Deuteronomy 4:6-9:1

English Standard Version

^6 (A)Keep them and do them, for ^(B)that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ ⁷ For ^(C)what great nation is there that has ^(D)a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? ⁸ And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so ^(E)righteous as all this law that I set before you today?

^9 (F)“Only take care, and ^(G)keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. ^(H)Make them known to your children and your children's children— ¹⁰ how on ^(I)the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ^(J)‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, ^(K)so that they may learn to fear ^(L)me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ ¹¹ And ^(M)you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while ^(N)the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. ¹² Then ^(O)the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, ^(P)but saw no form; ^(Q)there was only a voice. ^13 (R)And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, ^(S)the Ten Commandments,^{[a] (T)}and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. ¹⁴ And ^(U)the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.

Idolatry Forbidden

^15 (V)“Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since ^(W)you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, ¹⁶ beware ^(X)lest you act corruptly ^(Y)by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, ^(Z)the likeness of male or female, ¹⁷ the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, ¹⁸ the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. ¹⁹ And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see ^(AA)the sun and the moon and the stars, ^(AB)all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. ²⁰ But the Lord has taken you and ^(AC)brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, ^(AD)to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day. ²¹ Furthermore, ^(AE)the Lord was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. ²² For I must die in this land; ^(AF)I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of ^(AG)that good land. ^23 (AH)Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and ^(AI)make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. ²⁴ For ^(AJ)the Lord your God is a consuming fire, ^(AK)a jealous God.

²⁵ “When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, ^(AL)if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and ^(AM)by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger, ²⁶ I ^(AN)call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. ²⁷ And the Lord ^(AO)will scatter you among the peoples, ^(AP)and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. ²⁸ And ^(AQ)there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, ^(AR)that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. ^29 (AS)But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. ³⁰ When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you ^(AT)in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. ³¹ For the Lord your God is ^(AU)a merciful God. ^(AV)He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.

The Lord Alone Is God

³² “For ^(AW)ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. ^33 (AX)Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? ³⁴ Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, ^(AY)by signs, by wonders, and ^(AZ)by war, ^(BA)by a mighty hand and ^(BB)an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵ To you it was shown, ^(BC)that you might know that the Lord is God; ^(BD)there is no other besides him. ^36 (BE)Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and ^(BF)you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. ³⁷ And because ^(BG)he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them^[b] and brought you out of Egypt ^(BH)with his own presence, by his great power, ^38 (BI)driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, ³⁹ know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that ^(BJ)the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; ^(BK)there is no other. ^40 (BL)Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, ^(BM)that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

Cities of Refuge

⁴¹ Then Moses ^(BN)set apart three cities in the east beyond the Jordan, ⁴² that ^(BO)the manslayer might flee there, anyone who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without being at enmity with him in time past; he may flee to one of these cities and save his life: ^43 (BP)Bezer in the wilderness on the ^(BQ)tableland for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

Introduction to the Law

⁴⁴ This is the law that Moses set before the people of Israel. ⁴⁵ These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the rules, which Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt, ⁴⁶ beyond the Jordan ^(BR)in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, ^(BS)whom Moses and the people of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷ And they took possession of his land and the land ^(BT)of Og, the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who lived to the east beyond the Jordan; ^48 (BU)from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, as far as Mount ^(BV)Sirion^[c] (that is, ^(BW)Hermon), ⁴⁹ together with all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as ^(BX)the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.

The Ten Commandments

5 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. ^2 (BY)The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. ^3 (BZ)Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. ⁴ The Lord spoke with you ^(CA)face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, ^5 (CB)while I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord. For ^(CC)you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. He said:

^6 (CD)“‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

⁷ “‘You shall have no other gods before^[d] me.

⁸ “‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁹ You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ¹⁰ but showing steadfast love to ^(CE)thousands^[e] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

¹¹ “‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

¹² “‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. ¹³ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁴ but ^(CF)the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, ^(CG)that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. ^15 (CH)You shall remember that you were a slave^[f] in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there ^(CI)with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

¹⁶ “‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, ^(CJ)that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

^17 (CK)“‘You shall not murder.^[g]

^18 (CL)“‘And you shall not commit adultery.

¹⁹ “‘And you shall not steal.

²⁰ “‘And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

²¹ “‘And you shall not covet your neighbor's wife. And you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.’

²² “These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly ^(CM)at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And ^(CN)he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. ²³ And ^(CO)as soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders. ²⁴ And you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and ^(CP)greatness, and ^(CQ)we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man ^(CR)still live. ²⁵ Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. ^(CS)If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die. ^26 (CT)For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived? ²⁷ Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say, and ^(CU)speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’

²⁸ “And the Lord heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. ^(CV)They are right in all that they have spoken. ^29 (CW)Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, ^(CX)that it might go well with them and with their descendants^[h] forever! ³⁰ Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.” ³¹ But you, stand here by me, and ^(CY)I will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’ ³² You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. ^(CZ)You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. ^33 (DA)You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and ^(DB)that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.

