Chapter 4
1 And now, O Israel, hearken unto the statutes
and unto the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that ye may live, and go
in and possess the land which HaShem, the G-d of your fathers, giveth you.
2 Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither
shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of HaShem your G-d
which I command you.
3 Your eyes have seen what HaShem did in Baal-peor; for all
the men that followed the Baal of Peor, HaShem thy G-d hath destroyed them from
the midst of thee.
4 But ye that did cleave unto HaShem your G-d are alive every
one of you this day.
5 Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, even as
HaShem my G-d commanded me, that ye should do so in the midst of the land
whither ye go in to possess it.
6 Observe therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and
your understanding in the sight of the peoples, that, when they hear all these
statutes, shall say: 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding
people.'
7 For what great nation is there, that hath G-d so nigh unto
them, as HaShem our G-d is whensoever we call upon Him?
8 And what great nation is there, that hath statutes and
ordinances so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
9 Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently,
lest thou forget the things which thine eyes saw, and lest they depart from thy
heart all the days of thy life; but make them known unto thy children and thy
children's children;
10 the day that thou stoodest before HaShem thy G-d in Horeb,
when HaShem said unto me: 'Assemble Me the people, and I will make them hear My
words that they may learn to fear Me all the days that they live upon the earth,
and that they may teach their children.'
11 And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the
mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and
thick darkness.
12 And HaShem spoke unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye
heard the voice of words, but ye saw no form; only a voice.
13 And He declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded
you to perform, even the ten words; and He wrote them upon two tables of stone.
14 And HaShem commanded me at that time to teach you statutes
and ordinances, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess
it.
15 Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves--for ye saw no
manner of form on the day that HaShem spoke unto you in Horeb out of the midst
of the fire--
16 lest ye deal corruptly, and make you a graven image, even
the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
17 the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the
likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the heaven,
18 the likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the
likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth;
19 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, thou
be drawn away and worship them, and serve them, which HaShem thy G-d hath
allotted unto all the peoples under the whole heaven.
20 But you hath HaShem taken and brought forth out of the
iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be unto Him a people of inheritance, as ye are
this day.
21 Now HaShem was angered with me for your sakes, and swore
that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good
land, which HaShem thy G-d giveth thee for an inheritance;
22 but I must die in this land, I must not go over the
Jordan; but ye are to go over, and possess that good land.
23 Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of
HaShem your G-d, which He made with you, and make you a graven image, even the
likeness of any thing which HaShem thy G-d hath forbidden thee.
24 For HaShem thy G-d is a devouring fire, a jealous G-d.
25 When thou shalt beget children, and children's children,
and ye shall have been long in the land, and shall deal corruptly, and make a
graven image, even the form of any thing, and shall do that which is evil in the
sight of HaShem thy G-d, to provoke Him;
26 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 the
Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly
be destroyed.
27 And HaShem shall scatter you among the peoples, and ye
shall be left few in number among the nations, whither HaShem shall lead you
away.
28 And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands,
wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29 But from thence ye will seek HaShem thy G-d; and thou
shalt find Him, if thou search after Him with all thy heart and with all thy
soul.
30 In thy distress, when all these things are come upon thee,
in the end of days, thou wilt return to HaShem thy G-d, and hearken unto His
voice;
31 for HaShem thy G-d is a merciful G-d; He will not fail
thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which He
swore unto them.
32 For ask now of the days past, which were before thee,
since the day that G-d created man upon the earth, and from the one end of
heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great
thing is, or hath been heard like it?
33 Did ever a people hear the voice of G-d speaking out of
the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
34 Or hath G-d assayed to go and take Him a nation from the
midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by
a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to
all that HaShem your G-d did for you in Egypt before thine eyes?
35 Unto thee it was shown, that thou mightiest know that
HaShem, He is G-d; there is none else beside Him.
36 Out of heaven He made thee to hear His voice, that He
might instruct thee; and upon earth He made thee to see His great fire; and thou
didst hear His words out of the midst of the fire.
37 And because He loved thy fathers, and chose their seed
after them, and brought thee out with His presence, with His great power, out of
Egypt,
38 to drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier
than thou, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it
is this day;
39 know this day, and lay it to thy heart, that HaShem, He is
G-d in heaven above and upon the earth beneath; there is none else.
40 And thou shalt keep 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 land, which
HaShem thy G-d giveth thee, for ever.
41 Then Moses separated three cities beyond the Jordan toward
the sunrising;
42 that the manslayer might flee thither, that slayeth his
neighbour unawares, and hated him not in time past; and that fleeing unto one of
these cities he might live:
43 Bezer in the wilderness, in the table-land, for the
Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the
Manassites.
44 And this is the law which Moses set before the children of
Israel;
45 these are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the
ordinances, which Moses spoke unto the children of Israel, when they came forth
out of Egypt;
46 beyond the Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-peor,
in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and
the children of Israel smote, when they came forth out of Egypt;
47 and they took his land in possession, and the land of Og
king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan toward
the sunrising;
48 from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon,
even unto mount Sion--the same is Hermon--
49 and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, even unto
the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.
Sources: Portions copyright © 1997 by Benyamin Pilant, All Rights Reserved
JPS Electronic Edition, based on the 1917 JPS translation, Copyright © 1998 by Larry Nelson, All Rights Reserved
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