THE FIFTH BOOK OF
MOSES,
called
D E U T E R O N O M Y
Deuteronomy 4 ©
Exhortations to the keeping of God’s commandments without altering them in any wise, v. 1, etc. With the proposal both of judgments inflicted upon the disobedient, 3. And a blessing and promise of the obedient, 4. An account of the giving of the law, 19. A large and earnest prohibition of all kind of idolatry by images and similitudes, with sore threatenings, and comfortable promises, 15. An account of God’s special mercies bestowed upon Israel, which ought to move them to obedience, 32. The appointing of three cities of refuge on this side Jordan, 41. A preface concerning the ensuing repetition of the laws of God, 44.
NOW therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutesa and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.
Ye shall notb add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
Your eyes have seen what the LORD did 1because of Baal-peor:c for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.
But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.
Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.
Keep therefore and do them; for 2this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, 3Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.
Ford what nation is there so great, who hath God so 4nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is 5in 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 6before you this day?
Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul 7diligently, 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 thye sons, and thy sons' sons;
Specially the day that 8thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD 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 mountainf burned with fire unto the 9midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.
And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no 10similitude; 11only ye heard a voice.
And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten 12commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.
¶And the LORD 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 13unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:
Lest ye corrupt 14yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of 15any 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 16in 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, 17which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.
But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the 18iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him 19a peopleg of inheritance, as ye are this day.
20Furthermore the LORD was angryh 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 the LORD thy God 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 the LORD your God, which he 21made with you, and make you a 22graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath 23forbidden thee.
For the LORD thy God is a consumingi24fire, even aj25jealous God.
¶When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have 26remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of 27any thing, and shall do 28evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:
I call 29heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon 30utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall 31utterly be destroyed.
And the LORD shall scatterk you among the nations, and ye shall be left 32few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.
And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’sl hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with 33all thy heart and with all thy soul.
When thou art in tribulation, and 34all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, 35if thou turn 36to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
(For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant 37of thy fathers which he sware unto them.
For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the 38one 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 God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
Or hath God assayedm to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by 39temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by 40war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great 41terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD 42he is God; there is nonen else 43beside him.
44Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and 45upon earth he shewed 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 46their seed after them, and broughto thee out 47in 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 48in thine heart, that the LORD he is God 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 the LORD thy God giveth thee, 49for ever.
¶Thenp Moses 50severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sunrising;
That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him not 51in times past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live:
Namely, 52Bezerq in the wilderness, in the plain country, 53of 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:
54These are the 55testimonies, 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 56Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote,r after they were come forth out of Egypt:
And they possessed his land, and the land of Ogs king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were on this side Jordan toward the sunrising;
From Aroer, which is by the 57bank of the river Arnon, even unto mount 58Sion, which is Hermon,
And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the 59sea of the plain, under the 60springs of Pisgah.