“first hearers,” gathered in the plains of Moab and attending to Moses’ words. On the other hand, we have just reconstructed the scene at Israel’s yearly festivals; so we imagine the attentive crowds at the shrine in Shechem, Gilgal, or Shiloh. Then again, the material obviously addresses the people of Israel in the 6th century B.C., when in the crisis of impending or actual overthrow and exile the Deuteronomic material is brought forward as a complete compilation. All this means that in ch. 4 and