Deḇarim (Deuteronomy) 4

Deut 4:1 “And now, O Yisra’ĕl, listen to the laws and the right-rulings
which I am teaching you to do, so that you live, and shall go in and possess
the land which יהוה Elohim of your fathers is giving you.
Deut 4:2 “Do not add to the Word which I command you, and do not take
away from it, so as to guard the commands of יהוה your Elohim which I am
commanding you.
Deut 4:3 “Your eyes have seen what יהוה did at Ba‛al Pe‛or, for יהוה your
Elohim has destroyed from your midst all the men who followed Ba‛al Pe‛or.
Deut 4:4 “But you who are clinging to יהוה your Elohim are alive today,
every one of you.
Deut 4:5 “See, I have taught you laws and right-rulings, as יהוה my Elohim
commanded me, to do thus in the land which you go to possess.
Deut 4:6 “And you shall guard and do them, for this is your wisdom and
your understanding before the eyes of the peoples who hear all these laws,
and they shall say, ‘Only a wise and understanding people is this great
nation!’
Deut 4:7 “For what great nation is there which has Elohim so near to it, as
יהוה our Elohim is to us, whenever we call on Him?
Deut 4:8 “And what great nation is there that has such laws and righteous
right-rulings like all this Torah which I set before you this day?
Deut 4:9 “Only, guard yourself, and guard your life diligently, lest you forget
the Words your eyes have seen, and lest they turn aside from your heart all
the days of your life. And you shall make them known to your children and
your grandchildren.
Deut 4:10 “The day when you stood before יהוה your Elohim in Ḥorĕḇ, יהוה
said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me and I make them hear My Words, so
that they learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth and teach them to
their children.’
Deut 4:11 “And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the
mountain burned with fire to the heart of the heavens – darkness, cloud, and
thick darkness.
Deut 4:12 “And יהוה spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard a
voice of words, but saw no form, you only heard a voice.
Deut 4:13 “And He made known to you His covenant which He commanded
you to do, the Ten Words, and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.
Deut 4:14 “And יהוה commanded me at that time to teach you laws and right-
rulings, for you to do them in the land which you pass over to possess.
Deut 4:15 “Therefore, diligently guard yourselves, for you saw no form
when יהוה spoke to you at Ḥorĕḇ out of the midst of the fire,
Deut 4:16 lest you should do corruptly and shall make for yourselves a
carved image in the form of any figure – the likeness of male or female,
Deut 4:17 the likeness of any beast that is on the earth or the likeness of any
winged bird that flies in the heavens,
Deut 4:18 the likeness of any creature that creeps on the ground or the
likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth;
Deut 4:19 and lest you lift up your eyes to the heavens, and shall see the sun,
and the moon, and the stars – all the host of the heavens – and you be drawn
away into bowing down to them and serving them, which יהוה your Elohim
has allotted to all the peoples under all the heavens.
Deut 4:20 “But יהוה has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out
of Mitsrayim, to be His people, an inheritance, as it is today.
Deut 4:21 “And יהוה was enraged with me because of your words, and
swore that I would not pass over the Yardĕn, and that I would not enter the
good land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you as an inheritance.
Deut 4:22 “For I am to die in this land, I am not passing over the Yardĕn, but
you are passing over, and shall possess that good land.
Deut 4:23 “Guard yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of יהוה your
Elohim which He made with you, and shall make for yourselves a carved
image in the form of whatever יהוה your Elohim has forbidden you.
Deut 4:24 “For יהוה your Elohim is a consuming fire, a jealous Ĕl.
Deut 4:25 “When you bring forth children and grandchildren, and shall grow
old in the land, and shall do corruptly and make a carved image in the form
of whatever, and shall do what is evil in the eyes of יהוה your Elohim to
provoke Him,
Deut 4:26 “I shall call the heavens and earth to witness against you on that
day, that you soon completely perish from the land which you pass over the
Yardĕn to possess – you do not prolong your days in it but are completely
destroyed.
Deut 4:27 “And יהוה shall scatter you among the peoples, and you shall be
left few in number among the gentiles where יהוה drives you.
Deut 4:28 “And there you shall serve mighty ones, the work of men’s hands,
wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.
Deut 4:29 “But from there you shall seek יהוה your Elohim, and shall find,
when you search for Him with all your heart and with all your being.
Deut 4:30 “In your distress, when all these words shall come upon you in the
latter days, then you shall return to יהוה your Elohim and shall obey His
voice.
Deut 4:31 “For יהוה your Elohim is a compassionate Ĕl, He does not forsake
you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore
to them.
Deut 4:32 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you,
since the day that Elohim created man on the earth, and ask from one end of
the heavens to the other end of the heavens, whether there has been a Word as
great as this, or has been heard like it.
Deut 4:33 “Has a people heard the voice of Elohim speaking out of the midst
of the fire, as you have heard, and live?
Deut 4:34 “Or has Elohim tried to go and take for Himself a nation from the
midst of a nation by trials, and by signs, and by wonders, and by battle, and
by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great fearsome deeds,
according to all that יהוה your Elohim did for you in Mitsrayim before your
eyes?
Deut 4:35 “You have been shown it, to know that יהוה Himself is Elohim;
there is no one beside Him.
Deut 4:36 “From the heavens He let you hear His voice, to instruct you, and
on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the
midst of the fire.
Deut 4:37 “And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their
seed after them, and brought you out of Mitsrayim with His Presence, with
His great power,
Deut 4:38 to drive out from before you nations greater and stronger than you,
to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is today.
Deut 4:39 “And you shall know today, and shall recall to your heart that יהוה
Himself is Elohim in the heavens above and on the earth beneath; there is
none else.
Deut 4:40 “And you shall guard His laws and His commands which I
command you today, so that it is well with you and with your children after
you, and so that you prolong your days on the soil which יהוה your Elohim is
giving you for all time.”
Deut 4:41 Then Mosheh separated three cities beyond the Yardĕn, toward
the rising of the sun,
Deut 4:42 for him who killed someone to flee there, he who kills his
neighbour unintentionally, without having hated him in time past, and might
flee to one of these cities and live:
Deut 4:43 Betser in the wilderness in the level land for the Re’uḇĕnites, and
Ramoth in Gil‛aḏ for the Gaḏites, and Golan in Bashan for the Menashshites.
Deut 4:44 And this is the Torah which Mosheh set before the children of
Yisra’ĕl.
Deut 4:45 These are the witnesses, and the laws, and the right-rulings which
Mosheh spoke to the children of Yisra’ĕl after they came out of Mitsrayim,
Deut 4:46 beyond the Yardĕn, in the valley opposite Bĕyth Pe‛or, in the land
of Siḥon sovereign of the Amorites, who dwelt at Ḥeshbon, whom Mosheh
and the children of Yisra’ĕl had smitten after they came out of Mitsrayim.
Deut 4:47 And they took possession of his land and the land of Oḡ sovereign
of Bashan, two sovereigns of the Amorites, who were beyond the Yardĕn,
toward the rising of the sun,
Deut 4:48 from Aro‛ĕr, which is on the bank of the wadi Arnon, even to
Mount Siyon, which is Ḥermon,
Deut 4:49 and all the desert plain beyond the Yardĕn as far as the Sea of the
Araḇah, below the slopes of Pisgah.