Moses exhorteth the people to keep God's commandments: particularly to
fly idolatry. Appointeth three cities of refuge, on that side of the
Jordan.
4:1. And now, O Israel, hear the commandments and judgments which I
teach thee: that doing them, thou mayst live, and entering in mayst
possess the land which the Lord the God of your fathers will give you.
4:2. You shall not add to the word that I speak to you, neither shall
you take away from it: keep the commandments of the Lord your God which
I command you.
4:3. Your eyes have seen all that the Lord hath done against Beelphegor,
how he hath destroyed all his worshippers from among you.
4:4. But you that adhere to the Lord your God, are all alive until this
present day.
4:5. You know that I have taught you statutes and justices, as the Lord
my God hath commanded me: so shall you do them in the land which you
shall possess:
4:6. And you shall observe, and fulfil them in practice. For this is
your wisdom, and understanding in the sight of nations, that hearing all
these precepts, they may say: Behold a wise and understanding people, a
great nation.
4:7. Neither is there any other nation so great, that hath gods so nigh
them, as our God is present to all our petitions.
4:8. For what other nation is there so renowned that hath ceremonies,
and just judgments, and all the law, which I will set forth this day
before our eyes?
4:9. Keep thyself therefore, and thy soul carefully. Forget not the
words that thy eyes have seen, and let them not go out of thy heart all
the days of thy life. Thou shalt teach them to thy sons and to thy
grandsons,
4:10. From the day in which thou didst stand before the Lord thy God in
Horeb, when the Lord spoke to me, saying: Call together the people unto
me, that they may hear my words, and may learn to fear me all the time
that they live on the earth, and may teach their children.
4:11. And you came to the foot of the mount, which burned even unto
heaven: and there was darkness, and a cloud and obscurity in it.
4:12. And the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard
the voice of his words, but you saw not any form at all.
4:13. And he shewed you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, and
the ten words that he wrote in two tables of stone.
4:14. And he commanded me at that time that I should teach you the
ceremonies and judgments which you shall do in the land, that you shall
possess.
4:15. Keep therefore your souls carefully. You saw not any similitude in
the day that the Lord God spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the
fire:
4:16. Lest perhaps being deceived you might make you a graven
similitude, or image of male or female,
4:17. The similitude of any beasts, that are upon the earth, or of
birds, that fly under heaven,
4:18. Or of creeping things, that move on the earth, or of fishes, that
abide in the waters under the earth:
4:19. Lest perhaps lifting up thy eyes to heaven, thou see the sun and
the moon, and all the stars of heaven, and being deceived by error thou
adore and serve them, which the Lord thy God created for the service of
all the nations, that are under heaven.
4:20. But the Lord hath taken you and brought you out of the iron
furnaces of Egypt, to make you his people of inheritance, as it is this
present day.
4:21. And the Lord was angry with me for your words, and he swore that I
should not pass over the Jordan, nor enter into the excellent land,
which he will give you.
4:22. Behold I die in this land, I shall not pass over the Jordan: you
shall pass, and possess the goodly land.
4:23. Beware lest thou ever forget the covenant of the Lord thy God,
which he hath made with thee: and make to thyself a graven likeness of
those things which the Lord hath forbid to be made:
4:24. Because the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
4:25. If you shall beget sons and grandsons, and abide in the land, and
being deceived, make to yourselves any similitude, committing evil
before the Lord your God, to provoke him to wrath:
4:26. I call this day heaven and earth to witness, that you shall
quickly perish out of the land, which, when you have passed over the
Jordan, you shall possess. You shall not dwell therein long, but the
Lord will destroy you,
4:27. And scatter you among all nations, and you shall remain a few
among the nations, to which the Lord shall lead you.
4:28. And there you shall serve gods, that were framed with men's hands:
wood and stone, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
4:29. And when thou shalt seek there the Lord thy God, thou shalt find
him: yet so, if thou seek him with all thy heart, and all the affliction
of thy soul.
4:30. After all the things aforesaid shall find thee, in the latter time
thou shalt return to the Lord thy God, and shalt hear his voice.
4:31. Because the Lord thy God is a merciful God: he will not leave
thee, nor altogether destroy thee, nor forget the covenant, by which he
swore to thy fathers.
4:32. Ask of the days of old, that have been before thy time from the
day that God created man upon the earth, from one end of heaven to the
other end thereof, if ever there was done the like thing, or it hath
been known at any time,
4:33. That a people should hear the voice of God speaking out of the
midst of fire, as thou hast heard, and lived:
4:34. If God ever did so as to go, and take to himself a nation out of
the midst of nations by temptations, signs, and wonders, by fight, and a
strong hand, and stretched out arm, and horrible visions according to
all the things that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, before thy
eyes.
4:35. That thou mightest know that the Lord he is God, and there is no
other besides him.
4:36. From heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might teach
thee. And upon earth he shewed thee his exceeding great fire, and thou
didst hear his words out of the midst of the fire,
4:37. Because he loved thy fathers, and chose their seed after them. And
he brought thee out of Egypt, going before thee with his great power,
4:38. To destroy at thy coming very great nations, and stronger than
thou art, and to bring thee in, and give thee their land for a
possession, as thou seest at this present day.
4:39. Know therefore this day, and think in thy heart that the Lord he
is God in heaven above, and in the earth beneath, and there is no other.
4:40. Keep his precepts and commandments, which I command thee: that it
may be well with thee, and thy children after thee, and thou mayst
remain a long time upon the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee.
4:41. Then Moses set aside three cities beyond the Jordan at the east
side,
4:42. That any one might flee to them who should kill his neighbour
unwillingly, and was not his enemy a day or two before, and that he
might escape to some one of these cities:
4:43. Bosor in the wilderness, which is situate in the plains of the
tribe of Ruben: and Ramoth in Galaad, which is in the tribe of Gad: and
Golan in Basan, which is in the tribe of Manasses.
4:44. This is the law, that Moses set before the children of Israel,
4:45. And these are the testimonies and ceremonies and judgments, which
he spoke to the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt,
4:46. Beyond the Jordan in the valley over against the temple of Phogor,
in the land of Sehon king of the Amorrhites, that dwelt in Hesebon, whom
Moses slew. And the children of Israel coming out of Egypt,
4:47. Possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Basan, of the two
kings of the Amorrhites, who were beyond the Jordan towards the rising
of the sun:
4:48. From Aroer, which is situate upon the bank of the torrent Arnon,
unto mount Sion, which is also called Hermon,
4:49. All the plain beyond the Jordan at the east side, unto the sea of
the wilderness, and unto the foot of mount Phasga.