King James VersionDeuteronomy4

Deuteronomy

1 Now there­fore hear­ken, O Is­rael, unto the statutes 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. 2 Ye shall not 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. 3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did be­cause of Baalpe­or: for all the men that fol­lowed Baalpe­or, the LORD thy God hath de­stroyed them from among you. 4 But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive ev­ery one of you this day. 5 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. 6 Keep there­fore and do them; for this is your wis­dom and your un­der­stand­ing in the sight of the na­tions, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Sure­ly this great na­tion is a wise and un­der­stand­ing peo­ple. 7 For what na­tion is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for? 8 And what na­tion is there so great, that hath statutes and judg­ments 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 have seen, and lest they de­part from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons; 10 Specially the day that thou 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. 11 And ye came near and stood un­der the moun­tain; and the moun­tain burned with fire unto the midst of heav­en, with dark­ness, clouds, and thick dark­ness. 12 And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no simil­i­tude; only ye heard a voice. 13 And he de­clared unto you his covenant, which he com­mand­ed you to per­form, even ten com­mand­ments; and he wrote them upon two ta­bles of stone. 14 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. 15 Take ye there­fore good heed unto 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: 16 Lest ye cor­rupt yourselves, and make you a graven im­age, the simil­i­tude 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 air, 18 The like­ness of any thing that creep­eth on the ground, the like­ness of any fish that is in the wa­ters be­neath 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, shouldest be driv­en to wor­ship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath di­vid­ed unto all na­tions un­der the whole heav­en. 20 But the LORD hath tak­en you, and brought you forth out of the iron fur­nace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a peo­ple of in­her­i­tance, as ye are this day. 21 Fur­ther­more the LORD was an­gry 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: 22 But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jor­dan: but ye shall go over, and pos­sess that good land. 23 Take heed unto your­selves, lest ye for­get the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven im­age, or the like­ness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath for­bid­den thee. 24 For the LORD thy God is a con­sum­ing fire, even a jeal­ous God. 25 When thou shalt beget chil­dren, and children's chil­dren, and ye shall have re­mained long in the land, and shall cor­rupt yourselves, and make a graven im­age, or the like­ness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to pro­voke him to anger: 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 Jor­dan to pos­sess it; ye shall not pro­long your days upon it, but shall ut­ter­ly be de­stroyed. 27 And the LORD shall scat­ter you among the na­tions, and ye shall be left few in num­ber among the hea­then, whith­er the LORD shall lead you. 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 if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. 30 When thou art in tribu­la­tion, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the lat­ter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obe­di­ent unto his voice; 31 (For the LORD thy God is a mer­ci­ful God; ) he will not for­sake thee, nei­ther de­stroy thee, nor for­get the covenant of thy fa­thers which he sware unto them. 32 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 one side 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 peo­ple hear the voice of God speak­ing out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? 34 Or hath God as­sayed to go and take him a na­tion from the midst of another na­tion, by temp­ta­tions, by signs, and by won­ders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great ter­rors, ac­cord­ing to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt be­fore your eyes? 35 Unto thee it was shewed, that thou might­est know that the LORD he is God; 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 shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire. 37 And be­cause he loved thy fa­thers, there­fore he chose their seed af­ter them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty pow­er out of Egypt; 38 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. 39 Know there­fore this day, and con­sid­er it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heav­en above, and upon the earth be­neath: there is none else. 40 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, for ev­er. 41 Then Moses sev­ered three cities on this side Jor­dan to­ward the sun­ris­ing; 42 That the slay­er might flee thith­er, which should kill his neigh­bour un­awares, and hat­ed him not in times past; and that flee­ing unto one of these cities he might live: 43 Namely, Bez­er in the wilder­ness, in the plain coun­try, of the Reuben­ites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Ga­dites; and Golan in Bashan, of 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 judg­ments, which Moses spake unto the chil­dren of Is­rael, af­ter they came forth out of Egypt, 46 On this side Jor­dan, in the val­ley over against Beth­pe­or, in the land of Si­hon king of the Amor­ites, who dwelt at Hes­h­bon, whom Moses and the chil­dren of Is­rael smote, af­ter they were come forth out of Egypt: 47 And they pos­sessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amor­ites, which were on this side Jor­dan to­ward the sun­ris­ing; 48 From Aroer, which is by the bank of the riv­er Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which is Her­mon, 49 And all the plain on this side Jor­dan east­ward, even unto the sea of the plain, un­der the springs of Pis­gah.