Deuteronomy 4–12

Moses Urges Israel to Be Obedient

4Then Moses said to the people, “Obey all the laws that I am teaching you, and you will live and occupy the land which the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. ^2*Do not add anything to what I command you, and do not take anything away. Obey the commands of the Lord your God that I have given you. ^3*You yourselves saw what the Lord did at Mount Peor. He destroyed everyone who worshipped Baal there, ⁴but those of you who were faithful to the Lord your God are still alive today.

⁵“I have taught you all the laws, as the Lord my God told me to do. Obey them in the land that you are about to invade and occupy. ⁶Obey them faithfully, and this will show the people of other nations how wise you are. When they hear of all these laws, they will say, ‘What wisdom and understanding this great nation has!’

⁷“No other nation, no matter how great, has a god who is so near when they need him as the Lord our God is to us. He answers us whenever we call for help. ⁸No other nation, no matter how great, has laws so just as those that I have taught you today. ⁹Be on your guard! Make certain that you do not forget, as long as you live, what you have seen with your own eyes. Tell your children and your grandchildren ¹⁰about the day you stood in the presence of the Lord your God at Mount Sinai,^d when he said to me, ‘Assemble the people. I want them to hear what I have to say, so that they will learn to obey me as long as they live and so that they will teach their children to do the same.’

^11*“Tell your children how you went and stood at the foot of the mountain which was covered with thick clouds of dark smoke and fire blazing up to the sky. ^12*Tell them how the Lord spoke to you from the fire, how you heard him speaking but did not see him in any form at all. ^13*He told you what you must do to keep the covenant he made with you—you must obey the Ten Commandments, which he wrote on two stone tablets. ^14*The Lord told me to teach you all the laws that you are to obey in the land that you are about to invade and occupy.

Warning against Idolatry

¹⁵“When the Lord spoke to you from the fire on Mount Sinai, you did not see any form. For your own good, then, make certain ^16*that you do not sin by making for yourselves an idol in any form at all—whether man or woman, ^17*animal or bird, ^18*reptile or fish. ¹⁹Do not be tempted to worship and serve what you see in the sky—the sun, the moon, and the stars. The Lord your God has given these to all other peoples for them to worship. ^20*But you are the people he rescued from Egypt, that blazing furnace. He brought you out to make you his own people, as you are today. ^21*Because of you the Lord your God was angry with me and solemnly declared that I would not cross the River Jordan to enter the fertile land which he is giving you. ²²I will die in this land and never cross the river, but you are about to go across and occupy that fertile land. ²³Be certain that you do not forget the covenant that the Lord your God made with you. Obey his command not to make yourselves any kind of idol, ^24*because the Lord your God is like a flaming fire; he tolerates no rivals.

²⁵“Even when you have been in the land a long time and have children and grandchildren, do not sin by making for yourselves an idol in any form at all. This is evil in the Lord’s sight, and it will make him angry. ²⁶I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that, if you disobey me, you will soon disappear from the land. You will not live very long in the land across the Jordan that you are about to occupy. You will be completely destroyed. ^27*The Lord will scatter you among other nations, where only a few of you will survive. ^28*There you will serve gods made by human hands, gods of wood and stone, gods that cannot see or hear, eat or smell. ^29*There you will look for the Lord your God, and if you search for him with all your heart, you will find him. ³⁰When you are in trouble and all those things happen to you, then you will finally turn to the Lord and obey him. ³¹He is a merciful God. He will not abandon you or destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant that he himself made with your ancestors.

