Chapter Four

Recollection of the events at Shittim, at Sinai, and in Egypt — The moral lesson drawn from them — The designation of three cities of refuge east of the Jordan.

Deuteronomy 4:1. And now, O Israel, hear the statutes and the ordinances that I [today] am teaching you to do, so that you may live [and multiply], and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you [as an inheritance]. Deuteronomy 4:2. You shall not add to the word that I am commanding you, nor take from it; keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you [today]. Deuteronomy 4:3. Your eyes have seen [all] what the Lord [our God] did at Baal-peor; every man who followed Baal-peor, the Lord your God destroyed from among you. Deuteronomy 4:4. But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. Deuteronomy 4:5. See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Deuteronomy 4:6. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say: Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. Cf. Num 25.

Deuteronomy 4:7. For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is near to us whenever we call upon him? Deuteronomy 4:8. And what great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law that I am setting before you today? Deuteronomy 4:9. Only take care and watch yourself diligently, so that you do not forget the things that your eyes have seen, and so that they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children — Deuteronomy 4:10. the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, [the day of the assembly,] when the Lord said to me: Gather the people to me, and I will make them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so. Deuteronomy 4:11. And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. Deuteronomy 4:12. Then the Lord spoke to you [on the mountain] out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words [his words], but saw no form; there was only a voice. Deuteronomy 4:13. And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to observe — the Ten Commandments — and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. Deuteronomy 4:14. And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that you might do them in the land that you are crossing into to take possession of it. Deuteronomy 4:15. Therefore be very careful for your souls, since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at [the mountain of] Horeb out of the midst of the fire, Deuteronomy 4:16. lest you act corruptly by making for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, Deuteronomy 4:17. the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky, Deuteronomy 4:18. the likeness of anything [that creeps] on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. Deuteronomy 4:19. And lest you lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be led astray and bow down to them and serve them — things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. Cf. Exod 19; Exod 20; Exod 23:21-25.

Deuteronomy 4:20. But the Lord [God] took you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day. Cf. Exod 3-15.

Deuteronomy 4:21. And the Lord [God] was angry with me on your account and swore that I would not cross the Jordan and would not enter that good land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. Deuteronomy 4:22. For I am to die in this land; I shall not cross the Jordan, but you shall cross and take possession of that good land. Cf. Num 20:1-13; Deut 1:37.

Deuteronomy 4:48. starting from Aroer, which lies on the bank of the Wadi Arnon, to Mount Sion — that is, Hermon — Hermon was called Sion (Hebrew Sion, as distinct from Zion — the name of the Jerusalem Zion), meaning “the high one.”