The Greatest Commandment

6 “Now this is ^(DC)the commandment—the statutes and the rules^[i]—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, ² that ^(DD)you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and ^(DE)that your days may be long. ³ Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, ^(DF)as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴ “Hear, O Israel: ^(DG)The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^{[j] 5} You ^(DH)shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶ And ^(DI)these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ^7 (DJ)You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ^8 (DK)You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ^9 (DL)You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

¹⁰ “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities ^(DM)that you did not build, ¹¹ and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, ^12 (DN)then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹³ It is ^(DO)the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and ^(DP)by his name you shall swear. ¹⁴ You shall not ^(DQ)go after other gods, ^(DR)the gods of the peoples who are around you— ¹⁵ for ^(DS)the Lord your God in your midst ^(DT)is a jealous God—^(DU)lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

^16 (DV)“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, ^(DW)as you tested him at Massah. ¹⁷ You shall ^(DX)diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. ^18 (DY)And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers ^19 (DZ)by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.

^20 (EA)“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ ²¹ then you shall say to your son, ^(EB)‘We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²² And ^(EC)the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. ²³ And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. ²⁴ And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, ^(ED)to fear the Lord our God, ^(EE)for our good always, that ^(EF)he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. ²⁵ And ^(EG)it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’

A Chosen People

7 “When the ^(EH)Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, ^(EI)the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations ^(EJ)more numerous and mightier than you, ^2 (EK)and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must ^(EL)devote them to complete destruction.^{[k] (EM)}You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. ^3 (EN)You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, ⁴ for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. ^(EO)Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you ^(EP)quickly. ⁵ But thus shall you deal with them: ^(EQ)you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their ^(ER)pillars and chop down their ^(ES)Asherim and ^(ET)burn their carved images with fire.

⁶ “For ^(EU)you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be ^(EV)a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. ⁷ It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, ⁸ but ^(EW)it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping ^(EX)the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹ Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, ^(EY)the faithful God ^(EZ)who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, ¹⁰ and ^(FA)repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. ^(FB)He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. ^11 (FC)You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.

^12 (FD)“And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you ^(FE)the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. ¹³ He will ^(FF)love you, bless you, and multiply you. ^(FG)He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. ¹⁴ You shall be blessed above all peoples. ^(FH)There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. ¹⁵ And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil ^(FI)diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. ¹⁶ And ^(FJ)you shall consume all the peoples that the Lord your God will give over to you. ^(FK)Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be ^(FL)a snare to you.

¹⁷ “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ ^18 (FM)you shall not be afraid of them but you shall ^(FN)remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, ¹⁹ the great trials that your eyes saw, ^(FO)the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. ²⁰ Moreover, ^(FP)the Lord your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. ²¹ You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is ^(FQ)in your midst, ^(FR)a great and awesome God. ^22 (FS)The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once,^[l] lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. ^23 (FT)But the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. ²⁴ And ^(FU)he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall ^(FV)make their name perish from under heaven. ^(FW)No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. ²⁵ The carved images of their gods ^(FX)you shall burn with fire. You ^(FY)shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ^(FZ)ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. ²⁶ And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction^[m] like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, ^(GA)for it is devoted to destruction.

Remember the Lord Your God

8 “The whole commandment that I command you today ^(GB)you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. ² And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you ^(GC)these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, ^(GD)testing you ^(GE)to know what was in your heart, ^(GF)whether you would keep his commandments or not. ³ And he humbled you and ^(GG)let you hunger and ^(GH)fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that ^(GI)man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word^[n] that comes from the mouth of the Lord. ^4 (GJ)Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. ⁵ Know then in your heart that, ^(GK)as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. ⁶ So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. ⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, ^(GL)a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, ⁸ a land of wheat and barley, ^(GM)of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, ⁹ a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. ¹⁰ And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

¹¹ “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, ^12 (GN)lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, ^14 (GO)then your heart be lifted up, and you ^(GP)forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, ¹⁵ who ^(GQ)led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, ^(GR)with its fiery serpents and scorpions ^(GS)and thirsty ground where there was no water, ^(GT)who brought you water out of the flinty rock, ¹⁶ who fed you in the wilderness with ^(GU)manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, ^(GV)to do you good in the end. ¹⁷ Beware ^(GW)lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ ¹⁸ You shall remember the Lord your God, for ^(GX)it is he who gives you power to get wealth, ^(GY)that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. ¹⁹ And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, ^(GZ)I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. ²⁰ Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, ^(HA)so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

Not Because of Righteousness

9 “Hear, O Israel: you are ^(HB)to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations ^(HC)greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven,