Deuteronomy 4-6

New American Standard Bible

Israel Urged to Obey God’s Law

4 “Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which ^(A)I am teaching you to perform, so that ^(B)you will live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. ^2 (C)You shall not add to the word which ^(D)I am commanding you, nor take away from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I am commanding you. ^3 (E)Your eyes have seen what the Lord has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who followed Baal-peor, the Lord your God has destroyed ^[a]them from among you. ⁴ But you who clung to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you.

⁵ “See, I have taught you statutes and judgments ^(F)just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you are to do these things in the land where you are entering to take possession of it. ⁶ So keep and do them, ^(G)for that is your 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 ^(H)what great nation is there that has a god ^(I)so near to it as is the Lord our God ^(J)whenever we call on Him? ⁸ Or what great nation is there that has ^(K)statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole Law which I am setting before you today?

⁹ “Only ^(L)be careful for yourself and watch over your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart ^(M)all the days of your life; but ^(N)make them known to your sons and your grandsons. ¹⁰ Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may have them hear My words ^(O)so that they may learn to ^[b]fear Me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may ^(P)teach their children.’ ¹¹ You came forward and stood at the foot of the mountain, ^(Q)and the mountain was burning with fire to the heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud, and thick gloom. ¹² Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—there was only a voice. ¹³ So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, ^(R)the Ten ^[c]Commandments; and ^(S)He wrote them on two tablets of stone. ¹⁴ The Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, so that you would perform them in the land where you are going over to take possession of it.

¹⁵ “So ^(T)be very careful ^[d]yourselves, since you did not see any ^(U)form on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, ¹⁶ so that you do not ^(V)act corruptly and ^(W)make a carved image for yourselves in the form of any figure, a representation of male or female, ¹⁷ a representation of any animal that is on the earth, a representation of ^(X)any winged bird that flies in the sky, ¹⁸ a representation of anything that crawls on the ground, or a representation of any fish that is in the water below the earth. ¹⁹ And be careful not to raise your eyes to heaven and look at the sun, the moon, and the stars, ^(Y)all the heavenly ^[e]lights, ^(Z)and allow yourself to be drawn away and worship them and serve them, things which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. ²⁰ But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of ^(AA)the iron furnace, from Egypt, to ^(AB)be a people of His own possession, as today.

²¹ “^(AC)Now the Lord was angry with me on your account, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. ²² For ^(AD)I am going to die in this land; I am not crossing the Jordan, but you are going to cross, and you will take possession of this ^(AE)good land. ²³ So be careful ^[f]yourselves, ^(AF)that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and ^(AG)make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you. ²⁴ For the Lord your God is a ^(AH)consuming fire, a ^(AI)jealous God.

²⁵ “When you father children and have ^[g]grandchildren, and you grow old in the land, and you ^(AJ)act corruptly, and ^(AK)make ^[h]an idol in the form of anything, and ^(AL)do what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, ²⁶ I ^(AM)call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that you will ^(AN)certainly perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to take possession of it. You will not ^[i]live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. ²⁷ The Lord will ^(AO)scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord drives you. ^28 (AP)There you will serve gods, the work of human hands, ^(AQ)wood and stone, ^(AR)which neither see nor hear, nor eat nor smell anything. ^29 (AS)But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him ^(AT)with all your heart and all your soul. ³⁰ When you ^(AU)are in distress and all these things happen to you, ^(AV)in the latter days ^(AW)you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. ³¹ For the Lord your God is a ^(AX)compassionate God; ^(AY)He will not abandon you nor ^(AZ)destroy you, nor ^(BA)forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.

³² “Indeed, ^(BB)ask now about the earlier days that were ^[j]before your time, since the ^(BC)day that God created ^[k]mankind on the earth, and inquire ^(BD)from one end of the heavens to the other. ^(BE)Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it? ^33 (BF)Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived? ^34 (BG)Or has a god ventured to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation ^(BH)by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, ^(BI)by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, ^[l]just as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵ You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord, He is God; ^(BJ)there is no other besides Him. ^36 (BK)Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice ^(BL)to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire. ^37 (BM)Because He loved your fathers, He chose ^[m]their descendants after them. And He ^[n](BN)personally brought you from Egypt by His great power, ³⁸ driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and ^(BO)to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is today. ³⁹ Therefore know today, and take it to your heart, that ^(BP)the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. ^40 (BQ)So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am ^[o]giving you today, so that ^(BR)it may go well for you and for your children after you, and ^(BS)that you may ^[p]live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

^41 (BT)Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the ^[q]east, ⁴² for ^[r]one to flee there who unintentionally killed his neighbor, without having hatred for him in time past; and by fleeing to one of these cities he might live: ^43 (BU)Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

⁴⁴ Now this is the Law which Moses set before the sons of Israel; ⁴⁵ these are the testimonies and the statutes, and the ordinances which Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, when they came out of Egypt, ⁴⁶ across the Jordan, in the valley ^(BV)opposite Beth-peor, in the land of ^(BW)Sihon king of the Amorites who lived in Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel ^[s]defeated when they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷ And they took possession of his land and the land of ^(BX)Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were across the Jordan to the ^[t]east, ⁴⁸ from ^(BY)Aroer, which is on the edge of the ^[u]Valley of Arnon, even as far as ^(BZ)Mount Sion (that is, Hermon), ⁴⁹ with all the Arabah across the Jordan to the east, even as far as the sea of the Arabah, ^[v]at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.

