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Deuteronomy 4
The Voice
Deuteronomy 4
The Voice
4 Moses: So now, Israel, pay close attention to the laws and judgments I’m going to teach you. If you follow them, you’ll enter and live in the land the Eternal, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. You’ll conquer it, and it will become your territory. 2 Don’t add anything to what I command you, and don’t take away anything from it; just follow the commands of the Eternal your God that I’m giving you now.
3 You saw with your own eyes what the Eternal did about your immorality at Baal-peor, the mountain-god. When some of you followed after the Baal god, the Eternal your God killed them right in front of you—not one of them survived![a] 4 But all of you who remained loyal to the Eternal your God are still alive today. 5 So pay attention—I’m teaching you the rules and judgments the Eternal my God has given me for you. You’re to follow them when you enter the land and settle there. 6 If you obey them carefully, all the nations around you will marvel at your wisdom and understanding. They’ll hear about these rules and say, “This is a great nation—its people are so wise and understanding!” 7 Indeed, what other nation is so great that it has a god that compares to the Eternal our God as He is near to us whenever we call on Him? 8 What other nation is so great that it has rules and judgments as just as the ones contained in this whole law I’m presenting to you today?
The Lord chooses Israel from among all the nations to be His own people; but that choice, paradoxically, is for the sake of all the other nations too. Israel is supposed to create a model society, following His laws, and this is supposed to attract other nations to true faith in Him. Most of the Old Testament describes how the Lord is at work in close relationship with one nation. But it also provides continual glimpses, like this one, of the way that relationship is designed to be a vehicle to reach all nations. The “law” is a complex legal code designed to build a new society out of former desert wanderers.
Moses: 9 So watch what you do! Be careful with your very life! Don’t forget the things you saw with your own eyes, and don’t let them fade from your memory. Remember them your whole life; teach them to your children and your grandchildren. 10 Remember the day you stood before the Eternal, your True God, at Horeb when He called you to come close. He told me, “Bring all the people to Me. I want them to hear My words, so that they will learn to fear Me as long as they live on this earth and will teach their children to do the same.” 11 You all came and stood at the foot of the mountain. It blazed with fire all the way up into the sky while dark clouds and mist obscured your view. 12 Then the Eternal spoke to you from inside that fire. You heard His voice, you heard His words, but you didn’t see His shape—you only heard a voice. 13 He told you what to do to keep the covenant He made with you. He gave you the Ten Directives and engraved two copies of them on two stone tablets. 14 The Eternal commanded me at that time to teach you the rules and judgments that make up the law He wants you to follow in the land where you’re going to live when you cross the Jordan.
15 So be very careful! Your souls are at stake! You didn’t see any shape when the Eternal spoke to you at Horeb from inside that fire, 16 so don’t ever become so corrupt that you carve an idol representing Him for yourselves in any shape, whether in the form of a man or a woman, 17 or in the form of an animal that lives on the land, or a bird with wings that flies through the sky, 18 or anything that crawls on the ground, or a fish that swims in the sea. 19 And don’t ever become so corrupt that you look up into the sky and see the sun, the moon, and the stars—as if each of them were a god—and be led astray to bow down to them and worship them, which the Eternal your God has given to all the people on earth. 20 But the Eternal has done something unique for you: He chose you and delivered you from slavery in Egypt where you were purified as if in an iron furnace, and He made you His very own people, which you are today. 21 The Eternal was angry with me because of you, and He swore I would not cross the Jordan River and enter the good land the Eternal your God is giving you to live in. 22 I’m not going to cross the Jordan. I’m going to die over on this side, but you will cross the river and take ownership of that good land. 23 So be very careful! Don’t forget the covenant the Eternal your God made with you; don’t make yourselves an idol in the shape of anything. The Eternal your God has commanded you not to! 24 The Eternal your God burns with jealousy when you’re not completely loyal to Him.
25 It would be disastrous if, after you’ve lived in the land for a long time and had children and grandchildren, you made an idol in any form. You know the Eternal your God considers this an evil thing to do, and it would make Him furious. 26 I call the heaven and the land as witnesses against you today, that if you do this, even though you’re going to cross the Jordan and take possession of the land, you won’t last long on it. You will die quickly—you will certainly be destroyed. 27 The Eternal will scatter what’s left of you among all the other nations. Only a few of you will be left in each of the nations He takes you to. 28 And there you will worship useless items made of wood and stone carved by human beings, so-called “gods” that can’t see or hear or eat or smell. 29 But when you’re there, you’ll look for the Eternal your God. If every part of you is invested in the search, heart and soul, then you’ll find Him. 30 When you’re in trouble in those days yet to come because of all these things, you’ll come back to the Eternal your God, and you’ll listen to His voice. 31 He is a compassionate God. He won’t abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant He made with your ancestors—He swore to them that He’d keep it!
