Moses Urges Israel to Obey
Deuteronomy 4, verse 1. “Now, O Israel, listen to the ordinances and judgments I teach you today to observe, that you may live and become numerous and inherit the land the Lord God of your fathers is giving you. Deuteronomy 4, verse 2. You shall not add to the word I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, all that I command you today. Deuteronomy 4, verse 3. Your eyes saw all the things the Lord our God did at Baal Peor; for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor. Deuteronomy 4, verse 4. But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you. Deuteronomy 4, verse 5. “Surely I taught you ordinances and judgments, as the Lord commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land you go to inherit. Deuteronomy 4, verse 6. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the Gentiles, who will hear all these ordinances and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ Deuteronomy 4, verse 7. For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? Deuteronomy 4, verse 8. “Also, what great nation is there that has such ordinances and righteous judgments as are in all this law I set before you today? Deuteronomy 4, verse 9. Only take heed to yourself and diligently guard your soul, lest you forget all the things your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; and you shall teach them to your sons and the sons of your sons, Deuteronomy 4, verse 10. especially concerning the day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of assembly, when the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to Me and let them hear My words, so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and may teach their sons.’ Deuteronomy 4, verse 11. Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, gloom, storm, and a great voice. Deuteronomy 4, verse 12. The Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice. Deuteronomy 4, verse 13. So He declared to you His covenant, the Ten Commandments, which He commanded you to perform; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.
Avoid Idolatry
Deuteronomy 4, verse 14. “Then the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you ordinances and judgments, so you might observe them in the land you are crossing over to inherit. Deuteronomy 4, verse 15. So be careful to guard your souls, for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb on the mountain from the midst of the fire. Deuteronomy 4, verse 16. Do not act lawlessly and make for yourselves a carved form of any image: the likeness of male or female, Deuteronomy 4, verse 17. the likeness of any cattle on the earth, or the likeness of any winged bird that flies under heaven, Deuteronomy 4, verse 18. the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, or the likeness of any fish in the waters beneath the earth. Deuteronomy 4, verse 19. “Also do not act lawlessly when you lift your eyes to heaven and see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the adornment of heaven, and you thus go astray and worship and serve them, which the Lord your God assigned to all the nations under heaven. Deuteronomy 4, verse 20. But the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be His people, an inheritance, as you are this day. Deuteronomy 4, verse 21. Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me about what you said, and swore I would not cross over the Jordan and enter the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. Deuteronomy 4, verse 22. But I am going to die in this land, thus I am not going to cross over this Jordan; but you will cross over and inherit this good land. Deuteronomy 4, verse 23. Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant the Lord your God made with you and make for yourselves a carved form of anything, concerning which the Lord your God forbade you. Deuteronomy 4, verse 24. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. Deuteronomy 4, verse 25. “If you beget sons and the sons of sons and dwell a long time in the land, and act lawlessly and make a carved form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger, Deuteronomy 4, verse 26. I call heaven and earth to witness to you today that you will be utterly destroyed from the land you are crossing over the Jordan to inherit. You will not live long on it, but will be utterly annihilated. Deuteronomy 4, verse 27. Then the Lord will scatter you among all the nations, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will bring you. Deuteronomy 4, verse 28. There you will serve different gods, the works of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, hear, eat, nor smell. Deuteronomy 4, verse 29. But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him when you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul in your tribulation; Deuteronomy 4, verse 30. and all these words will find you at the end of days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice; Deuteronomy 4, verse 31. for the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not forsake you nor annihilate you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers, which He swore to them. Deuteronomy 4, verse 32. “For ask now concerning former days, before your day, in which God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard. Deuteronomy 4, verse 33. Did any people ever hear the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, in the manner you heard, and live? Deuteronomy 4, verse 34. Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, in testing, signs, wonders, and war, and by a mighty hand and outstretched arm, and by great visions, according to all the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? Deuteronomy 4, verse 35. To you it was shown that you might know the Lord your God is God; there is none other besides Him. Deuteronomy 4, verse 36. Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire. Deuteronomy 4, verse 37. Because He loved your fathers, therefore, He chose you their seed after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His great strength, Deuteronomy 4, verse 38. destroying from before your face nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as you have it today. Deuteronomy 4, verse 39. Therefore know today and bear in mind, the Lord your God, this God, is in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other besides Him. Deuteronomy 4, verse 40. You shall therefore guard His ordinances and His commandments I command you today that it may be well with you and with your sons after you, and may prolong your days in the land the Lord your God is giving you to guard all the time.”
Cities of Refuge
Deuteronomy 4, verse 41. Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun, Deuteronomy 4, verse 42. so the manslayer who kills his neighbor without foreknowledge, without hating him previously, might flee into one of these cities and live there: Deuteronomy 4, verse 43. Bezer in the desert on the plateau for Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead for Gad, and Golan in Bashan for Manasseh.
The Law of Moses
Deuteronomy 4, verse 44. Now this is the law Moses set before the sons of Israel. Deuteronomy 4, verse 45. These are the testimonies, the ordinances, and the judgments Moses spoke to the sons of Israel in the desert after they came out of Egypt, Deuteronomy 4, verse 46. beyond the Jordan, in the valley near Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel defeated after they came out of Egypt. Deuteronomy 4, verse 47. So they inherited his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, beyond the Jordan toward the rising of the sun, Deuteronomy 4, verse 48. from Aroer, which is on the bank of the Arnon River, even to Mount Sion (that is, Hermon), Deuteronomy 4, verse 49. and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan toward the rising of the sun, below Asedoth hewn in the rock.