Deuteronomy 4

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BBE WEB

Earnest words urging obedience, and dissuasives from worship of false gods

And now give ear, O Israel, to the laws and the decisions which I am teaching you, and do them; so that life may be yours, and you may go in and take for yourselves the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, gives you.
Make no addition to the orders which I give you, and take nothing from them, but keep the orders of the Lord your God which I give you. You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God which I command you.
Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal-peor: for destruction came from the Lord on all those among you who went after Baal-peor. Your eyes have seen what Yahweh did because of Baal Peor; for all the men who followed Baal Peor, Yahweh your God has destroyed them from the midst of you.
But you who kept faith with the Lord are living, every one of you, today. But you who were faithful to Yahweh your God are all alive this day.
I have been teaching you laws and decisions, as I was ordered to do by the Lord my God, so that you might keep them in the land to which you are going to take it for your heritage. Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you should do so in the midst of the land where you go in to possess it.
So keep these laws and do them; for so will your wisdom and good sense be clear in the eyes of the peoples, who hearing all these laws will say, Truly, this great nation is a wise and far-seeing people. Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who shall hear all these statutes, and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
For what great nation has a god so near to them as the Lord our God is, whenever we are turned to him in prayer? For what great nation is there, that has a god so near to them, as Yahweh our God is whenever we call on him?
And what great nation has laws and decisions so right as all this law which I put before you today? What great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
Only take care, and keep watch on your soul, for fear that the things which your eyes have seen go from your memory and from your heart all the days of your life; but let the knowledge of them be given to your children and to your children's children; Only take heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your children and your children’s children;
That day when you were waiting before the Lord your God in Horeb, and the Lord said to me, Make all the people come together, so that hearing my words they may go in fear of me all the days of their life on earth and give this teaching to their children. the day that you stood before Yahweh your God in Horeb, when Yahweh said to me, “Assemble me the people, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.”
And you came near, waiting at the foot of the mountain; and flames of fire went up from the mountain to the heart of heaven, with dark clouds, and all was black as night. You came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.
And the voice of the Lord came to you out of the fire: the sound of his words came to your ears but you saw no form; there was nothing but a voice. Yahweh spoke to you out of the midst of the fire: you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; you only heard a voice.
And he gave you his agreement with you, the ten rules which you were to keep, which he put in writing on the two stones of the law. He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments; and he wrote them on two tables of stone.
And the Lord gave me orders at that time to make clear to you these laws and decisions, so that you might do them in the land to which you are going, and which is to be your heritage. Yahweh commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that you might do them in the land where you go over to possess it.
So keep watch on yourselves with care; for you saw no form of any sort on the day when the voice of the Lord came to you in Horeb out of the heart of the fire: Take therefore good heed to yourselves; for you saw no kind of form on the day that Yahweh spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire.
So that you may not be turned to evil ways and make for yourselves an image in the form of any living thing, male or female, Lest you corrupt yourselves, and make yourself an engraved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
Or any beast of the earth, or winged bird of the air, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky,
Or of anything which goes flat on the earth, or any fish in the water under the earth. the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth;
And when your eyes are lifted up to heaven, and you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the army of heaven, do not let yourselves be moved to give them worship, or become the servants of what the Lord has given equally to all peoples under heaven. and lest you lift up your eyes to the sky, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, even all the army of the sky, you are drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which Yahweh your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole sky.
But the Lord has taken you out of the flaming fire, out of Egypt, to be to him the people of his heritage, as you are today. But Yahweh has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as at this day.
And the Lord was angry with me because of you, and made an oath that I was not to go over Jordan into the good land which the Lord is giving you for your heritage: Furthermore Yahweh was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in to that good land, which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance:
But death is to come to me in this land, I may not go over Jordan: but you will go over and take that good land for your heritage. but I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan; but you shall go over, and possess that good land.
Take care that you do not let the agreement of the Lord your God, which he has made with you, go out of your mind, or make for yourselves images of any sort, against the orders which the Lord your God has given you. Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he made with you, and make you an engraved image in the form of anything which Yahweh your God has forbidden you.

