Deuteronomy 4 - New International Version (NIV)

Obedience Commanded

4 Now, Israel, hear the decrees^(A) and laws I am about to teach^(B) you. Follow them so that you may live^(C) and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. ² Do not add^(D) to what I command you and do not subtract^(E) from it, but keep^(F) the commands^(G) of the Lord your God that I give you.

³ You saw with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal Peor.^(H) The Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, ⁴ but all of you who held fast to the Lord your God are still alive today.

⁵ See, I have taught^(I) you decrees and laws^(J) as the Lord my God commanded^(K) me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering^(L) to take possession of it. ⁶ Observe^(M) them carefully, for this will show your wisdom^(N) and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”^{(O) 7} What other nation is so great^(P) as to have their gods near^(Q) them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? ⁸ And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws^(R) as this body of laws I am setting before you today?

⁹ Only be careful,^(S) and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach^(T) them to your children^(U) and to their children after them. ¹⁰ Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb,^(V) when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn^(W) to revere^(X) me as long as they live in the land^(Y) and may teach^(Z) them to their children.” ¹¹ You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain^(AA) while it blazed with fire^(AB) to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.^{(AC) 12} Then the Lord spoke^(AD) to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form;^(AE) there was only a voice.^{(AF) 13} He declared to you his covenant,^(AG) the Ten Commandments,^(AH) which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets. ¹⁴ And the Lord directed me at that time to teach you the decrees and laws^(AI) you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.

Idolatry Forbidden

¹⁵ You saw no form^(AJ) of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb^(AK) out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully,^{(AL) 16} so that you do not become corrupt^(AM) and make for yourselves an idol,^(AN) an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, ¹⁷ or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air,^{(AO) 18} or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. ¹⁹ And when you look up to the sky and see the sun,^(AP) the moon and the stars^(AQ)—all the heavenly array^(AR)—do not be enticed^(AS) into bowing down to them and worshiping^(AT) things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. ²⁰ But as for you, the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace,^(AU) out of Egypt,^(AV) to be the people of his inheritance,^(AW) as you now are.

²¹ The Lord was angry with me^(AX) because of you, and he solemnly swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance. ²² I will die in this land;^(AY) I will not cross the Jordan; but you are about to cross over and take possession of that good land.^{(AZ) 23} Be careful not to forget the covenant^(BA) of the Lord your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol^(BB) in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. ²⁴ For the Lord your God is a consuming fire,^(BC) a jealous God.^(BD)

²⁵ After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt^(BE) and make any kind of idol,^(BF) doing evil^(BG) in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger, ²⁶ I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses^(BH) against you^(BI) this day that you will quickly perish^(BJ) from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed. ²⁷ The Lord will scatter^(BK) you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive^(BL) among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. ²⁸ There you will worship man-made gods^(BM) of wood and stone,^(BN) which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.^{(BO) 29} But if from there you seek^(BP) the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart^(BQ) and with all your soul.^{(BR) 30} When you are in distress^(BS) and all these things have happened to you, then in later days^(BT) you will return^(BU) to the Lord your God and obey him. ³¹ For the Lord your God is a merciful^(BV) God; he will not abandon^(BW) or destroy^(BX) you or forget^(BY) the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.

The Lord Is God

³² Ask^(BZ) now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth;^(CA) ask from one end of the heavens to the other.^(CB) Has anything so great^(CC) as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? ³³ Has any other people heard the voice of God^[a] speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived?^{(CD) 34} Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation,^(CE) by testings,^(CF) by signs^(CG) and wonders,^(CH) by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm,^(CI) or by great and awesome deeds,^(CJ) like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

³⁵ You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other.^{(CK) 36} From heaven he made you hear his voice^(CL) to discipline^(CM) you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. ³⁷ Because he loved^(CN) your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength,^{(CO) 38} to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance,^(CP) as it is today.

³⁹ Acknowledge^(CQ) and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.^{(CR) 40} Keep^(CS) his decrees and commands,^(CT) which I am giving you today, so that it may go well^(CU) with you and your children after you and that you may live long^(CV) in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time.

Cities of Refuge^(CW)

⁴¹ Then Moses set aside three cities east of the Jordan, ⁴² to which anyone who had killed a person could flee if they had unintentionally^(CX) killed a neighbor without malice aforethought. They could flee into one of these cities and save their life. ⁴³ The cities were these: Bezer in the wilderness plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth^(CY) in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.

Introduction to the Law

⁴⁴ This is the law Moses set before the Israelites. ⁴⁵ These are the stipulations, decrees and laws Moses gave them when they came out of Egypt ⁴⁶ and were in the valley near Beth Peor east of the Jordan, in the land of Sihon^(CZ) king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites as they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷ They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan. ⁴⁸ This land extended from Aroer^(DA) on the rim of the Arnon Gorge to Mount Sirion^[b](DB) (that is, Hermon^(DC)), ⁴⁹ and included all the Arabah east of the Jordan, as far as the Dead Sea,^[c] below the slopes of Pisgah.

