Deuteronomy 4–13

Moses Commands Obedience

4“Now, O Israel, listen to ^athe statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and ¹possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you. ^2bYou shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. ³Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at ^cBaal Peor; for the Lord your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor. ⁴But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you.

⁵“Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. ⁶Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is ^dyour wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’

⁷“For ^ewhat great nation is there that has ^fGod ²so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? ⁸And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day? ⁹Only take heed to yourself, and diligently ^gkeep yourself, lest you ^hforget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And ⁱteach them to your children and your grandchildren, ¹⁰especially concerning ^jthe day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’

¹¹“Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. ^12kAnd the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no ³form; ^lyou only heard a voice. ^13mSo He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, ⁿthe Ten Commandments; and ^oHe wrote them on two tablets of stone. ¹⁴And ^pthe Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might ⁴observe them in the land which you cross over to possess.

Beware of Idolatry

^15q“Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no ^rform when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, ¹⁶lest you ^sact corruptly and ^tmake for yourselves a carved image in the ⁵form of any figure: ^uthe likeness of male or female, ¹⁷the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, ¹⁸the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. ¹⁹And take heed, lest you ^vlift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, ^wall the host of heaven, you feel driven to ^xworship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has ⁶given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage. ²⁰But the Lord has taken you and ^ybrought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be ^zHis people, an inheritance, as you are this day. ²¹Furthermore ^athe Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that ^bI would not cross over the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. ²²But ^cI must die in this land, ^dI must not cross over the Jordan; but you shall cross over and ⁷possess ^ethat good land. ²³Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, ^fand make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. ²⁴For ^gthe Lord your God is a consuming fire, ^ha jealous God.

²⁵“When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and ⁱdo evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, ^26jI call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not ⁸prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. ²⁷And the Lord ^kwill scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. ²⁸And ^lthere you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, ^mwhich neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. ²⁹ⁿBut from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. ³⁰When you are in ⁹distress, and all these things come upon you in the ^olatter days, when you ^pturn to the Lord your God and obey His voice ³¹(for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor ^qdestroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.

³²“For ^rask now concerning the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask ^sfrom one end of heaven to the other, whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard. ^33tDid any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live? ³⁴Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, ^uby trials, ^vby signs, by wonders, by war, ^wby a mighty hand and ^xan outstretched arm, ^yand by great ¹terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord Himself is God; ^zthere is none other besides Him. ^36aOut of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire. ³⁷And because ^bHe loved your fathers, therefore He chose their ²descendants after them; and ^cHe brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power, ^38ddriving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day. ³⁹Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that ^ethe Lord Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. ^40fYou shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that ³it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may ⁴prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan

⁴¹Then Moses ^gset apart three cities on this side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun, ^42hthat the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without having hated him in time past, and that by fleeing to one of these cities he might live: ⁴³ⁱBezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

Introduction to God’s Law

⁴⁴Now this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel. ⁴⁵These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which Moses spoke to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt, ⁴⁶on this side of the Jordan, ^jin the valley opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel ^kdefeated ⁵after they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷And they took possession of his land and the land ^lof Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, who were on this side of the Jordan, toward the ⁶rising of the sun, ^48mfrom Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon, even to Mount ⁷Sion (that is, ⁿHermon), ⁴⁹and all the plain on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, below the ^oslopes of Pisgah.

The Ten Commandments Reviewed

5And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you may learn them and be careful to observe them. ^2aThe Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. ³The Lord ^bdid not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here today, all of us who are alive. ^4cThe Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. ^5dI stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for ^eyou were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain. He said:

^6f‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of ¹bondage.

^7g‘You shall have no other gods ²before Me.

^8h‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; ⁹you shall not ⁱbow ³down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, ⁴visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, ^10jbut showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and ⁵keep My commandments.

^11k‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him ⁶guiltless who takes His name in vain.

^12l‘Observe the Sabbath day, to ⁷keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. ^13mSix days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁴but the seventh day is the ⁿSabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. ^15oAnd remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there ^pby a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

^16q‘Honor your…