The Ten Commandments Repeated

5 Now Moses summoned all Israel and said to them:

“Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances which I am speaking today ^[w]for you to hear, so that you may learn them and be careful to do them. ² The Lord our God made ^(CA)a covenant with us at Horeb. ^3 (CB)The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, all ^[x]of us who are alive here today. ⁴ The Lord spoke with you ^(CC)face to face at the mountain ^(CD)from the midst of the fire, ⁵ while ^(CE)I was standing between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; ^(CF)for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up on the mountain. ^[y]He said,

⁶ ‘^(CG)I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of ^[z]slavery.

⁷ ‘^(CH)You shall have no other gods besides Me.

⁸ ‘^(CI)You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any ^[aa]likeness of what is in heaven above ^[ab]or on the earth beneath ^[ac]or in the water under the earth. ⁹ You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, ^(CJ)inflicting the ^[ad]punishment of the fathers on the children, ^[ae]even on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, ¹⁰ but ^(CK)showing ^[af]favor to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

¹¹ ‘^(CL)You shall not take the name of the Lord your God ^[ag]in vain, for the Lord will not ^[ah]leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain.

¹² ‘^(CM)Keep the Sabbath day to treat it as holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. ¹³ For six days you ^[ai]shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁴ but ^(CN)the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; you shall not do any work that day, you or your son or your daughter, or your male slave or your female slave, or your ox, your donkey, or any of your cattle, or your ^[aj]resident who ^[ak]stays with you, so that your male slave and your female slave may rest as well as you. ^15 (CO)And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to ^[al]celebrate the Sabbath day.

¹⁶ ‘^(CP)Honor your father and your mother, just as the Lord your God has commanded you, ^(CQ)so that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well for you on the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

¹⁷ ‘^(CR)You shall not murder.

¹⁸ ‘^(CS)You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁹ ‘^(CT)You shall not steal.

²⁰ ‘^(CU)You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

²¹ ‘^(CV)You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male slave or his female slave, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’

Moses Interceded

²² “These words the Lord spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, from the cloud, and from the thick darkness, with a great voice, and He added nothing more. ^(CW)He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. ²³ And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. ²⁴ You said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with mankind, yet he lives. ^25 (CX)Now then, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die! ²⁶ For ^(CY)who is there of ^[am]humanity who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? ^27 [an]Go near and listen to everything that the Lord our God says; then speak to us everything that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will listen and do it.’

²⁸ “Now the Lord heard the sound of your words when you spoke to me, ^(CZ)and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the sound of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. ^29 (DA)If only they had such a heart in them, to fear Me and ^(DB)keep all My commandments always, so that ^(DC)it would go well with them and with their sons forever! ³⁰ Go, say to them, “Return to your tents.” ^31 (DD)But as for you, stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which you shall teach them, so that they may ^[ao]follow them in the land which I am giving them to possess.’ ³² So you shall be careful to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; ^(DE)you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. ^33 (DF)You shall walk ^[ap]entirely in the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, ^(DG)so that you may live and that it may be well for you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.

Obey God and Prosper

6 “Now this is the commandment, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, so that you may do them in the land where you are going over to take possession of it, ² so that you, your son, and your grandson will ^(DH)fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, ^(DI)all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. ³ Now Israel, you shall listen and be careful to do them, so that ^(DJ)it may go well for you and that you may increase greatly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has ^[aq]promised you, in ^(DK)a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴ “^(DL)Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the ^(DM)Lord is one! ⁵ And ^(DN)you shall love the Lord your God ^(DO)with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ^6 (DP)These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. ⁷ And ^(DQ)you shall repeat them diligently to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. ^8 (DR)You shall also tie them as a ^[ar]sign to your ^[as]hand, and they shall be as ^[at]frontlets ^[au]on your forehead. ^9 (DS)You shall also write them on the ^[av]doorposts of your house and on your gates.

¹⁰ “Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land that He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you, ^(DT)great and splendid cities which you did not build, ¹¹ and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and carved cisterns which you did not carve out, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and ^(DU)you eat and are satisfied, ¹² be ^[aw]careful that ^(DV)you do not forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of ^[ax]slavery. ^13 (DW)You shall ^[ay]fear only the Lord your God; and you shall ^[az]worship Him and ^(DX)swear by His name. ^14 (DY)You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, ¹⁵ for the Lord your God who is in the midst of you is a ^(DZ)jealous God; so follow Him, or else the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will ^[ba]wipe you off the face of the earth.

¹⁶ “^(EA)You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, ^(EB)as you tested Him at Massah. ^17 (EC)You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His provisions and His statutes which He has commanded you. ¹⁸ You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, so that ^(ED)it may go well for you and that you may go in and take possession of the good land which the Lord swore to give your fathers, ¹⁹ by driving out all your enemies from you, as the Lord has spoken.

²⁰ “^(EE)When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What do the provisions and the statutes and the judgments mean which the Lord our God commanded you?’ ²¹ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²² Moreover, the Lord provided great and terrible signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household; ²³ He brought us out of there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.’ ²⁴ So the Lord commanded us to ^[bb]follow all these statutes, ^(EF)to fear the Lord our God for our own good always and ^(EG)for our survival, as it is today. ²⁵ And ^(EH)it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to ^[bc]follow all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us.