32 Ask anyone who’s ever lived: has anything this great ever happened before? Has anyone even heard of anything like it? Not since the day God first created humanity, not anywhere in the cosmos, from one end to the other. 33 You heard the voice of God speaking from inside the fire at Mount Horeb, and you survived! No other nation has ever done anything like that. 34 You saw with your own eyes what the Eternal, your True God, did for you in Egypt: He claimed you as His own nation, and He took you right out of another nation that was holding you captive. He rescued you by testing them with plagues, by warning them with signs and omens, by fighting against them with overwhelming strength, and by totally terrifying them! No other god has ever tried to do anything like that. 35 You saw all this so you would know the Eternal is the only God who truly exists. There is no other. 36 You heard His voice from heaven as He admonished you; He showed you His blazing fire on the earth, and you heard His words from inside that fire—all at His will. 37 Because He loved your ancestors, He’s also committed to their descendants who came after them, and that’s why He personally brought you out of Egypt by His own great power. 38 He defeated nations that are greater and stronger than you, and He let you live on their land. It will belong to you! 39 You just need to know with every fiber of your being that the Eternal, and no one else, is God up in heaven and down here on the earth. 40 If you remember His rules and keep His commands, which I’m teaching you today, things will go well for you and for your children after you. You’ll live a long time on the ground the Eternal your God is giving you. He wants you to have it forever.
41 Then Moses designated three cities east of the Jordan 42 as places where a person could flee if he or she unintentionally killed someone when there was no grudge between them. By fleeing to one of these cities, a person could be safe from revenge and stay alive. 43 These were the cities: Bezer on the plateau in the wilderness for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
Establishing these cities of refuge for those who will be living on the east side of the Jordan is the last thing Moses needs to do before sending the people across the river to conquer the rest of the promised land. But they will keep living in that land only if they remain faithful to their covenant with the Lord. So as Moses continues to represent Him, he now describes the people’s obligations to the Eternal, beginning with exclusive loyalty and obedience to the one True God.
44 This is the law Moses gave to the children of Israel; 45 these are the precedents, rules, and decrees Moses taught the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt. 46 They were east of the Jordan, in the valley across from Beth-peor, in the land of Amorite King Sihon who ruled in Heshbon. Moses and the children of Israel crushed him when they came out of Egypt. 47 Sihon and Og, the Amorite king of Bashan, ruled the territory east of the Jordan. The Israelites took over their land, 48 from Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Valley all the way to Mount Sion[b] (that is, Mount Hermon), 49 including the arid valley[c] east of the Jordan River, down to the Dead Sea,[d] at the foot of Mount Pisgah.
Footnotes
- 4:3 Numbers 25:1–5
- 4:48 Other manuscripts read “Sirion.”
- 4:49 Hebrew, Arabah
- 4:49 Literally, Sea of the Arabah
Deuteronomy 4
New International Version
Deuteronomy 4
New International Version
Obedience Commanded
4 Now, Israel, hear the decrees(A) and laws I am about to teach(B) you. Follow them so that you may live(C) and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2 Do not add(D) to what I command you and do not subtract(E) from it, but keep(F) the commands(G) of the Lord your God that I give you.
3 You saw with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal Peor.(H) The Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, 4 but all of you who held fast to the Lord your God are still alive today.
5 See, I have taught(I) you decrees and laws(J) as the Lord my God commanded(K) me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering(L) to take possession of it. 6 Observe(M) them carefully, for this will show your wisdom(N) and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”(O) 7 What other nation is so great(P) as to have their gods near(Q) them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws(R) as this body of laws I am setting before you today?
9 Only be careful,(S) and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach(T) them to your children(U) and to their children after them. 10 Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb,(V) when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn(W) to revere(X) me as long as they live in the land(Y) and may teach(Z) them to their children.” 11 You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain(AA) while it blazed with fire(AB) to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.(AC) 12 Then the Lord spoke(AD) to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form;(AE) there was only a voice.(AF) 13 He declared to you his covenant,(AG) the Ten Commandments,(AH) which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets. 14 And the Lord directed me at that time to teach you the decrees and laws(AI) you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.
