Deuteronomy 4:2

2 You must not add to the word that I [am] commanding you, and you shall not take away from it [in order] to keep the commands of Yahweh your God that I [am] commanding you [to observe].

Deuteronomy 4:2 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 4:2

Ye shall not add to the word which I command you, nether shall
you diminish ought from it
Neither make new laws of their own, and join them to the law of God, and set them upon a level with it, or prefer them before it; as the Scribes and Pharisees did in Christ's time, who by their traditions made the word of God of none effect, as do the Papists also by their unwritten traditions; nor abrogate nor detract from the law of God, nor make void any part of it: or else the sense is, neither do that which is forbidden, nor neglect that which is commanded; neither be guilty of sins of omission nor commission, nor in any way break the law of God, and teach men so to do by word or by example; not a jot or tittle is either to be put to it, or taken from it, ( Proverbs 30:5 Proverbs 30:6 ) ( Matthew 5:18 Matthew 5:19 ) ( Revelation 22:18 Revelation 22:19 )

that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command
you;
in his name; or which he delivered unto them as his commandments, and which were to be kept just as they were delivered, without adding to them, or taking from them.

Deuteronomy 4:2 In-Context

1 "Now, Israel, listen to the rules and to the regulations that I [am] teaching you to do, in order that you may live and you may go [in] and you may take possession of the land that Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, [is] giving to you.

2 You must not add to the word that I [am] commanding you, and you shall not take away from it [in order] to keep the commands of Yahweh your God that I [am] commanding you [to observe].

3 Your eyes have seen what Yahweh did with [the case of] Baal Peor, for {each} man that followed after Baal Peor Yahweh your God destroyed from your midst.

4 But you, the [ones] holding fast to Yahweh your God, [are] all alive {today}.

5 See, I now teach you rules and regulations [just] as Yahweh my God has commanded me, to observe [them] [just] so in the midst of the land where you [are] going, to take possession of it.

Footnotes

• [a] Or "observe"