Deu 4 | ABEn | STEP | And now, O Israel, hear the ordinances and the judgments! as many as I teach you today to do, that you should live and manifoldly multiply; and entering should be heir to the land which the lord God of your fathers gives to you.

‏ Deuteronomy 4

CHAPTER 4 Guard the Commandments

1 And now, O Israel, hear the ordinances and the judgments! as many as I teach you today to do, that you should live and manifoldly multiply; and entering should be heir to the land which the lord God of your fathers gives to you. 2 You shall not add to the saying which I give charge to you, and you shall not remove from it. Guard the commandments of the lord your God! as many as I give charge to you today. 3 Your eyes have seen all as many things as [³did ¹the lord ²our God] to Baal-peor. For every man whoever went after Baal-peor, [³obliterated ⁴him ¹the lord ²your God] from you. 4 But you, the ones joining with the lord your God, all live today. 5 Behold! I have shown to you ordinances and judgments, as [³gave charge ⁴to me ¹the lord ²my God], to do thus for you in the land into which you enter there to inherit it. 6 And you shall guard and shall do; for this is your wisdom and your understanding before all the nations, as many as should hear all these ordinances. Then they shall say, Behold, [⁶people ³is a wise ⁴and ⁵intelligent ²nation ¹this great]. 7 For what [²nation ¹great] in which there is to it a God near to them as the lord our God is in all things in which we should call upon him? 8 And what [²nation ¹great] in which there is to it [²ordinances ³and ⁴judgments ¹just] according to all this law, which I give before you today?

Guard Your Life

9 Take heed to yourself, and guard your life exceedingly! You should not forget all the words which [²have seen ¹your eyes], and let them not leave from your heart all the days of your life! And instruct your sons and the sons of your sons! 10 Specially the day which you stood in the presence of the lord your God in Horeb, in the day of the assembly; for the lord said to me, Hold an assembly to me, [³the ⁴people ¹and ²let] hear my words! so that they should learn to fear me all the days which they live upon the earth, and that [²their sons ¹they should have taught]. 11 And you came forward and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned fire unto the heaven -- darkness, dimness, and a storm. 12 And the lord spoke to you in the mountain from the midst of the fire. A voice of utterances you heard, and a representation you did not behold -- but only a voice. 13 And he announced to you his covenant, which he gave charge to you to observe -- the ten discourses; and he wrote them upon two tablets of stone. 14 And [²to me ¹the lord gave charge] in that time to teach you ordinances and judgments, for you to do them upon the land into which you enter there to inherit it.