Idolatry Forbidden
15 You saw no form(AJ) of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb(AK) out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully,(AL) 16 so that you do not become corrupt(AM) and make for yourselves an idol,(AN) an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, 17 or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air,(AO) 18 or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. 19 And when you look up to the sky and see the sun,(AP) the moon and the stars(AQ)—all the heavenly array(AR)—do not be enticed(AS) into bowing down to them and worshiping(AT) things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. 20 But as for you, the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace,(AU) out of Egypt,(AV) to be the people of his inheritance,(AW) as you now are.
21 The Lord was angry with me(AX) because of you, and he solemnly swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance. 22 I will die in this land;(AY) I will not cross the Jordan; but you are about to cross over and take possession of that good land.(AZ) 23 Be careful not to forget the covenant(BA) of the Lord your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol(BB) in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. 24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire,(BC) a jealous God.(BD)
25 After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt(BE) and make any kind of idol,(BF) doing evil(BG) in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger, 26 I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses(BH) against you(BI) this day that you will quickly perish(BJ) from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed. 27 The Lord will scatter(BK) you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive(BL) among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. 28 There you will worship man-made gods(BM) of wood and stone,(BN) which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.(BO) 29 But if from there you seek(BP) the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart(BQ) and with all your soul.(BR) 30 When you are in distress(BS) and all these things have happened to you, then in later days(BT) you will return(BU) to the Lord your God and obey him. 31 For the Lord your God is a merciful(BV) God; he will not abandon(BW) or destroy(BX) you or forget(BY) the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.
The Lord Is God
32 Ask(BZ) now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth;(CA) ask from one end of the heavens to the other.(CB) Has anything so great(CC) as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? 33 Has any other people heard the voice of God[a] speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived?(CD) 34 Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation,(CE) by testings,(CF) by signs(CG) and wonders,(CH) by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm,(CI) or by great and awesome deeds,(CJ) like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
35 You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other.(CK) 36 From heaven he made you hear his voice(CL) to discipline(CM) you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. 37 Because he loved(CN) your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength,(CO) 38 to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance,(CP) as it is today.
39 Acknowledge(CQ) and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.(CR) 40 Keep(CS) his decrees and commands,(CT) which I am giving you today, so that it may go well(CU) with you and your children after you and that you may live long(CV) in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time.
Cities of Refuge(CW)
41 Then Moses set aside three cities east of the Jordan, 42 to which anyone who had killed a person could flee if they had unintentionally(CX) killed a neighbor without malice aforethought. They could flee into one of these cities and save their life. 43 The cities were these: Bezer in the wilderness plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth(CY) in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.
Introduction to the Law
44 This is the law Moses set before the Israelites. 45 These are the stipulations, decrees and laws Moses gave them when they came out of Egypt 46 and were in the valley near Beth Peor east of the Jordan, in the land of Sihon(CZ) king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites as they came out of Egypt. 47 They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan. 48 This land extended from Aroer(DA) on the rim of the Arnon Gorge to Mount Sirion[b](DB) (that is, Hermon(DC)), 49 and included all the Arabah east of the Jordan, as far as the Dead Sea,[c] below the slopes of Pisgah.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 4:33 Or of a god
- Deuteronomy 4:48 Syriac (see also 3:9); Hebrew Siyon
- Deuteronomy 4:49 Hebrew the Sea of the Arabah
Deuteronomy 4
King James Version
Deuteronomy 4
King James Version
4 Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.
2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought 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 Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you.
4 But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.
5 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 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
7 For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?
8 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 heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;
10 Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, 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 ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.
12 And the Lord spake unto 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 declared unto 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 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 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
16 Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17 The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
18 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 lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
20 But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.
21 Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance:
22 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 heed unto 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 thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
25 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 I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
27 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 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 from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
31 (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 sware unto them.
32 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 unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?
33 Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
34 Or hath God assayed 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 a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him.
36 Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.
37 And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;
38 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 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
40 Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go 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 severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sunrising;
42 That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live:
43 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 And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:
45 These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt.
46 On this side Jordan, in the valley over against Bethpeor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they were come forth out of Egypt:
47 And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were on this side Jordan toward the sunrising;
48 From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which is Hermon,
49 And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.
The Voice (VOICE)
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