³²“Search the past, the time before you were born, all the way back to the time when God created humanity on the earth. Search the entire earth. Has anything as great as this ever happened before? Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? ³³Have any people ever lived after hearing a god speak to them from a fire, as you have? ³⁴Has any god ever dared to go and take a people from another nation and make them his own, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt? Before your very eyes he used his great power and strength; he brought plagues and war, worked miracles and wonders, and caused terrifying things to happen. ^35*The Lord has shown you this, to prove to you that he alone is God and that there is no other. ³⁶He let you hear his voice from heaven so that he could instruct you; and here on earth he let you see his holy fire, and he spoke to you from it. ³⁷Because he loved your ancestors, he chose you, and by his great power he himself brought you out of Egypt. ³⁸As you advanced, he drove out nations greater and more powerful than you, so that he might bring you in and give you their land, the land which still belongs to you. ³⁹So remember today and never forget: the Lord is God in heaven and on earth. There is no other god. ⁴⁰Obey all his laws that I have given you today, and all will go well with you and your descendants. You will continue to live in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to be yours for ever.”

The Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan

^41*Then Moses set aside three cities east of the River Jordan ^42*to which a man could escape and be safe if he had accidentally killed someone who had not been his enemy. He could escape to one of these cities and not be put to death. ^43*For the tribe of Reuben there was the city of Bezer, on the desert plateau; for the tribe of Gad there was Ramoth, in the territory of Gilead; and for the tribe of Manasseh there was Golan, in the territory of Bashan.

Introduction to the Giving of God’s Law

⁴⁴Moses gave God’s laws and teachings to the people of Israel. ^45–46It was after they had come out of Egypt and were in the valley east of the River Jordan, opposite the town of Bethpeor, that he gave them these laws. This was in the territory that had belonged to King Sihon of the Amorites, who had ruled in the town of Heshbon. Moses and the people of Israel defeated him when they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷They occupied his land and the land of King Og of Bashan, the other Amorite king who lived east of the Jordan. ⁴⁸This land extended from the town of Aroer, on the edge of the River Arnon, all the way north to Mount Sirion,^e that is, Mount Hermon. ⁴⁹It also included all the region east of the River Jordan as far south as the Dead Sea and east to the foot of Mount Pisgah.

The Ten Commandments

5Moses called together all the people of Israel and said to them, “People of Israel, listen to all the laws that I am giving you today. Learn them and be sure that you obey them. ²At Mount Sinai the Lord our God made a covenant, ³not only with our fathers, but with all of us who are living today. ⁴There on the mountain the Lord spoke to you face-to-face from the fire. ⁵I stood between you and the Lord at that time to tell you what he said, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain.

“The Lord said, ⁶‘I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves.

⁷“ ‘Worship no god but me.

^8*“ ‘Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth. ^9*Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, for I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation. ^10*But I show my love to thousands of generations^f of those who love me and obey my laws.

^11*“ ‘Do not use my name for evil purposes, for I, the Lord your God, will punish anyone who misuses my name.

^12*“ ‘Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy, as I, the Lord your God, have commanded you. ^13*You have six days in which to do your work, ^14*but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me. On that day no one is to work—neither you, your children, your slaves, your animals, nor the foreigners who live in your country. Your slaves must rest just as you do. ¹⁵Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and that I, the Lord your God, rescued you by my great power and strength. That is why I command you to observe the Sabbath.

^16*“ ‘Respect your father and your mother, as I, the Lord your God, command you, so that all may go well with you and so that you may live a long time in the land that I am giving you.

^17*“ ‘Do not commit murder.

^18*“ ‘Do not commit adultery.

^19*“ ‘Do not steal.

^20*“ ‘Do not accuse anyone falsely.

^21*“ ‘Do not desire another man’s wife; do not desire his house, his land, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns.’

^22*“These are the commandments the Lord gave to all of you when you were gathered at the mountain. When he spoke with a mighty voice from the fire and from the thick clouds, he gave these commandments and no others. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

The People’s Fear

^23*“When the whole mountain was on fire and you heard the voice from the darkness, your leaders and the chiefs of your tribes came to me ^24*and said, ‘The Lord our God showed us his greatness and his glory when we heard him speak from the fire! Today we have seen that it is possible for a human being to continue to live, even though God has spoken to him. ^25*But why should we risk death again? That terrible fire will destroy us. We are sure to die if we hear the Lord our God speak again. ^26*Has any human being ever lived after hearing the living God speak from a fire? ^27*Go back,…