Chapter 4

Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which YHVH ELOHIYM of your fathers giveth you.

Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of YHVH your ELOHIYM which I command you.

Your eyes have seen what YHVH did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, YHVH thy ELOHIYM hath destroyed them from among you.

But ye that did cleave unto YHVH your ELOHIYM are alive every one of you this day.

Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as YHVH my ELOHIYM commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

For what nation is there so great, who hath ELOHIYM so nigh unto them, as YHVH our ELOHIYM is in all things that we call upon him for?

And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;

Specially the day that thou stoodest before YHVH thy ELOHIYM in Horeb, when YHVH said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.

And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.

And YHVH spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.

And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

And YHVH commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that YHVH spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:

Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,

The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:

And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which YHVH thy ELOHIYM hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

But YHVH hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

Furthermore YHVH was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which YHVH thy ELOHIYM giveth thee for an inheritance:

But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.

Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of YHVH your ELOHIYM, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which YHVH thy ELOHIYM hath forbidden thee.

For YHVH thy ELOHIYM is a consuming fire, even a jealous EL.

When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of YHVH thy ELOHIYM, to provoke him to anger:

I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.

And YHVH shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither YHVH shall lead you.

And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

But if from thence thou shalt seek YHVH thy ELOHIYM, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to YHVH thy ELOHIYM, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;

(For YHVH thy ELOHIYM is a merciful EL;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that ELOHIYM created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?

Did ever people hear the voice of ELOHIYM speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?

Or hath ELOHIYM assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that YHVH your ELOHIYM did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that YHVH he is ELOHIYM; there is none else beside him.

Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he showed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.

And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;

To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.

Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that YHVH he is ELOHIYM in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which YHVH thy ELOHIYM giveth thee, for ever.

Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sunrising;

That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbor unawares, and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live:

Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.

And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:

These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt.

On this side Jordan, in the valley over against Bethpeor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they were come forth out of Egypt:

And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were on this side Jordan toward the sunrising;

From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which is Hermon,

And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.