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.
2 You
shall not add
to the word
which I command
you, neither shall
you take away
from it, that
you 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
the LORD your
God has destroyed
all the men
who followed Baal
Peor from among
you.
4 But
you who
were faithful to
the LORD your
God are all
alive today.
5 Behold,
I have taught
you statutes and
ordinances, even
as the LORD
my God commanded
me, that you
should do so
in the middle
of the land
where you go
in to possess
it.
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.”
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?
8 What
great nation is
there that has
statutes and
ordinances so
righteous as all
this law which
I set before
you today?
9 Only
be careful, 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—
10 the
day that you
stood before the
LORD your 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
live on the earth,
and that they
may teach their
children.”
11 You
came near and
stood under the
mountain. The
mountain burned
with fire to the
heart of the
sky, with darkness,
cloud, and thick
darkness.
12 The
LORD spoke to
you out of
the middle of
the fire: you
heard the voice
of words, but
you saw no
form; you only
heard a voice.
13 He
declared to you
his covenant,
which he commanded
you to perform,
even the ten
commandments. He
wrote them on
two stone tablets.
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.
15 Be
very careful, for
you saw no kind
of form on
the day that
the LORD spoke
to you in
Horeb out of
the middle of
the fire,
16 lest
you corrupt
yourselves, and
make yourself a
carved image in
the form of
any figure, the
likeness of 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,
18 the
likeness of
anything that
creeps on
the ground, the
likeness of any
fish that is
in the water
under the earth;
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
army of the
sky, 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.
20 But
the LORD has
taken you, and
brought you out
of the iron
furnace, out of
Egypt, to be
to him a
people of
inheritance, as it
is 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;
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.
23 Be
careful, lest you
forget the
covenant of the
LORD your God,
which he made
with you, and
make yourselves a
carved image in
the form of
anything which the
LORD your God
has forbidden you.
24 For
the LORD your
God is a devouring
fire, a jealous
God.
25 When
you father
children and
children’s children,
and you have
been long in
the land, and then
corrupt yourselves,
and make a
carved image in
the form of
anything, and do
that which is
evil in the
LORD your God’s
sight 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 which
you go over
the Jordan to
possess it. You
will not prolong
your days on
it, but will
utterly be
destroyed.
27 The
LORD will scatter
you among the
peoples, and you
will be left
few in number
among the nations
where the LORD
will lead you
away.
28 There
you will
serve gods, the
work of men’s
hands, wood
and stone, which
neither see, nor
hear, nor eat, nor
smell.
29 But
from there you
shall seek the
LORD your God,
and you will
find him when
you search after
him with all
your heart and
with all your
soul.
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.
31 For
the LORD your
God is a
merciful God. He
will not fail
you nor destroy
you, nor forget
the covenant of
your fathers which
he swore to
them.
32 For
ask now of
the days that
are past, which
were before you,
since the day
that God created
man on the
earth, and from
the one end
of the sky
to the other,
whether there has
been anything as
great as this
thing is, or
has been heard
like it?
33 Did
a people ever hear
the voice of God
speaking out of
the middle of
the fire, as you
have heard, and
live?
34 Or
has God tried
to go and
take a nation
for himself from
among another nation,
by trials,
by signs, by
wonders, by war,
by a mighty
hand, by an
outstretched arm,
and by great
terrors, according
to all that
the LORD your
God did for
you in Egypt
before your eyes?
35 It
was shown to
you so that
you might know
that the LORD
is God. There
is no one
else besides him.
36 Out
of heaven he
made you to
hear his voice,
that he might
instruct you. On
earth he made
you to see
his great fire;
and you heard
his words out
of the middle
of the fire.
37 Because
he loved your fathers,
therefore he chose
their offspring
after them, and
brought you out
with his presence,
with his great
power, out of
Egypt;
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 it is
today.
39 Know
therefore today,
and take it
to heart, that
the LORD himself
is God in
heaven above and
on the earth
beneath. There is
no one else.
40 You
shall keep his
statutes and his
commandments which
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
which the LORD
your God gives
you for all
time.
41 Then
Moses set apart three
cities beyond the
Jordan toward the
sunrise,
42 that
the man slayer
might flee there,
who kills his
neighbor unintentionally
and didn’t hate
him in time
past, and that
fleeing to one
of these cities
he might live:
43 Bezer
in the wilderness,
in the
plain country, for
the Reubenites;
and Ramoth in
Gilead for the
Gadites; and Golan
in Bashan for
the Manassites.
44 This
is the law
which Moses set
before the
children of Israel.
45 These
are the
testimonies, and
the statutes, and
the ordinances
which Moses spoke
to the children
of Israel when
they came out
of Egypt,
46 beyond
the Jordan, in
the valley
opposite 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 out of
Egypt.
47 They
took possession of
his land and
the land of
Og king of
Bashan, the two
kings of
the Amorites, who
were beyond the
Jordan toward the
sunrise;
48 from
Aroer, which is
on the edge
of the valley
of the Arnon, even
to Mount Zion (also
called Hermon),
49 and
all the Arabah
beyond the Jordan
eastward, even to
the sea of
the Arabah, under
the slopes of
Pisgah.