Deuteronomy 4

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 'And now, Israel, listen to the laws and customs which I am teaching you today, so that, by observingthem, you may survive to enter and take possession of the country which Yahweh, God of your ancestors, isgiving you.	1 And now, O Israel, hear the commandments and judgments which I teach thee: that doing them, thou mayst live, and entering in mayst possess the land which the Lord the God of your fathers will give you.
2 You must add nothing to what I command you, and take nothing from it, but keep the commandmentsof Yahweh your God just as I lay them down for you.	2 You shall not add to the word that I speak to you, neither shall you take away from it: keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.
3 You can see for yourselves what Yahweh has done about the Baal of Peor; Yahweh your God hasdestroyed al those of you who fol owed the Baal of Peor;	3 Your eyes have seen all that the Lord hath done against Beelphegor, how he hath destroyed all his worshippers from among you.
4 but those of you who stayed faithful to Yahweh your God are all alive today.	4 But you that adhere to the Lord your Cad, are all alive until this present day.
5 Look: as Yahweh my God commanded me, I have taught you laws and customs, for you to observe inthe country of which you are going to take possession.	5 You know that I have taught you statutes and justices, as the Lord my God hath commanded me: so shall you do them in the land which you shall possess:
6 Keep them, put them into practice, and other peoples will admire your wisdom and prudence. Oncethey know what al these laws are, they wil exclaim, "No other people is as wise and prudent as this greatnation!"	6 And you shall observe, and fulfil them in practice. For this is your wisdom, and understanding in the sight of nations, that hearing all these precepts, they may say: Behold a wise and understanding people, a great nation.
7 And indeed, what great nation has its gods as near as Yahweh our God is to us whenever we cal tohim?	7 Neither is there any other nation so great, that hath gods so nigh them, as our God is present to all our petitions.
8 And what great nation has laws and customs as upright as the entirety of this Law which I am layingdown for you today?	8 For what other nation is there so renowned that hath ceremonies, and just judgments, and all the law, which I will set forth this day before your eyes?
9 'But take care, as you value your lives! Do not forget the things which you yourselves have seen, or letthem slip from your heart as long as you live; teach them, rather, to your children and to your children's children.	9 Keep thyself therefore, and thy soul carefully. Forget not the words that thy eyes have seen, and let them not go out of thy heart all the days of thy life. Thou shalt teach them to thy sons and to thy grandsons,
10 The day you stood at Horeb in the presence of Yahweh your God, Yahweh said to me, "Summon thepeople to me; I want them to hear me speaking, so that they will learn to fear me al the days they live on earth,and teach this to their children."	10 From the day in which thou didst stand before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord spoke to me, saying: Call together the people unto me, that they may hear my words, and may learn to fear me all the time that they live on the earth, and may teach their children.
11 So you came and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain flamed to the very sky, a skydarkened by cloud, murky and thunderous.	11 And you came to the foot of the mount, which burned even unto heaven: and there was darkness, and a cloud and obscurity in it.
12 Yahweh then spoke to you from the heart of the fire; you heard the sound of words but saw no shape;there was only a voice.	12 And the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the voice of his words, but you saw not any form at all.
13 He revealed his covenant to you and commanded you to observe it, the Ten Words which he inscribedon two tablets of stone.	13 And he shewed you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, and the ten words that he wrote in two tables of stone.
14 Yahweh then ordered me to teach you the laws and customs that you were to observe in the countryinto which you are about to cross, to take possession of it.	14 And he commanded me at that time that I should teach you the ceremonies and judgments which you shall do in the land, that you shall possess.
