Deuteronomy 13:4

4 Follow ye your Lord God, and dread ye him; keep ye his commandments, and hear ye his voice; ye shall serve him, and ye shall cleave to him. (Follow ye the Lord your God, and fear ye him; obey ye his commandments, and listen ye to his voice; ye shall serve him, and ye shall cleave to him.)

Deuteronomy 13:4 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 13:4

Ye shall walk after the Lord your God
As he has directed, according to the laws and rules which he has given, both with respect to their moral and civil conduct, and their religious worship of him; and so the Targum of Jonathan,

``ye shall walk after the worship of the Lord your God:''

and fear him, and keep his commandments;
fear to offend him, and so keep his commandments; or keep his commandments from or through fear; not a servile but a filial one, a reverential affection for him; this is the whole duty of man, ( Ecclesiastes 12:13 ) ,

and obey his voice;
in his word, or by his prophets and ministers: it may very well be understood of the voice of Christ, the Angel that went before them, whose voice they were continually to hearken to and obey, ( Exodus 23:21 Exodus 23:22 )

and you shall serve him, and cleave unto him;
it may respect all religious worship, both private and public; the Targum of Jonathan restrains it to prayer, but it not only includes that, but all other acts of piety and devotion, and which are to be constantly performed and not departed from; for so to do is to cleave to the Lord as a man to his wife, or a woman to her husband, in which conjugal relation God and his people Israel were, he was an husband unto them, and to do otherwise is to go a whoring from him after other gods.

Deuteronomy 13:4 In-Context

2 and this thing that he said befalleth, and he saith to thee, Go we, and follow we alien gods, which thou knowest not, and serve we them, (and what he said befalleth, and then he saith to thee, Now let us go, and follow foreign, or other, gods, which thou knowest not, and let us serve them,)
3 thou shalt not hear the words of that prophet, either of that dreamer; for your Lord God assayeth you, that he know openly whether ye love him, either nay, in all your heart, and in all your soul. (thou shalt not listen to the words of that prophet, or of that dreamer; for the Lord your God trieth, or testeth, you, to clearly know whether ye love him, or not, with all your heart, and with all your soul.)
4 Follow ye your Lord God, and dread ye him; keep ye his commandments, and hear ye his voice; ye shall serve him, and ye shall cleave to him. (Follow ye the Lord your God, and fear ye him; obey ye his commandments, and listen ye to his voice; ye shall serve him, and ye shall cleave to him.)
5 And that prophet, either (that) feigner of dreams, shall be slain; for he spake (so) that he should turn you away from your Lord God, that led you out of the land of Egypt, and again-bought you from the house of servage (and bought you back, or redeemed, or ransomed, you, from the house of servitude, or of slavery), (so) that he make thee to err from the way that thy Lord God commanded to thee; and in (the) killing of him thou shalt do away evil from the midst of thee.
6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, either thy son, either thy daughter, either the wife which is in thy bosom, either thy friend, whom thou lovest as thy (own) soul, will counsel thee, and saith privily, Go we and serve alien gods, which thou knowest not, and thy fathers know not (will counsel thee, and saith privately, Let us go, and serve foreign, or other, gods, which thou knowest not, nor thy fathers knew),
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.