Warnings against disobedience, and promises of mercy

For the Lord your God is an all-burning fire, and he will not let the honour which is his be given to any other. For Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.
If, when you have had children and children's children, and have been living a long time in the land, you are turned to evil ways, and make an image of any sort, and do evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, moving him to wrath: When you shall father children, and children’s children, and you shall have been long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make an engraved image in the form of anything, and shall do that which is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, to provoke him to anger;
May heaven and earth be my witnesses against you today, that destruction will quickly overtake you, cutting you off from that land which you are going over Jordan to take; your days will not be long in that land, but you will come to a complete end. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto you go over the Jordan to possess it; you shall not prolong your days on it, but shall utterly be destroyed.
And the Lord will send you wandering among the peoples; only a small band of you will be kept from death among the nations where the Lord will send you. Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be left few in number among the nations, where Yahweh shall lead you away.
There you will be the servants of gods, made by men's hands, of wood and stone, having no power of seeing or hearing or taking food or smelling. There you shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
But if in those lands you are turned again to the Lord your God, searching for him with all your heart and soul, he will not keep himself from you. But from there you shall seek Yahweh your God, and you shall find him, when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
When you are in trouble and all these things have come on you, if, in the future, you are turned again to the Lord your God, and give ear to his voice: When you are in oppression, and all these things have come on you, in the latter days you shall return to Yahweh your God, and listen to his voice:
Because the Lord your God is a God of mercy, he will not take away his help from you or let destruction overtake you, or be false to the agreement which he made by an oath with your fathers. for Yahweh your God is a merciful God; he will not fail you, neither destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which he swore to them.
Give thought now to the days which are past, before your time, from the day when God first gave life to man on the earth, and searching from one end of heaven to the other, see if such a great thing as this has ever been, or if anything like it has been talked of in story. For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and from the one end of the sky to the other, whether there has been anything as this great thing is, or has been heard like it?
Has any people ever gone on living after hearing the voice of God out of the heart of the fire as you did? Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live?
Has God ever before taken a nation for himself from out of another nation, by punishments and signs and wonders, by war and by a strong hand and a stretched-out arm and great acts of wonder and fear, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes? Or has God tried to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
All this he let you see, so that you might be certain that the Lord is God and there is no other. It was shown to you so that you might know that Yahweh is God. There is no one else besides him.
Out of heaven itself his voice came to you, teaching you; and on earth he let you see his great fire; and his words came to your ears out of the heart of the fire. Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, that he might instruct you: and on earth he made you to see his great fire; and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.
And because of his love for your fathers, he took their seed and made it his, and he himself, present among you, took you out of Egypt by his great power; Because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought you out with his presence, with his great power, out of Egypt;
Driving out before you nations greater and stronger than you, to take you into their land and give it to you for your heritage, as at this day. to drive out nations from before you greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as at this day.
So today be certain, and keep the knowledge deep in your hearts, that the Lord is God, in heaven on high and here on earth; there is no other God. Know therefore this day, and lay it to your heart, that Yahweh he is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is none else.
Then keep his laws and his orders which I give you today, so that it may be well for you and for your children after you, and that your lives may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for ever. You shall keep his statutes, and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land, which Yahweh your God gives you, forever.

Cities of refuge given

Then Moses had three towns marked out on the far side of Jordan looking to the east; Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise;
To which anyone causing the death of his neighbour in error and not through hate, might go in flight; so that in one of these towns he might be kept from death: that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unawares, and didn’t hate him in time past; and that fleeing to one of these cities he might live:
The names of the towns were Bezer in the waste land, in the table-land, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for Manasseh. Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, for the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.
This is the law which Moses put before the children of Israel: This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:
These are the rules and the laws and the decisions which Moses gave to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt; these are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spoke to the children of Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt,
On the far side of Jordan, in the valley facing Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who was ruling in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel overcame after they had come out of Egypt: beyond the Jordan, in the valley over against Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel struck, when they came forth out of Egypt.
And they took his land for a heritage, and the land of Og, king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, whose lands were on the other side of Jordan to the east; They took his land in possession, and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise;
From Aroer on the edge of the valley of the Arnon as far as Mount Sion, which is Hermon, from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, even to Mount Sion (the same is Hermon),
And all the Arabah on the far side of Jordan to the east, as far as the sea of the Arabah under the slopes of Pisgah. and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, even to the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.
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