A Warning to the Israelites

15 And you shall guard exceedingly your lives, that you not behold any representation in the day in which the lord spoke to you in Horeb in the mountain from the midst of the fire. 16 Lest you should act lawlessly, and make to yourselves a carving representation, any image, a representation of a male or female; 17 a representation of any beast of the ones being upon the earth; a representation of any [²bird ¹feathered] which flies under the heaven; 18 a representation of any reptile which crawls upon the earth; a representation of any fish, as many as are in the waters underneath the earth. 19 And lest at any time looking up into the heaven, and beholding the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and all the cosmos of the heaven wandering, you should do obeisance to them, and you should serve them, which [³bestowed ¹the lord ²your God] them to all the nations underneath the heaven. 20 [⁵you ¹But ⁴took ²the lord ³God], and led you from out of the furnace of iron, out of Egypt, to be to him [²people ¹a hereditary], as in this day. 21 And the lord God was enraged with me on account of the things having been said by you. And he swore by an oath that I should not pass over this Jordan, and that I should not enter into the [²land ¹good] which the lord your God gives to you by lot. 22 For I die in this land, and I shall not pass over this Jordan. But you shall pass over and shall inherit [²land ¹this good]. 23 Take heed to yourselves! lest at any time you should forget the covenant of the lord your God, which he ordained with you, and you should make to you yourselves a carving representation of all of which [³gave orders ⁴to you not to do ¹the lord ²your God]. 24 For the lord your God [³fire ²a consuming ¹is] -- a jealous God. 25 And if you should procreate sons and sons of your sons, and you should pass time upon the land, and you should act lawlessly, and you should make a carving representation of any thing, and you should do the wicked thing in the presence of the lord our God to provoke him to anger, 26 I call to testify against you today both the heaven and the earth, that by destruction you shall be destroyed from the land in which you pass over the Jordan there to inherit it. You shall not delay long days upon it, but by obliteration you shall be obliterated. 27 And the lord shall disseminate you among all the nations, and there shall be left few of you in number among all the nations into which the lord shall bring you there. 28 And you shall serve there other gods, works of the hands of man -- wood and stones, which cannot see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29 And you shall seek after there the lord your God, and you shall find him whenever you should seek after him with [²entire ³heart ¹your], and with [²entire ³soul ¹your] in your affliction. 30 And [³shall find ⁴you ¹all ²these words] at the last of the days, and you shall turn towards the lord your God, and you shall hearken to his voice. 31 For God [³is pitying ⁴and ⁵merciful ¹the lord ²your God]. He will not abandon you, nor in any way will he obliterate you; he will not forget the covenant of your fathers, which he swore by an oath to them. 32 Ask [²days ¹former]! the ones having taken place prior of you, from the day of which God created man upon the earth, and upon the one extremity of the heaven unto the other extremity of the heaven, if anything has taken place according to [²thing ¹this great], if [²was heard ¹such]; 33 if [²has heard ¹a nation] the voice of the living God speaking in the midst of the fire, in which manner you have heard and lived; 34 if God tested, entering to take to himself a nation from out of the midst of a nation, for a test; and in signs, and in miracles, and by war, and by [²hand ¹a fortified], and with [²arm ¹a high], and in [²visions ¹great], according to all as much as [³did ¹the lord ²our God] in Egypt, in the presence of your seeing; 35 so as to see yourself that the lord your God, he is God, and there is not yet one besides him. 36 From out of the heaven [³audible ⁴to you ¹he made ²his voice], to correct you; and upon the earth he showed you [³fire ¹his ²great]; and his discourses you heard from the midst of the fire. 37 It is on account of his loving your fathers that he chose their seed after them -- you. And he led you himself by [³strength ¹his ²great] from out of Egypt, 38 to utterly destroy [⁴nations ¹great ²and ³stronger] than you before your face, to bring you and to give to you their land to inherit as you have today. 39 And you shall know today, and shall turn your mind, that the lord your God -- he is God, in the heaven upward, and upon the earth below; and there is not any besides him. 40 And you shall guard his commandments, and his ordinances, as many as I give charge to you today; that [²good ³to you ¹it should be], and to your sons after you, so that [²long-lived ¹you should be] upon the earth, of which the lord your God gives to you all the days. 41 Then Moses separated three cities on the other side of the Jordan of the east sun, 42 [³to flee ⁴there ¹for the ²man-killer] who ever should have slaughtered the neighbor not knowingly, and this one having not detested him before yesterday and the third day before. And he shall take refuge in one of these cities, and he shall live -- 43 Bezer in the wilderness, in the land in the plain of Reuben; and Ramoth in Gilead to the of Gadites; and Golon in Bashan to the Manassites. 44 This is the law which Moses placed before the sons of Israel. 45 These are the testimonies, and the ordinances, and the judgments, as many as Moses spoke to the sons of Israel in the wilderness, in their coming forth from the land of Egypt, 46 on the other side of the Jordan, in the ravine near the house of Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites whom dwelt in Heshbon, who Moses struck, and the sons of Israel, in their coming forth from out of the land of Egypt. 47 And they inherited his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, according to the rising of the sun. 48 From Aroer, which is upon the bank of the rushing stream Arnon, and upon the mountain of Sion, which is Hermon, 49 all the wilderness on the other side of the Jordan according to the rising of the sun by Asedoth -- the one of dressed stone.