Open English Translation DEU Chapter 4

4 “Now Yisrael, listen to the instructions and regulations that I’ll teach you so that you’ll all go and possess the land that Yahweh, the god of your ancestors, is giving you, and live there. 2 Don’t add or subtract from what I tell you, because you all need to follow the instructions from your god Yahweh that I’m telling you.[ref] 3 You’ve all seen for yourselves what your god Yahweh did at Beyt-Peor, when he destroyed all the men who worshipped Baal there.[ref] 4 However, all of you who faithfully continued to follow your god Yahweh are alive here today.

5 “Listen, I’ve taught you all the instructions and regulations that my god Yahweh commanded me to, for you all to follow in the land that you’re about to enter and occupy. 6 Follow them faithfully because that will lead to wisdom such that people in other countries will notice that this great nation has wisdom and understanding. 7 What other great nation is there that has a god near to it like our god Yahweh is whenever we call out to him for help? 8 Also, what other nation has rules and regulations that are as sensible and fair as these instructions that I’m giving to you all today?

9 “But each of you must take care to guard yourself and your values in case you forget that you’ve seen and those past miracles slip from your minds over the years to come. Yes, make sure that you teach them to your children and your grand-children, 10 including the day when you stood in our god Yahweh’s presence at Mt. Sinai (Horev) when he told me, ‘Assemble the people for me, and I’ll make it so they can hear my words, so they’ll learn to honour and respect for their entire lifetimes, and then teach it to their children.’

11 “So you all approached the mountain and stood at its base while it blazed with fire that went up into the atmosphere even though the mountain was covered with dark, gloomy clouds.[ref] 12 Then Yahweh spoke to you from the middle of the flames—you heard the voice even though you couldn’t see anyone, 13 and he revealed to you the agreement that he demands you keep: the ten commands that he wrote onto two stone tablets.[ref] 14 At that time, Yahweh told me to teach you all the instructions and regulations so you’d be able to put them into practice in the land that you’re about to enter and occupy.[ref]

15 Now remembering that you didn’t see any form at Mt. Sinai (Horev) when Yahweh spoke to you all from the middle of the fire, 16 so don’t corrupt yourselves by making an idol to be your god—don’t make anything in the likeness of a man or a woman,[ref] 17 or of any animal that’s on the earth or bird that flies in the sky,[ref] 18 or any reptile that creeps along the ground or any fish from the deep oceans. 19 Don’t look up to the sky and be tempted to bow down to the sun or the moon or the stars and serve them—your god Yahweh made them to serve every people group in the world. 20 Yahweh has brought you all out of the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt to be a people that would belong to him (as you are today),[ref] 21 but then Yahweh got angry at me because of your parents and determined that I would never enter the land that he’s giving to all of you.[ref] 22 Instead, I’ll die here in this place. I won’t cross the Yarden river, but you will, and then you’ll all take possession of that good land. 23 Take great care that you all don’t forget the agreement with your god Yahweh. Don’t make any idols for yourselves in the form of anything that your god Yahweh has ordered you all not to, 24 because your god Yahweh is a consuming fire—he’s a god who gets jealous.[ref]

25 Even after you’ve had children and grandchildren and then grown old in the land, don’t make an idol in the form of anything, and don’t be corrupt or do evil things that your god Yahweh dislikes and so which will make him angry. 26 If you do, I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you all today, that you’d die over there in the land that you’re crossing the river to possess. You wouldn’t live there very long, but instead would end up getting destroyed. 27 Then Yahweh would scatter the remainder among the nations where you’d remain as a small minority.[ref] 28 There you would be forced to worship gods that humans have made out of wood or stone and which can’t see, hear, smell, or eat. 29 From there you’ll search for your god Yahweh, and you’ll find him when you search for him with determination and total sincerity.[ref] 30 It’s in the future when you end up in distress there that you’ll return to your god Yahweh and listen to what he tells you, 31 because your god Yahweh is a merciful god. He won’t abandon you or destroy you, and he won’t forget what he promised to your ancestors.

32 Now, please, consider past times before you were alive, i.e., from when God first created people here on the earth. You could search all through human history and you wouldn’t find anything else as incredible as what Yahweh has done for your ancestors. 33 Has any other people group heard God talking from the middle of a fire like you have, and then lived to tell about it? 34 Or is their any other nation that God has attempted to take out from the middle of another nation, using miracles and war, and power and terrifying actions, like your god Yahweh did for you all when you were in Egypt? 35 You were shown all that so you’d know that Yahweh is the one and only god.[ref] 36 He allowed you to hear his voice from the skies to instruct you, and on earth you heard his words from the incredible fire that he showed you. 37 Because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants as his people and used his power and strength to lead you out of Egypt 38 and then to drive out nations ahead of you that were greater and more powerful than you—bringing you here today so that you could occupy their land as your inheritance. 39 So today you should acknowledge that Yahweh is god of the heavens above and the earth below, and there’s no other god. 40 Follow his instructions and obey his regulations that I’m giving you today so that everything will go well for you and your descendants, and so that you’ll live a long time in the land that your god Yahweh is giving you as a permanent possession.”

41 Then Mosheh (Moses) selected three cities on that eastern side of the Yarden[ref] 42 so that anyone who accidentally killed another person could flee to one of those cities and be safe: 43 Bezer in the wilderness for the tribe of Reuben, Ramot in Gilead for the tribe of Gad, and Golan in the Bashan region for the tribe of Manasseh.

44 These are the instructions that Mosheh (Moses) gave to the Israelis, 45 including all the instructions, rules, and regulations that Mosheh had told them when they left Egypt, 46 when they were in the valley east of the Yarden River. They were across from the town of Beyt-Peor, in the land that the Amorite King Sihon (who lived in Heshbon city) had ruled. (Mosheh and the other Israelis had defeated them when they came out of Egypt.) 47 They had taken possession of his land, as well as the land of Bashan’s King Og—the two Amorite kings from the eastern side of the Yarden—48 from Aroer city in the south along the edge of the Arnon valley, and as far north as Mt. Sion (normally called Mt. Hermon) 49 and the entire plain east of the Yarden River, extending to the Sea of the Arabah (the Dead/Salt sea) and east to the slopes of Mt. Pisgah.