Deuteronomy 4 Now therefore, hear, Israel, the rules of rectitude, and the judgments, which I this day teach you to practise, that you may live, and multiply, and go in, and possess the land, which the Lord the God of your fathers giveth you.

Thomson⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ Now therefore, hear, Israel, the rules of rectitude, and the judgments, which I this day teach you to practise, that you may live, and multiply, and go in, and possess the land, which the Lord the God of your fathers giveth you. ² You shall not add any thing to what I command you; nor shall you diminish from it. You shall keep the commandments of the Lord our God, which I, this day, give you in charge. ³ Your eyes have seen all that the Lord our God did because of Beelphegor; that as for every man who went after Beelphegor; him the Lord our God destroyed from among you. ⁴ But as for you who adhered to the Lord your God, you are all alive this day. ⁵ Behold, I have taught you rules of rectitude, and judgments, as the Lord commanded me; that you may act agreeably thereto, in the land to which you are going, to take possession of it. ⁶ Therefore keep them, and practise them. For this will be your wisdom, and your understanding, in the sight of all the nations. Whoever shall chance to hear all these rules of rectitude, will say, Behold this is a wise and understanding people a great nation. ⁷ For how great must that nation be, which hath God near them, as the Lord our God is on all occasions, if we call upon him! ⁸ And how great must the nation be, which hath such rules of rectitude, and such righteous judgments, as are contained in the whole law, which I this day lay before you. ⁹ Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently. Forget not all the things which thine eyes have seen, and let them not depart from thy heart all the days of thy life; that thou mayst impress upon thy children, and thy childrens' children, ¹⁰ that day when you stood in the presence of the Lord our God at Choreb, on the day of the solemn assembly. For the Lord said to me, Assemble the people before me, and let them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days they live on the earth. And let them teach their children. ¹¹ So you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain. Though the mountain was blazing with fire up to heaven, there was darkness, thick darkness, a turbid tempest. ¹² And the Lord uttered to you, from the midst of the fire, the sound of words which you heard. You saw no similitude, but only heard a voice. ¹³ And when he had declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments, he wrote them on two tables of stone. ¹⁴ And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you rules of rectitude, and judgments, for you to practise in the land to which you are going, to take possession of it. ¹⁵ Therefore watch your souls with diligence; for you saw no similitude on the day when the Lord spoke to you at Choreb, in the mount, out of the midst of the fire; ¹⁶ that you may not transgress, and make for yourselves a graven image; any kind of image, the likeness of man or woman; ¹⁷ the likeness of any of the beasts which are on the earth; the likeness of any winged bird, which flieth in the air; ¹⁸ the likeness of any reptile, which creepeth on the ground; the likeness of any fish which is in the waters below the earth; ¹⁹ and that upon looking up to heaven, and seeing the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and all the host of heaven, thou mayst not be led astray, and worship them, and perform religious service to those things which the Lord thy God hath arranged in due order, for all the nations which are under heaven. ²⁰ God hath indeed taken you and brought you out of the land of Egypt; out of the iron furnace; out of Egypt, to be to him a chosen people, as at this day; ²¹ but with me the Lord God was angry for the things spoken by you, and he solemnly said that I should not cross this Jordan, and that I should not enter that land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for a possession. ²² For I am to die in this land, and not to cross that Jordan; but you are to cross it. When you shall possess that good land, ²³ take heed to yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord our God, which he made with you, and transgress and make for yourselves a graven image of any of the things about which the Lord thy God hath given thee a charge; ²⁴ for the Lord thy God is a consuming fire; a zealous God. ²⁵ If therefore, when you have begotten sons, and sons' sons, and have been long in the land, you transgress, and make a graven image; the likeness of any thing whatever, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God, to provoke him to wrath, ²⁶ I call heaven and earth this day to witness against you, that you shall surely perish from the land, to which you are going, to cross the Jordan there to take possession of it. You shall not prolong your days therein, but shall be utterly rooted out. ²⁷ And the Lord will scatter you among all the nations, and you shall be left few in number, among all the nations, to which the Lord will bring you. ²⁸ And there you shall serve other gods, the works of men's hands, stocks and stones, which can neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. ²⁹ Yet there, on seeking the Lord your God you will find him, when you seek him with your whole heart and with your whole soul; ³⁰ In thy affliction, when all these things have come upon thee in the latter days, when thou shalt turn to the Lord thy God, and hearken to his voice; ³¹ because the Lord thy God is a merciful God; he will not forsake thee utterly, nor totally destroy thee. He will not forget the covenant of thy fathers, which the Lord confirmed to them with an oath. ³² Enquire of the days which are past; those which were before thee, from the day God created man on the earth, and from one end of heaven to the other; hath there ever been any thing like this great thing? Hath any thing been heard like it? ³³ Hath any nation heard the voice of the living God, speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and are still alive? ³⁴ Or hath God come, and made trial to take for himself a nation out of the midst of a nation, by trials, and by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and with a strong hand, and an outstretched arm, and with great visions, according to all that the Lord our God hath done in Egypt, before thine eyes? ³⁵ So that thou must needs know that the Lord thy God is very God, and that there is none else besides him. ³⁶ From heaven he caused his voice to be heard to instruct thee; and on earth he shewed thee his great fire. And thou hast heard his words out of the midst of the fire. ³⁷ Because he loved thy fathers, he chose you their seed after them; and by his mighty power he hath brought thee out of Egypt, ³⁸ to destroy nations greater and mightier than thou art, before thee; to bring thee in, and give thee their land for a possession, as is the case with thee this day. ³⁹ Know therefore this day, and revolve it in thy mind, that the Lord thy God is alone God, in the heaven above, and in the earth beneath, and that there is none other besides him. ⁴⁰ You shall therefore keep his commandments, and his rules of rectitude, which I this day give you in charge, that it may be well with thee and with thy children after thee; that you may live long in the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for ever. ⁴¹ Then Moses set apart three cities on the side of Jordan, towards the rising of the sun, ⁴² for the slayer to flee to. Whoever should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in times past, might flee to one of these cities, and live, ⁴³ namely, Bosor, in the wilderness, in the plain, for the Reubenites; and Bamoth, in Galaaditis, for the Gadites; and Gaulon, in Basan, for the Manassites. ⁴⁴ This is the law which Moses laid before the children of Israel; ⁴⁵ these are the testimonies, and the rules of rectitude, and the judgments, which Moses delivered in his speech to the Israelites, after they came out of the land of Egypt ⁴⁶ on the bank of the Jordan, in the vale near the house of Phogor, in the land of Seon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Esebon, whom Moses and the Israelites slew after their coming out of the land of Egypt, ⁴⁷ when they took possession both of this land, and the land of Og king of Basan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were on the side of the Jordan towards the rising of the sun, ⁴⁸ from Aroer, which is on the border of the brook Arnon, to the mountain of Seon, which is Aermon, ⁴⁹ comprehending all that part of Araba on the eastern bank of Jordan, below the cliff of Asedoth.