
38 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 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 Know therefore this day, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.
So today be sure about this and never forget: the Lord is the only God in heaven above and on the earth below.
40 You shall keep his statutes, and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land, which the LORD your God gives you, forever.
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 set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise;
Then Moses assigned three sanctuary towns to the east of the Jordan
42 that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unawares, and did not hate him in time past; and that fleeing to one of these cities he might live:
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, on the plateau, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.
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 This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:
This is the law that Moses placed before the Israelites.
45 these are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spoke to the children of Israel, when they came forth 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 over against Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel struck, when they came forth 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 They took his land in possession, and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise;
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 on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, even to Mount Sion (that 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 Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, even to the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes 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.
