Deuteronomy 4

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
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, listen to the precepts and judgments which I am teaching to you, so that, by doing these, you may live, and you may enter and possess the land, which the Lord, the God of your fathers, will give to 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 which I speak to you, neither shall you take away from it. Preserve the commandments of the Lord your God which I am teaching to 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 has done against Baal-peor, in what manner he has crushed all of his worshippers from among you.
4 but those of you who stayed faithful to Yahweh your God are all alive today.	4 But you who adhere to the Lord your God are all still alive, to the 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 precepts as well as justices, just as the Lord my God has commanded me. And so shall you do in the land that you will 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 fulfill these in practice. For this is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, so that, upon hearing all these precepts, they may say: ‘Lo, 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, which has its gods so near to 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 as to have ceremonies, and just judgments, and the entire law that I will set forth today 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 And so, guard yourself and your soul carefully. You should not forget the words that your eyes have seen, and do not let them be cut away from your heart, throughout all the days of your life. You shall teach them to your sons and to your 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 on which you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord spoke to me, saying: ‘Gather the people to me, so that they may listen to my words, and may learn to fear me, throughout all the time that they are alive on earth, and so that they 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 approached the base of the mountain, which was burning even toward heaven. And there was a darkness upon it, and a cloud, and a mist.
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 fire. You heard the voice of his words, but you did not see 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 revealed his covenant to you, which he instructed you to carry out, and the ten words which he wrote on two tablets 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 must carry out, 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 And so, guard your souls carefully. You saw no likeness on the day that the Lord God spoke to you on Horeb from the midst of 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 Otherwise, perhaps being deceived, you might have made a graven image, or an image of male or female,
17 or of any animal on the earth, or of any bird that flies in the heavens,	17 a likeness of any of the beasts, which are upon the earth, or of birds, which 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 reptiles, which move across the earth, or of fish, which 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 Otherwise, perhaps lifting up your eyes to heaven, you might look upon the sun and the moon and all the stars of heaven, and being deceived by error, you might adore and worship these things, which the Lord your God created for the service of all the nations, which 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 has taken you up, and led you away from the iron furnaces of Egypt, in order to have a people of inheritance, just as it is to the 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 became angry against me because of your words, and he swore that I would not cross over the Jordan, nor enter into the excellent land, which he will give to 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 shall die on this soil. I shall not cross over the Jordan. You shall cross it, and you shall possess the singular 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 Be careful, lest you at sometime forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he has formed with you, and lest you make for yourselves a graven likeness of those things which the Lord has prohibited to be made.
24 for Yahweh your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.	24 For the Lord your 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 When you will have conceived sons and grandsons while abiding in the land, and if, having been deceived, you make for yourselves any likeness, accomplishing evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as 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 heaven and earth as witnesses this day, that you shall quickly perish from the land, which, when you have crossed over the Jordan, you will possess. You will not live in it for a long time; instead, 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 he will scatter you among all the nations, and few of you will remain among those nations, to which the Lord will 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 will serve gods which were fabricated by the hands of men: gods of wood and of stone, who 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 you will seek the Lord your God in that place, you shall find him, if only you seek him with all your heart, and in all the tribulation of your 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 these things which have been foretold have found you, in the end time, you shall return to the Lord your God, and you will 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 For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not abandon you, nor will he entirely destroy you, nor will he forget the covenant, which he swore to your 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 Inquire concerning the days of antiquity, which were before you, from the day when God created man upon the earth, from one end of heaven to another, if anything similar has ever occurred, or whether any such thing has ever been known,
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 would hear the voice of God, speaking from the midst of fire, just as you have heard it, and live,
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 whether God has acted so as to enter and take for himself a nation from the midst of the nations, by means of tests, signs, and wonders, by means of fighting, and a strong hand, and an outstretched arm, and terrible visions, in accord with all the things which the Lord your God has accomplished for you in Egypt, in the sight of your eyes.
35 'This he showed you, so that you might know that Yahweh is the true God and that there is no other.	35 So may you know that the Lord himself is God, and there is no other beside 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 He has caused you to hear his voice from heaven, so that he might teach you. And he showed you his exceedingly great fire on earth, and you heard his words from 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 For he loved your fathers, and he chose their offspring after them. And he led you away from Egypt, advancing before you 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 so as to wipe away, upon your arrival, nations, very great and stronger than you, and so as to lead you in, and to present to you their land as a possession, just as you discern in the 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 Therefore, know on this day and consider in your heart, that the Lord himself is God in heaven above, and on earth below, 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 am teaching to you, so that it may be well with you, and with your sons after you, and so that you may remain for a long time upon the land, which the Lord your God will give to you.”
41 Moses then set aside three towns in the east, beyond the Jordan,	41 Then Moses set aside three cities, across the Jordan toward the eastern region,
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 so that anyone might flee to these if he has killed his neighbor unwillingly, who was not his enemy a day or two earlier, and so that he would be able to escape to 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 Bezer in the wilderness, which is situated in the plains of the tribe of Ruben; and Ramoth in Gilead, which is in the tribe of Gad; and Golan in Bashan, which is in the tribe of Manasseh.
44 This is the Law which Moses presented to the Israelites.	44 This is the law, which Moses set forth before the sons 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 as well as judgments, which he spoke to the sons of Israel, when they departed from 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 across the Jordan, in the valley opposite the shrine of Peor, in the land of Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses struck down. Accordingly, the sons of Israel, having departed from 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, the king of Bashan, the land of the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, toward 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 situated above the bank of the torrent Arnon, as far as Mount Zion, 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 the entire plain across the Jordan, from its eastern region, as far as the sea of the wilderness, and even to the base of Mount Pisgah.