CHAPTER 4
Hear
now,
O Israel,
the statutes
and ordinances
I
am teaching
you
to follow
so that
you may live,
enter,
and take possession of
the land
that
the LORD,
the God
of your fathers,
is giving you.
You must not
add
to
or subtract
from
what
I
command
you,
so that you may keep
the commandments
of the LORD
your God
I
am giving you.
Your eyes
have seen
what
the LORD
did
at Baal-peor,
for
the LORD
your God
destroyed
from among you
all
who
followed
Baal of Peor.
See,
I have taught
you
statutes
and ordinances
just as
the LORD
my God
has commanded me,
so that you may follow
them in
the land
you
are about to enter
and possess.
Observe them
carefully,
for
this
will show your wisdom
and understanding
in the sight
of the peoples,
who
shall hear
of all
these
statutes
and say,
“Surely
this
great
nation
is a wise
and understanding
people."
For
what
nation
is so great
as to have
a god
as near
to them
as the LORD
our God
is to us whenever
we call
on Him?
And what
nation
is so great
as to have righteous
statutes
and ordinances
like this
entire
law
I
set
before you today?
Only
be on your guard
and diligently
watch
yourselves,
so that you do not
forget
the things
your eyes
have seen,
and so that they do not
slip
from your heart
as
long as you live.
Teach
them to your children
and grandchildren.
The day
you stood
before
the LORD
your God
at Horeb,
the LORD
said
to me,
“Gather
the people
before Me
to hear
My words,
so that
they may learn
to fear
Me
all
the days
they
live
on
the earth,
and that
they may teach them
to their children."
You came near
and stood
at the foot
of the mountain,
a mountain
blazing
with fire
to
the heavens,
with black clouds
and deep
darkness.
And the LORD
spoke
to you
out of
the fire.
You
heard
the sound
of the words,
but saw
no
form;
there was only
a voice.
He declared
to you
His covenant,
the Ten
Commandments
He commanded
you to follow,
which He wrote
on
two
tablets
of stone.
At that
time
the LORD
commanded me
to teach
you
the statutes
and ordinances
you are to follow
in the land
into which
you
are crossing
to possess.
So since
you saw
no
form
of any kind
on the day
the LORD
spoke
to you
out of
the fire
at Horeb,
be careful
that you do not
act corruptly
and make
an idol
for yourselves
of any form
or
shape,
whether in the likeness
of a male
or
female,
When you look
to the heavens
and see
the sun
and
moon
and stars—
all
the host
of heaven—
do not
be enticed
to bow down
and worship
what
the LORD
your God
has apportioned
to all
the nations
under
heaven.
Yet the LORD
has taken
you
and brought
you
out of the iron
furnace,
out of Egypt,
to be
the people
of His inheritance,
as you are today.
The LORD, however,
was angry
with me
on account of you,
and He swore
that I would not
cross
the Jordan
and enter
the good
land
that
the LORD
your God
is giving
you
as an inheritance.
For I will not
be crossing
the Jordan,
because
I
must die
in this
land.
But you
shall cross over
and take possession of
that
good
land.
Be careful
that you do not
forget
the covenant
of the LORD
your God
that
He made
with you;
do not make
an idol
for yourselves
in the form
of anything
He
has forbidden you.
After
you have
children
and grandchildren
and you have been in the land
a long time,
if you then act corruptly
and make
an idol
in the form
of anything,
doing
evil
in the sight
of the LORD
your God
and provoking Him to anger,
I call heaven
and earth
as witnesses
against you this day
that
you will quickly
perish
from
the land
you
are crossing
the Jordan
to possess.
You will not
live long
upon it,
but
will be utterly destroyed.
Then the LORD
will scatter
you among the peoples,
and only a few of you
will survive
among the nations
to which
the LORD
will drive you.
And there
you will serve
man-made
gods
of wood
and stone,
which
cannot
see
or
hear
or
eat
or
smell.
But if from there
you will seek
the LORD
your God,
you will find
Him
if you seek
Him with all
your heart
and all
your soul.
When you are in distress
and all
these
things
have happened to you,
then in later
days
you will return
to
the LORD
your God
and listen
to His voice.
For
the LORD
your God
is a merciful
God;
He will not
abandon you
or
destroy you
or
forget
the covenant
with your fathers,
which
He swore to them by oath.
Indeed,
ask
now
from one end
of the heavens
to
the other
about the days
that
long
preceded
you,
from
the day
that
God
created
man
on
earth:
Has anything as
great
as this
ever happened
or
been reported?
Or
has any god
tried
to take
as his own
a nation
out of
another nation—
by trials,
signs,
wonders,
and war,
by a strong
hand
and an outstretched
arm,
and by great
terrors—
as
the LORD
your God
did
for you in Egypt,
before your eyes?
You
were shown these things
so that you would know
that
the LORD
is God;
there is no
other
besides Him.
He let you hear
His voice
from
heaven
to discipline you,
and on
earth
He showed
you
His great
fire,
and you heard
His words
out of
the fire.
Because
He loved
your fathers,
He chose
their descendants
after them
and brought you
out of Egypt
by His presence
and great
power,
to drive out
before you
nations
greater
and mightier than you,
and to bring you
into their land
and give it
as your
inheritance,
as it is today.
Know therefore
this day
and take
to
heart
that
the LORD
is God
in heaven
above
and on
the earth
below;
there is no
other.
Keep
His statutes
and commandments,
which
I
am giving you today,
so that
you and your children
after you
may prosper,
and that
you may live long
in
the land
the LORD
your God
is giving
you for all time.”
to which
a manslayer
could flee
after killing
his neighbor
unintentionally
without
prior
malice.
To save his own life,
he could flee
to
one
of these
cities:
Bezer
in the wilderness
on the plateau
belonging to the Reubenites,
Ramoth
in Gilead
belonging to the Gadites,
or Golan
in Bashan
belonging to the Manassites.
These are
the testimonies,
statutes,
and ordinances
Moses
proclaimed
to
them
after they had come out
of Egypt,
while they were in the valley
across
the Jordan
facing
Beth-peor
in the land
of Sihon
king
of the Amorites,
who
lived
in Heshbon
and was defeated
by Moses
and the Israelites
after they had come out
of Egypt.
They took possession of
his land
and the land
of Og
king
of Bashan—
the two
Amorite
kings
who
were across
the Jordan
to the east—
including all
the Arabah
on the east
side
of the Jordan
and as far as
the sea
of the Arabah,
below
the slopes
of Pisgah.