15 'Hence, be very careful what you do. Since you saw no shape that day at Horeb when Yahweh spoketo you from the heart of the fire,	15 Keep therefore your souls carefully. You saw not any similitude in the day that the Lord God spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the fire:
16 see that you do not corrupt yourselves by making an image in the shape of anything whatever: be itstatue of man or of woman,	16 Lest perhaps being deceived you might make you a graven similitude, or image of male or female,
17 or of any animal on the earth, or of any bird that flies in the heavens,	17 The similitude of any beasts, that are upon the earth, or of birds, that fly under heaven,
18 or of any reptile that crawls on the ground, or of any fish in the waters under the earth.	18 Or of creeping things, that move on the earth, or of fishes, that abide in the waters under the earth:
19 When you raise your eyes to heaven, when you see the sun, the moon, the stars -- the entire array ofheaven -- do not be tempted to worship them and serve them. Yahweh your God has al otted these to al theother peoples under heaven,	19 Lest perhaps lifting up thy eyes to heaven, thou see the sun and the moon, and all the stars of heaven, and being deceived by error thou adore and serve them, which the Lord thy God created for the service of all the nations, that are under heaven.
20 but Yahweh has chosen you, bringing you out of the iron-foundry, Egypt, to be his own people, hisown people as you stil are today.	20 But the Lord hath taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace of Egypt, to make you his people of inheritance, as it is this present day.
21 'Yahweh is angry with me because of you; he has sworn that I shall not cross the Jordan or enter thefine country which Yahweh your God is giving you as your heritage.	21 And the Lord was angry with me for your words, and he swore that I should not pass over the Jordan, nor enter into the excellent land, which he will give you.
22 Yes, I am to die in this country; I shal not cross this Jordan; you wil go over and take possession ofthat rich land.	22 Behold I die in this land, I shall not pass over the Jordan: you shall pass, and possess the goodly land.
23 Be careful not to forget the covenant which Yahweh your God has made with you, by sculpting animage or making a statue of anything, since Yahweh your God has forbidden this;	23 Beware lest thou ever forget the covenant of the Lord thy God, which he hath made with thee: and make to thyself a graven likeness of those things which the Lord hath forbid to be made:
24 for Yahweh your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.	24 Because the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
25 'When you have fathered children and grandchildren and have grown old in the country, when youhave grown corrupt and made some image, doing what Yahweh regards as wrong and so provoking his anger-	25 If you shall beget sons and grandsons, and abide in the land, and being deceived, make to yourselves any similitude, committing evil before the Lord your God, to provoke him to wrath:
26 today I cal heaven and earth to witness against you -- you wil quickly vanish from the country whichyou are crossing the Jordan to possess. Your days will not be prolonged there, for you wil be utterly destroyed.	26 I call this day heaven and earth to witness, that you shall quickly perish out of the land, which, when you have passed over the Jordan, you shall possess. You shall not dwell therein long, but the Lord will destroy you,
27 Yahweh wil scatter you among the peoples, and only a smal number of you wil remain among thenations where Yahweh wil have driven you.	27 And scatter you among all nations, and you shall remain a few among the nations, to which the Lord shall lead you.
28 There you wil serve gods made by human hand, of wood and of stone, that cannot see or hear, eat orsmel .	28 And there you shah serve gods, that were framed with men's hands: wood and stone, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29 'If, however, from there you start searching once more for Yahweh your God, and if you search for himhonestly and sincerely, you will find him.	29 And when thou shalt seek there the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him: yet so, if thou seek him with all thy heart, and all the affliction of thy soul.
30 You wil suffer; everything I have said wil befal you, but in the final days you wil return to Yahwehyour God and listen to his voice.	30 After all the things aforesaid shall and thee, in the latter time thou shalt return to the Lord thy God, and shalt hear his voice.
31 For Yahweh your God is a merciful God and wil not desert or destroy you or forget the covenantwhich he made on oath with your ancestors.	31 Because the Lord thy God is a merciful God: he will not leave thee, nor altogether destroy thee, nor forget the covenant, by which he swore to thy fathers.