Footnotes

1. Deuteronomy 4:33 Or of a god
2. Deuteronomy 4:48 Syriac (see also 3:9); Hebrew Siyon
3. Deuteronomy 4:49 Hebrew the Sea of the Arabah

Cross references

1. Deuteronomy 4:1 : S Lev 18:4
2. Deuteronomy 4:1 : Dt 1:3
3. Deuteronomy 4:1 : S Lev 18:5; Dt 30:15-20; S Ro 10:5
4. Deuteronomy 4:2 : Dt 12:32; Jos 1:7; Pr 30:6; Rev 22:18-19
5. Deuteronomy 4:2 : Jer 26:2
6. Deuteronomy 4:2 : S Lev 22:31
7. Deuteronomy 4:2 : Dt 10:12-13; Ecc 12:13
8. Deuteronomy 4:3 : Nu 25:1-9; Ps 106:28
9. Deuteronomy 4:5 : Ps 71:17; 119:102; Jer 32:33
10. Deuteronomy 4:5 : S Ex 18:20
11. Deuteronomy 4:5 : S Lev 27:34
12. Deuteronomy 4:5 : Ezr 9:11
13. Deuteronomy 4:6 : Dt 29:9; 1Ki 2:3
14. Deuteronomy 4:6 : Dt 30:19-20; 32:46-47; Ps 19:7; 119:98; Pr 1:7; 2Ti 3:15
15. Deuteronomy 4:6 : Job 1:1; 28:28; Ps 111:10; Pr 2:5; 3:7; 9:10; Ecc 12:13; Eze 5:5
16. Deuteronomy 4:7 : ver 32-34; 2Sa 7:23
17. Deuteronomy 4:7 : S Nu 23:21; S Ps 46:1; Ac 17:27
18. Deuteronomy 4:8 : Ps 89:14; 97:2; 119:7, 62, 144, 160, 172; Ro 3:2
19. Deuteronomy 4:9 : S Ex 23:13
20. Deuteronomy 4:9 : S Ge 14:14; 18:19; Dt 6:20-25; Eph 6:4
21. Deuteronomy 4:9 : S Ex 10:2
22. Deuteronomy 4:10 : S Ex 3:1
23. Deuteronomy 4:10 : Dt 14:23; 17:19; 31:12-13; Ps 2:11; 111:10; 147:11; Isa 8:13; Jer 32:40
24. Deuteronomy 4:10 : S Ex 20:20
25. Deuteronomy 4:10 : Dt 12:1
26. Deuteronomy 4:10 : ver 9
27. Deuteronomy 4:11 : S Ex 3:1; S 19:17
28. Deuteronomy 4:11 : S Ex 19:18
29. Deuteronomy 4:11 : S Ex 19:9; Ps 18:11; 97:2
30. Deuteronomy 4:12 : Ex 20:22; Dt 5:4, 22; S Mt 3:17; Heb 12:19
31. Deuteronomy 4:12 : Jn 5:37
32. Deuteronomy 4:12 : S Ex 19:9
33. Deuteronomy 4:13 : Dt 9:9; Ro 9:4
34. Deuteronomy 4:13 : S Ex 24:12
35. Deuteronomy 4:14 : S Ex 21:1
36. Deuteronomy 4:15 : Isa 40:18; 41:22-24
37. Deuteronomy 4:15 : S Ex 3:1
38. Deuteronomy 4:15 : Jos 23:11; Mal 2:15
39. Deuteronomy 4:16 : S Ge 6:11-12; Dt 9:12; 31:29; 32:5; Jdg 2:19
40. Deuteronomy 4:16 : Ex 20:4-5; Ro 1:23
41. Deuteronomy 4:17 : Ro 1:23
42. Deuteronomy 4:19 : Dt 17:3; 2Ki 23:11; Job 31:26; Jer 8:2; 43:13; Eze 8:16
43. Deuteronomy 4:19 : S Ge 1:16
44. Deuteronomy 4:19 : S Ge 2:1; S 37:9; Ro 1:25
45. Deuteronomy 4:19 : Dt 13:5
46. Deuteronomy 4:19 : S Nu 25:3
47. Deuteronomy 4:20 : S Ex 1:13
48. Deuteronomy 4:20 : S Ex 3:10
49. Deuteronomy 4:20 : S Ge 17:7; S Ex 8:22; S 34:9; Tit 2:14
50. Deuteronomy 4:21 : Nu 20:12; Dt 1:37
51. Deuteronomy 4:22 : Nu 27:13-14
52. Deuteronomy 4:22 : Dt 3:25
53. Deuteronomy 4:23 : ver 9
54. Deuteronomy 4:23 : S Ex 20:4
55. Deuteronomy 4:24 : S Ex 15:7; S 19:18; Heb 12:29
56. Deuteronomy 4:24 : S Ex 20:5
57. Deuteronomy 4:25 : ver 16
58. Deuteronomy 4:25 : ver 23
59. Deuteronomy 4:25 : 1Ki 11:6; 15:26; 16:25, 30; 2Ki 17:2, 17; 21:2
