Deuteronomy 4Deuteronomy4

Berean Standard BibleKing James Version

1. An Exhortation to Obedience

   (Deuteronomy 11:1–7)

2. 1BSBHear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.KJVKJV: 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.
3. 2BSBYou must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you.KJVKJV: 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.
4. 3BSBYour eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all who followed Baal of Peor.KJVKJV: Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baal-peor: for all the men that followed Baal-peor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.
5. 4BSBBut you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive to this day, every one of you.KJVKJV: But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.
6. 5BSBSee, I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the LORD my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land that you are about to enter and possess.KJVKJV: 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.
7. 6BSBObserve them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”KJVKJV: 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.
8. 7BSBFor what nation is great enough to have a god as near to them as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call on Him?KJVKJV: 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?
9. 8BSBAnd what nation is great enough to have righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?KJVKJV: 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?
10. 9BSBOnly be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.KJVKJV: 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;
11. 10BSBThe day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, “Gather the people before Me to hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach them to their children.”KJVKJV: 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.
12. 11BSBYou came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.KJVKJV: 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.
13. 12BSBAnd the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of the words but saw no form; there was only a voice.KJVKJV: 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.
14. 13BSBHe declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to follow—the Ten Commandments that He wrote on two tablets of stone.KJVKJV: 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.
15. 14BSBAt that time the LORD commanded me to teach you the statutes and ordinances you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.KJVKJV: 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.

16. A Warning against Idolatry

    (Deuteronomy 12:29–32; Ezekiel 6:1–7)

17. 15BSBSo since you saw no form of any kind on the day the LORD spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb, be carefulKJVKJV: 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:
18. 16BSBthat you do not act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves of any form or shape, whether in the likeness of a male or female,KJVKJV: Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,
19. 17BSBof any beast that is on the earth or bird that flies in the air,KJVKJV: The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,
20. 18BSBor of any creature that crawls on the ground or fish that is in the waters below.KJVKJV: The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:
21. 19BSBWhen you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.KJVKJV: 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.
22. 20BSBYet the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today.KJVKJV: 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.
23. 21BSBThe LORD, however, was angry with me on account of you, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan to enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.KJVKJV: 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:
24. 22BSBFor I will not be crossing the Jordan, because I must die in this land. But you shall cross over and take possession of that good land.KJVKJV: But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.
25. 23BSBBe careful that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God that He made with you; do not make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything He has forbidden you.KJVKJV: 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.
26. 24BSBFor the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.KJVKJV: For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
27. 25BSBAfter you have children and grandchildren and you have been in the land a long time, if you then act corruptly and make an idol of any form—doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God and provoking Him to anger—KJVKJV: 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:
28. 26BSBI call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.KJVKJV: 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.
29. 27BSBThen the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you.KJVKJV: 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.
30. 28BSBAnd there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.KJVKJV: And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
31. 29BSBBut if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.KJVKJV: 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.
32. 30BSBWhen you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.KJVKJV: 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;
33. 31BSBFor the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers, which He swore to them by oath.KJVKJV: (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.

34. The LORD Alone Is God

35. 32BSBIndeed, ask now from one end of the heavens to the other about the days that long preceded you, from the day that God created man on earth: Has anything as great as this ever happened or been reported?KJVKJV: 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?
36. 33BSBHas a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived?KJVKJV: Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
37. 34BSBOr has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation—by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes?KJVKJV: 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?
38. 35BSBYou were shown these things so that you would know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him.KJVKJV: Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.
39. 36BSBHe let you hear His voice from heaven to discipline you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire.KJVKJV: 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.
40. 37BSBBecause He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by His presence and great power,KJVKJV: 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;
41. 38BSBto drive out before you nations greater and mightier than you, and to bring you into their land and give it to you for your inheritance, as it is this day.KJVKJV: 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.
42. 39BSBKnow therefore this day and take to heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.KJVKJV: 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.
43. 40BSBKeep His statutes and commandments, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.KJVKJV: 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.

44. Cities of Refuge

    (Numbers 35:9–34; Deuteronomy 19:1–14; Joshua 20:1–9)

45. 41BSBThen Moses set aside three cities across the Jordan to the eastKJVKJV: Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sunrising;
46. 42BSBto which a manslayer could flee after killing his neighbor unintentionally without prior malice. To save one’s own life, he could flee to one of these cities:KJVKJV: 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:
47. 43BSBBezer in the wilderness on the plateau belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the Gadites, or Golan in Bashan belonging to the Manassites.KJVKJV: 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.

48. Introduction to the Law

49. 44BSBThis is the law that Moses set before the Israelites.KJVKJV: And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:
50. 45BSBThese are the testimonies, statutes, and ordinances that Moses proclaimed to them after they had come out of Egypt,KJVKJV: 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,
51. 46BSBwhile they were in the valley across the Jordan facing Beth-peor in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites after they had come out of Egypt.KJVKJV: On this side 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, after they were come forth out of Egypt:
52. 47BSBThey took possession of the land belonging to Sihon and to Og king of Bashan—the two Amorite kings across the Jordan to the east—KJVKJV: 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;
53. 48BSBextending from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Siyon (that is, Hermon),KJVKJV: From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which is Hermon,
54. 49BSBincluding all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan and as far as the Sea of the Arabah, below the slopes of Pisgah.KJVKJV: And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.