Deuteronomy 4:24-40

24 For 1the LORD your God is a consuming fire, 2a jealous God.
25 "When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, 3if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and 4by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, so as to provoke him to anger,
26 I 5call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed.
27 And the LORD 6 will scatter you among the peoples, 7and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you.
28 And 8there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, 9that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29 10But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
30 When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you 11in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice.
31 For the LORD your God is 12a merciful God. 13He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.

The Lord Alone Is God

32 "For 14ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of.
33 15Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live?
34 Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, 16by signs, by wonders, and 17by war, 18by a mighty hand and 19an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35 To you it was shown, 20that you might know that the LORD is God; 21there is no other besides him.
36 22Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and 23you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.
37 And because 24he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them[a] and brought you out of Egypt 25with his own presence, by his great power,
38 26driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day,
39 know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that 27the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; 28there is no other.
40 29Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, 30that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time."

Deuteronomy 4:24-40 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 4

This chapter contains an exhortation to Israel to keep the commands, statutes, and judgments of God, urged from the superior excellency of them to those of all other nations, De 4:1-8, from the manner in which they were delivered, out of the midst of fire, by a voice of words, but no similitude seen, De 4:9-15, and particularly the Israelites are cautioned against idolatry, from the consideration of the goodness of God to them, in bringing them out of Egypt, De 4:16-20, and the rather Moses is urgent upon them to be diligent in their obedience to the laws of God, because he should quickly be removed from them, De 4:21-24, and should they be disobedient to them, it would provoke the Lord to destroy them, or to carry them captive into other lands, De 4:25-28 though even then, if they repented and sought the Lord, and became obedient, he would be merciful to them, and not forsake them, De 4:29-31 and they are put in mind again of the amazing things God had done for them, in speaking to them out of fire, and they alive; in bringing them out of another nation, and driving out other nations to make room for them; all which he improves, as so many arguments to move them to obedience to the divine commands, De 4:32-40 and then notice is taken of the three cities of refuge, separated on this side Jordan, De 4:41-43, and the chapter is concluded with observing, that this is the law, and these the testimonies, Moses declared and repeated to the children of Israel in the country of Sihon and Og, who were delivered into their hands, and their lands possessed by them, which laid them under fresh obligations to yield obedience to God, De 4:44-49.

Cross References 30

  • 1. Exodus 24:17; Cited Hebrews 12:29; [Deuteronomy 9:3; Isaiah 10:16-18; Isaiah 29:6; Isaiah 30:27, 30; Zephaniah 1:18]
  • 2. [Isaiah 42:8]; See Exodus 20:5
  • 3. ver. 16
  • 4. Deuteronomy 9:18; 2 Kings 17:17
  • 5. Deuteronomy 30:18, 19; Deuteronomy 31:28; Deuteronomy 32:1; Isaiah 1:2; Jeremiah 2:12; Jeremiah 6:19; Micah 6:2
  • 6. See Leviticus 26:33
  • 7. Deuteronomy 28:62
  • 8. Deuteronomy 28:36, 64; Jeremiah 16:13
  • 9. Psalms 115:4-7; Psalms 135:15-17; Isaiah 44:9; Isaiah 46:7
  • 10. Deuteronomy 30:2, 3; Leviticus 26:40-42; 2 Chronicles 15:4; Nehemiah 1:9; Isaiah 55:6, 7; Jeremiah 29:13, 14
  • 11. See Genesis 49:1
  • 12. Exodus 34:6; 2 Chronicles 30:9; Nehemiah 9:31; Jonah 4:2
  • 13. Deuteronomy 31:6, 8; Joshua 1:5; 1 Chronicles 28:20
  • 14. Job 8:8
  • 15. ver. 12; Deuteronomy 5:24, 26; Exodus 3:6; Exodus 19:21; [Genesis 32:30; Exodus 24:11; Exodus 33:20, 23; Judges 6:22, 23; Judges 13:22]
  • 16. Deuteronomy 26:8; Exodus 7:3; Jeremiah 32:21
  • 17. See Exodus 15:3-10
  • 18. Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 11:2; Deuteronomy 26:8; Deuteronomy 34:12
  • 19. Exodus 6:6; Jeremiah 32:21
  • 20. [Exodus 10:2]
  • 21. ver. 39; 1 Samuel 2:2; 2 Samuel 22:32; Isa. 45:5, 18, 22; Isaiah 46:9; Cited Mark 12:32
  • 22. Exodus 19:9, 19; Nehemiah 9:13
  • 23. [See ver. 33 above]
  • 24. Deuteronomy 10:15
  • 25. Exodus 33:14; [Isaiah 63:9]
  • 26. Deuteronomy 7:1; Deuteronomy 11:23; Exodus 23:27, 28; Exodus 34:24; See Deuteronomy 9:1-5
  • 27. Joshua 2:11; 1 Kings 8:23; 2 Chronicles 20:6; Ecclesiastes 5:2
  • 28. 1 Samuel 2:2; 2 Samuel 22:32; Isa. 45:5, 18, 22; Isaiah 46:9; Cited Mark 12:32
  • 29. Leviticus 22:31
  • 30. Deuteronomy 5:16; Deuteronomy 6:2, 3; Deuteronomy 11:9; Deuteronomy 12:25, 28; Deuteronomy 22:7; [Proverbs 3:1, 2; Proverbs 10:27]

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Hebrew his offspring after him
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.