60. Deuteronomy 4:26 : Ge 31:50; Pr 14:5
61. Deuteronomy 4:26 : Dt 30:18-19; 31:28; 32:1; Ps 50:4; Isa 1:2; 34:1; Jer 6:19; Mic 6:2
62. Deuteronomy 4:26 : Dt 6:15; 7:4
63. Deuteronomy 4:27 : S Lev 26:33; Dt 28:36, 64; 29:28; 1Ki 8:46; 2Ki 17:6; Ps 44:11; 106:27; Jer 3:8; Mic 1:16
64. Deuteronomy 4:27 : Isa 17:6; 21:17; Ob 1:5
65. Deuteronomy 4:28 : Dt 13:2; 28:36, 64; 1Sa 26:19; Jer 5:19; 16:13; Ac 19:26
66. Deuteronomy 4:28 : Dt 29:17
67. Deuteronomy 4:28 : Ps 115:4-8; 135:15-18; Isa 8:19; 26:14; 44:17-20; Rev 9:20
68. Deuteronomy 4:29 : 1Sa 13:12; 2Ki 13:4; 2Ch 7:14; 15:4; 33:12; Ps 78:34; 119:58; Isa 45:19, 22; 55:6; Jer 26:19; Da 9:13; Hos 3:5; Am 5:4
69. Deuteronomy 4:29 : 1Sa 7:3; 1Ki 8:48; Jer 29:13
70. Deuteronomy 4:29 : Dt 6:5; 30:1-3, 10
71. Deuteronomy 4:30 : Lev 26:41; Dt 31:17, 21; Ps 4:1; 18:6; 46:1; 59:16; 107:6
72. Deuteronomy 4:30 : Dt 31:29; Jer 23:20; Hos 3:5; Heb 1:2
73. Deuteronomy 4:30 : Dt 30:2; 1Ki 8:48; Ne 1:9; Jer 3:1, 12, 22; 4:1; 18:11; Joel 2:12
74. Deuteronomy 4:31 : Ex 34:6; Ne 9:31; Ps 111:4
75. Deuteronomy 4:31 : Dt 31:6, 8; Jos 1:5; 1Ki 8:57; 1Ch 28:9, 20; Ps 9:10; 27:9; 71:9; Isa 42:16; Heb 13:5
76. Deuteronomy 4:31 : S Lev 26:44
77. Deuteronomy 4:31 : Lev 26:45
78. Deuteronomy 4:32 : Dt 32:7
79. Deuteronomy 4:32 : S Ge 1:27; Isa 45:12
80. Deuteronomy 4:32 : Dt 28:64; 30:1; Jer 9:16; Mt 24:31
81. Deuteronomy 4:32 : ver 7; 2Sa 7:23
82. Deuteronomy 4:33 : Ex 20:22; Dt 5:24-26
83. Deuteronomy 4:34 : Ex 14:30
84. Deuteronomy 4:34 : Isa 7:12
85. Deuteronomy 4:34 : S Ex 4:17
86. Deuteronomy 4:34 : Dt 7:19; 26:8; 29:3; 1Ch 16:12; Ps 9:1; 40:5; Jer 32:20
87. Deuteronomy 4:34 : S Ex 3:20; Dt 5:15; 6:21; 15:15
88. Deuteronomy 4:34 : Ex 15:11; Dt 34:12; Ps 45:4; 65:5
89. Deuteronomy 4:35 : ver 39; Ex 8:10; Dt 7:9; 32:4, 12; 1Sa 2:2; 1Ki 8:60; 2Ki 19:19; Isa 43:10; Mk 12:32
90. Deuteronomy 4:36 : S Ex 19:19; Heb 12:25
91. Deuteronomy 4:36 : Dt 8:5
92. Deuteronomy 4:37 : Dt 7:8; 10:15; 23:5; 33:3; Ps 44:3; Jer 31:3; Hos 11:1; Mal 1:2; 2:11
93. Deuteronomy 4:37 : S Ex 3:20; S 33:14
94. Deuteronomy 4:38 : Nu 34:14-15; Dt 7:1; 9:5
95. Deuteronomy 4:39 : Ex 8:10
96. Deuteronomy 4:39 : S ver 35; Ex 15:11
97. Deuteronomy 4:40 : S Lev 22:31
98. Deuteronomy 4:40 : ver 1; S Ge 26:5; Dt 5:29; 11:1; Ps 105:45; Isa 48:18
99. Deuteronomy 4:40 : Dt 5:16; 12:25; Isa 3:10
100. Deuteronomy 4:40 : S Ex 23:26; Eph 6:2-3
101. Deuteronomy 4:41 : 4:41-43Ref — Nu 35:6-34; Dt 19:1-14; Jos 20:1-9
102. Deuteronomy 4:42 : S Ex 21:13
103. Deuteronomy 4:43 : Jos 21:38; 1Ki 22:3; 2Ki 8:28; 9:14
104. Deuteronomy 4:46 : Nu 21:26
105. Deuteronomy 4:48 : Dt 2:36
106. Deuteronomy 4:48 : Dt 3:9
107. Deuteronomy 4:48 : S Dt 3:8