Deuteronomy 4:1-24

The events at Mount Horeb

1 Now, Israel, in light of all that, listen to the regulations and the case laws that I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and possess the land that the LORD, your ancestors' God, is giving to you.

2 Don't add anything to the word that I am commanding you, and don't take anything away from it. Instead, keep the commands of the LORD your God that I am commanding all of you.

3 You saw with your own eyes what the LORD did concerning the Baal of Peor. The LORD your God destroyed everyone who followed the Baal of Peor,

4 but all of you who stayed true to the LORD your God are alive today.

5 So pay attention! I am teaching all of you the regulations and the case laws exactly as the LORD my God commanded me. You must do these in the land you are entering to possess.

6 Keep them faithfully because that will show your wisdom and insight to the nations who will hear about all these regulations. They will say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and insightful people!"

7 After all, is there any great nation that has gods as close to it as the LORD our God is close to us whenever we call to him?

8 Or does any great nation have regulations and case laws as righteous as all this Instruction that I am setting before you today?

9 But be on guard and watch yourselves closely so that you don't forget the things your eyes saw and so they never leave your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren.

10 Remember that day when you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me: "Gather the people to me. I will declare my words to them so that they will learn to fear me every day of their lives on the fertile land, and teach their children to do the same."

11 Then you all came close and stood at the foot of the mountain. The mountain was blazing with fire up to the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick smoke!

12 The LORD spoke to you out of the very fire itself. You heard the sound of words, but you didn't see any form. There was only a voice.

13 The LORD declared his covenant to you, which he commanded you to do—the Ten Commandments—and wrote them on two stone tablets.

14 At that time, the LORD commanded me to teach you all the regulations and the case laws that you must keep in the land that you are entering to possess.

15 So watch your conduct closely, because you didn't see any form on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the very fire itself.

16 Don't ruin everything and make an idol for yourself: a form of any image, any likeness—male or female—

17 or any likeness whatsoever, whether of a land animal, a bird that flies in the sky,

18 an insect that crawls on the earth, or a fish that lives in the sea.

19 Don't look to the skies, to the sun or the moon or the stars, all the heavenly bodies, and be led astray, worshipping and serving them. The LORD your God has granted these things to all the nations who live under heaven.

20 But the LORD took you and brought you out of that iron furnace, out of Egypt, so that you might be his own treasured people, which is what you are right now.

21 The LORD was angry with me because of your deeds and swore that I couldn't cross the Jordan River or enter the wonderful land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

22 I will die here in this land. I won't cross the Jordan River. But you will, and you will take possession of that wonderful land.

23 So all of you, watch yourselves! Don't forget the covenant that the LORD your God made with you by making an idol or an image of any kind or anything the LORD your God forbids,

24 because the LORD your God is an all-consuming fire. He is a passionate God.

Deuteronomy 4:1-24 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. MT; LXX, Syr, Tg a god so close
• [b]. Heb lacks remember that.
• [c]. Or the ten words