Deuteronomy 4
4
Moses Commands Obedience
1“And now, O Israel, listen to #See Lev. 18:4 the statutes and the rules#4:1 Or just decrees; also verses 5, 8, 14, 45 that I am teaching you, and do them, #ch. 6:24; 8:1that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2#ch. 12:32; [Josh. 1:7; Prov. 30:6; Rev. 22:18, 19]You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. 3Your eyes have seen what the Lord did #See Num. 23:28; 25:3-9at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. 4But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. 5See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 6#ch. 29:9 Keep them and do them, for #Job 28:28; Ps. 111:10; Prov. 1:7; 9:10that 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.’ 7For #2 Sam. 7:23 what great nation is there that has #Ps. 34:18; 46:1; 145:18; 148:14; [James 4:8]a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? 8And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so #Rom. 7:12righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
9 # ver. 23 “Only take care, and #[Prov. 4:23] 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. #ch. 6:7; 11:19; 32:46; Gen. 18:19; See Ps. 78:4-6Make them known to your children and your children’s children— 10how on #Ex. 19:9, 16; Heb. 12:18, 19 the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, #ch. 31:12 ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, #ch. 14:23; 17:19 so that they may learn to fear #ch. 12:1; 31:13; 1 Kgs. 8:40me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ 11And #Ex. 19:17 you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while #ch. 5:22, 23; Ex. 19:18; 20:18, 21; [Ex. 24:16, 17]the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. 12Then #ver. 33, 36; ch. 5:4, 22; Ex. 20:1, 19 the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, #ver. 15 but saw no form; #Ex. 20:22; [1 Kgs. 19:12; Job 4:16]there was only a voice. 13#ch. 9:9, 11 And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, #Ex. 34:28 the Ten Commandments,#4:13 Hebrew the ten words #See Ex. 24:12and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14And #See Ex. 21–23the 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 #
Josh. 23:11 “Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since #ver. 12you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16beware #ver. 25 lest you act corruptly #ver. 23; ch. 5:8; Ex. 20:4; [Acts 17:29] by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, #Rom. 1:23the likeness of male or female, 17the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. 19And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see #ch. 17:3; Job 31:26-28 the sun and the moon and the stars, #2 Kgs. 17:16; 21:3; [Gen. 2:1]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. 20But the Lord has taken you and #1 Kgs. 8:51; Jer. 11:4 brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, #ch. 9:29; 32:9to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day. 21Furthermore, #See ch. 1:37the 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. 22For I must die in this land; #ch. 3:27 I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of #ch. 3:25that good land. 23#ver. 9 Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and #ch. 5:8; Ex. 20:4; [Acts 17:29]make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. 24For #Ex. 24:17; Cited Heb. 12:29; [ch. 9:3; Isa. 10:16-18; 29:6; 30:27, 30; Zeph. 1:18] the Lord your God is a consuming fire, #[Isa. 42:8]; See Ex. 20:5a jealous God.
25“When you father children and children’s children, and have grown old in the land, #ver. 16 if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and #ch. 9:18; 2 Kgs. 17:17by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger, 26I #ch. 30:18, 19; 31:28; 32:1; Isa. 1:2; Jer. 2:12; 6:19; Mic. 6:2call 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. 27And the Lord #See Lev. 26:33 will scatter you among the peoples, #ch. 28:62and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. 28And #ch. 28:36, 64; Jer. 16:13 there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, #Ps. 115:4-7; 135:15-17; Isa. 44:9; 46:7that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29#ch. 30:2, 3; Lev. 26:40-42; 2 Chr. 15:4; Neh. 1:9; Isa. 55:6, 7; Jer. 29:13, 14But 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. 30When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you #See Gen. 49:1in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. 31For the Lord your God is #Ex. 34:6; 2 Chr. 30:9; Neh. 9:31; Jonah 4:2 a merciful God. #ch. 31:6, 8; Josh. 1:5; 1 Chr. 28:20He 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 #Job 8:8ask 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#ver. 12; ch. 5:24, 26; Ex. 3:6; 19:21; [Gen. 32:30; Ex. 24:11; 33:20, 23; Judg. 6:22, 23; 13:22]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? 34Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, #ch. 26:8; Ex. 7:3; Jer. 32:21 by signs, by wonders, and #See Ex. 15:3-10 by war, #ch. 7:8; 11:2; 26:8; 34:12 by a mighty hand and #Ex. 6:6; Jer. 32:21an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 35To you it was shown, #[Ex. 10:2] that you might know that the Lord is God; #ver. 39; 1 Sam. 2:2; 2 Sam. 22:32; Isa. 45:5, 18, 22; 46:9; Cited Mark 12:32there is no other besides him. 36#Ex. 19:9, 19; Neh. 9:13 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 #[See ver. 33 above]you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. 37And because #ch. 10:15 he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them#4:37 Hebrew his offspring after him and brought you out of Egypt #Ex. 33:14; [Isa. 63:9]with his own presence, by his great power, 38#ch. 7:1; 11:23; Ex. 23:27, 28; 34:24; See ch. 9:1-5driving 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, 39know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that #Josh. 2:11; 1 Kgs. 8:23; 2 Chr. 20:6; Eccles. 5:2 the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; #1 Sam. 2:2; 2 Sam. 22:32; Isa. 45:5, 18, 22; 46:9; Cited Mark 12:32there is no other. 40#Lev. 22:31 Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, #ch. 5:16; 6:2, 3; 11:9; 12:25, 28; 22:7; [Prov. 3:1, 2; 10:27]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
41Then Moses #Num. 35:6, 14set apart three cities in the east beyond the Jordan, 42that #ch. 19:4the 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#Josh. 20:8; 21:36; 1 Chr. 6:78 Bezer in the wilderness on the #See ch. 3:10tableland for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
Introduction to the Law
44This is the law that Moses set before the people of Israel. 45These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the rules, which Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt, 46beyond the Jordan #ch. 3:29 in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, #ch. 1:4; Num. 21:24whom Moses and the people of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt. 47And they took possession of his land and the land #ch. 3:3, 4; Num. 21:33, 35of Og, the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who lived to the east beyond the Jordan; 48#See ch. 2:36 from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, as far as Mount #[ch. 3:9] Sirion#4:48 Syriac; Hebrew Sion (that is, #See ch. 3:9Hermon), 49together with all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as #See ch. 3:17the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.
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Deuteronomy 4: ESV
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