Deuteronomy 4

1 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.

Now therefore hearken, O Israel, to the statutes and to the judgments, which I teach you, to do [them], that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.

2 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.

Ye shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish [aught] from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

3 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.

Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.

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

But ye who adhered to the LORD your God, [are] alive every one of you this day.

5 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.

Behold, I have taught you statutes, and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

6 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.

Keep therefore and do [them]; for this [is] your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which will hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation [is] a wise and understanding people.

7 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?

For what nation [is there so] great, which [hath] God [so] nigh to them, as the LORD our God [is] in all [things that] we call upon him [for]?

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

And what nation [is there so] great, that hath statutes and judgments [so] righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

9 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;

Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou shouldst forget the things which thy eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them to thy sons, and thy sons' sons:

10 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.

[Specially] the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said to me, Assemble the people to me, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and [that] they may teach their children.

11 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.

And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.

12 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.

And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only [ye heard] a voice.

13 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.

And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, [even] ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

14 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.

And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

15 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:

Take ye therefore good heed to yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day [that] the LORD spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire;

16 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,

Lest ye corrupt [yourselves], and make to you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

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

The likeness of any beast that [is] on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,

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

The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that [is] in the waters beneath the earth:

19 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.

And lest thou shouldst lift up thy eyes to heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, [even] all the host of heaven, shouldst be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided to all nations under the whole heaven.

20 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.

But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you out of the iron furnace, [even] from Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as [ye are] this day.

21 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:

Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not enter that good land which the LORD thy God giveth thee [for] an inheritance:

22 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.

But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.

23 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.

Take heed to yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, [or] the likeness of any [thing] which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.

24 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.

For the LORD thy God [is] a consuming fire, [even] a jealous God.

25 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:

When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt [yourselves], and make a graven image, [or] the likeness of any [thing], and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:

26 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.

I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from the land to which ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong [your] days upon it, but shall be utterly destroyed.

27 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.

And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.

28 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.

And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

29 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.

But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find [him], if thou shalt seek him with all thy heart, and with all thy soul.

30 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:

When thou art in tribulation, and all these things have come upon thee, [even] in the latter days, if thou shalt turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient to his voice;

31 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.

(For the LORD thy God [is] a merciful God; ) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers, which he swore to them.

32 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.

For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and [ask] from the one side of heaven to the other, whether there hath been [any such thing] as this great thing [is], or hath been heard like it?

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

Did [ever] people hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?

34 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?

Or hath God essayed to go [and] take him a nation from the midst of [another] nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an out-stretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

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

To thee it was shown, that thou mightest know that the LORD he [is] God; [there is] none besides him.

36 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.

Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee; and upon earth he showed thee his great fire; and thou heardst his words from the midst of the fire.

37 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;

And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out of Egypt in his sight with his mighty power.

38 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.

To drive out nations from before thee, greater and mightier than thou [art], to bring thee in, to give thee their land [for] an inheritance, as [it is] this day.

39 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.

Know therefore this day, and consider [it] in thy heart, that the LORD he [is] God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: [there is] none else.

40 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.

Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes and his commandments which I command thee this day, that it may be well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong [thy] days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.

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

Then Moses set apart three cities on the side of Jordan, towards the sun-rising;

42 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:

That the slayer might flee thither, who should kill his neighbor unawares, and when he had not hated him in times past; and that fleeing to one of these cities he might live:

43 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.

[Namely], Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.

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

And this [is] the law which Moses set before the children of Israel.

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

These [are] the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spoke to the children of Israel, after they came forth from Egypt,

46 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:

On the east side of Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they had come forth from Egypt:

47 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;

And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, who [were] on the side of Jordan, towards the sun-rising;

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

From Aroer, which [is] by the bank of the river Arnon, even to mount Sion, which [is] Hermon,

49 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.

And all the plain on the side of Jordan eastward, even to the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.