32 'Put this question, then, to the ages that are past, that have gone before you, from when God createdthe human race on earth: Was there ever a word so majestic, from one end of heaven to the other? Wasanything like it ever heard?	32 Ask of the days of old, that have been before thy time from the day that God created man upon the earth, from one end of heaven to the other end thereof, if ever there was done the like thing, or it hath been known at any time,
33 Did ever a people hear the voice of the living God speaking from the heart of the fire, as you haveheard it, and remain alive?	33 That a people should hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of fire, as thou hast heard, and lived:
34 Has it ever been known before that any god took action himself to bring one nation out of another one,by ordeals, signs, wonders, war with mighty hand and outstretched arm, by fearsome terrors -- al of which thingsYahweh your God has done for you before your eyes in Egypt?	34 If God ever did so as to go, and take to himself a nation out of the midst of nations by temptations, signs, and wonders, by fight, and a strong hand, and stretched out arm, and horrible visions according to all the things that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, before thy eyes.
35 'This he showed you, so that you might know that Yahweh is the true God and that there is no other.	35 That thou mightest know that the Lord he is God, and there is no other besides him.
36 To instruct you, he made you hear his voice from heaven, and on earth he let you see his great fire,and from the heart of the fire you heard his words.	36 From heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might teach thee. And upon earth he shewed thee his exceeding great fire, and thou didst hear his words out of the midst of the fire,
37 Because he loved your ancestors and, after them, chose their descendants, he has brought you out ofEgypt, displaying his presence and mighty power,	37 Because he loved thy fathers, and chose their seed after them. And he brought thee out of Egypt, going before thee with his great power,
38 dispossessing for you nations who were larger and stronger than you, to make way for you and to giveyou their country as your heritage, as it still is today.	38 To destroy at thy coming very great nations, and stronger than thou art, and to bring thee in, and give thee their land for a possession, as thou seest at this present day.
39 'Hence, grasp this today and meditate on it careful y: Yahweh is the true God, in heaven above as onearth beneath, he and no other.	39 Know therefore this day, and think in thy heart that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and in the earth beneath, and there is no other.
40 Keep his laws and commandments as I give them to you today, so that you and your children afteryou may prosper and live long in the country that Yahweh your God is giving you for ever.'	40 Keep his precepts and commandments, which I command thee: that it may be well with thee, and thy children after thee, and thou mayst remain a long time upon the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee.
41 Moses then set aside three towns in the east, beyond the Jordan,	41 Then Moses set aside three cities beyond the Jordan at the east side,
42 to which any kil er might flee who had accidental y, without any previous feud, killed his fel ow; by taking refuge in one of these towns he could save his life.	42 That any one might flee to them who should kill his neighbour unwillingly, and was not his enemy a day or two before, and that he might escape to some one of these cities:
43 These were, for the Reubenites, Bezer in the desert on the tableland; for the Gadites, Ramoth inGilead; for the Manassehites, Golan in Bashan.	43 Bosor in the wilderness, which is situate in the plains of the tribe of Ruben: and Ramoth in Galaad, which is in the tribe of Gad: and Golan in Basan, which is in the tribe of Manasses.
44 This is the Law which Moses presented to the Israelites.	44 This is the law, that Moses set before the children of Israel,
45 These are the stipulations, the laws and the customs which Moses gave the Israelites after they hadleft Egypt,	45 And these are the testimonies and ceremonies and judgments, which he spoke to the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt,
46 beyond the Jordan in the val ey near Beth-Peor, in the country of Sihon the Amorite king who hadlived at Heshbon. Moses and the Israelites had defeated him when they left Egypt,	46 Beyond the Jordan in the valley over against the temple of Phogor, in the land of Sehon king of the Amorrhites, that dwelt in Hesebon, whom Moses slew. And the children of Israel coming out of Egypt,
47 and had taken possession of his country, as wel as that of Og king of Bashan -- two Amorite kings tothe east beyond the Jordan,	47 Possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Basan, of the two kings of the Amorrhites, who were beyond the Jordan towards the rising of the sun:
48 from Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Val ey, al the way to Mount Sion (that is, Hermon) -	48 From Aroer, which is situate upon the bank of the torrent Amen, unto mount Sion, which is also called Hermon,
49 and of the whole Arabah east of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, at the foot of the slopesof Pisgah.	49 All the plain beyond the Jordan at the east side, unto the see of the wilderness, and unto the foot of mount Phasga.