⁵See, I now teach^g you rules and regulations just as Yahweh my God has commanded me, to observe them just so in the midst of the land where you are going, to take possession of it. ⁶And you must observe them diligently,^h for that is your wisdom and your insight before the eyes of the people, who will hear all of these rules, and they will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people.’ ⁷For what great nation has for it a god near to it as Yahweh our God, wheneverⁱ we call upon him? ⁸And what other great nation has for it^j just rules and regulations just like^k this whole^l law that I am setting before^m you today?ⁿ

⁹“However, take care^o for yourself and watch your inner self^p closely, so that you do not forget the things that your eyes have seen, so that they do not slip from your mind all the days of your life; and you shall make them known to your children and to your grandchildren.^q ¹⁰Remember the day that you stood before^r Yahweh your God at Horeb when Yahweh said to me,^s ‘Summon for me the people so that I can tell them my words, that they may learn to fear me all of the days they are alive on the earth and so that they may teach their children.’ ¹¹And so you came near, and you stood under the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire up to the heart of the heaven, dark with a very thick cloud.^t ¹²And Yahweh spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard^u a sound of words, but you did not see^v a form—only a voice. ¹³And he declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments,^w which he charged you to observe,^x and he wrote them on the two tablets of stone. ¹⁴And Yahweh charged me at that time to teach you rules and regulations for your observation of them^y in the land that you are about to cross into^z to take possession of it.

¹⁵“So you must be very careful for yourselves,^a because you did not see^b any form on the day Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, ¹⁶so that you do not ruin yourselves^c and make for yourselves a divine image in a form of any image, a replica of male or female, ¹⁷a replica of any animal that is upon the earth, a replica of any winged bird that flies in the air, ¹⁸a replica of any creeping thing on the ground, a replica of any fish that is in the water below^d the earth. ¹⁹And do this so that you do not lift^e your eyes toward heaven and observe^f the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of the heaven, and be led astray and bow down to them and serve them, things that Yahweh your God has allotted to all of the peoples under all of the heaven. ²⁰But Yahweh has taken you and brought you out from the furnace of iron, from Egypt, to be a people of inheritance to^g him, as it is this day.^h

Read in Logos

Deuteronomy 4:7: For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?

Footnotes

fLiterally “the day”
gOr “I have taught” (compare NASB, NEB)
hLiterally “you must observe and you must do”
iLiterally “in every matter/every time we call ”
jLiterally “which/that is for him it”
kLiterally “as”
lLiterally “all of”
mLiterally “to the face of”
nLiterally “the day”
oLiterally “watch”
pOr “soul”
qLiterally “the children of your children”
rLiterally “to the face of”
sLiterally “when to say Yahweh”
tLiterally “darkness, cloud, and very thick darkness”
uLiterally “you were hearing”
vLiterally “you were not seeing”
wLiterally “the ten words”
xLiterally “to do”
yLiterally “for your doing them”
zLiterally “about to cross into there”
aLiterally “watch yourselves diligently with respect to your souls”
bOr “have not seen”
cLiterally “corrupt yourselves”
dLiterally “under”
eLiterally “And lest you lift up”
fLiterally “see”
gOr “for”; a people of inheritance = a people who is his very own possession
hLiterally “as the day the this” = as you are now