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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>Deuteronomy 4 New American Bible</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/deuteronomy/4.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="/bmcc/deuteronomy/4-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com/catholic">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NABRE</a> > Deuteronomy 4</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../deuteronomy/3.htm" title="Deuteronomy 3">◄</a> Deuteronomy 4 <a href="../deuteronomy/5.htm" title="Deuteronomy 5">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New American Bible Revised Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><section id="ch05004" class="chapter"> <h1 id="cn05004" class="cn"></h1> <p class="pf"><span class="hemb">Advantages of Fidelity.</span> <span id="v05004001" class="ver">1</span>Now therefore, Israel, hear the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.<a id="ren05004001-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004001-a">a</a> <span id="v05004002" class="ver">2</span>In your observance of the commandments of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God,<a id="ren05004002-b" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004002-b">b</a> which I am commanding you, you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it. <span id="v05004003" class="ver">3</span>You have seen with your own eyes what the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> did at Baal-peor:<a id="ren05004003-c" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004003-c">c</a> the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God, destroyed from your midst everyone who followed the Baal of Peor; <span id="v05004004" class="ver">4</span>but you, who held fast to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God, are all alive today. <span id="v05004005" class="ver">5</span>See, I am teaching you the statutes and ordinances as the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, my God, has commanded me, that you may observe them in the land you are entering to possess. <span id="v05004006" class="ver">6</span>Observe them carefully, for this is your wisdom and discernment in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, “This great nation is truly a wise and discerning people.”<a id="ren05004006-d" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004006-d">d</a> <span id="v05004007" class="ver">7</span><a id="ren05004007-e" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004007-e">e</a> For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him? <span id="v05004008" class="ver">8</span>Or what great nation has statutes and ordinances that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?<a id="ren05004008-f" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004008-f">f</a></p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">Revelation at Horeb.</span> <span id="v05004009" class="ver">9</span>However, be on your guard and be very careful not to forget the things your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your heart as long as you live, but make them known to your children<a id="ren05004009-g" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004009-g">g</a> and to your children’s children, <span id="v05004010" class="ver">10</span>that day you stood before the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God, at Horeb, when the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> said to me: Assemble the people for me, that I may let them hear my words, that they may learn to fear<a id="rfn05004010-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn05004010-1">*</a> me as long as they live in the land and may so teach their children. <span id="v05004011" class="ver">11</span><a id="ren05004011-h" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004011-h">h</a> You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain blazed to the heart of the heavens with fire and was enveloped in a dense black cloud. <span id="v05004012" class="ver">12</span>Then the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> spoke to you from the midst of the fire.<a id="ren05004012-i" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004012-i">i</a> You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. <span id="v05004013" class="ver">13</span>He proclaimed to you his covenant, which he commanded you to keep: the ten words,<a id="rfn05004013-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn05004013-1">*</a> which he wrote on two stone tablets.<a id="ren05004013-j" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004013-j">j</a> <span id="v05004014" class="ver">14</span>At that time the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> charged me to teach you the statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land you are about to cross into and possess.</p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">Danger of Idolatry.</span> <span id="v05004015" class="ver">15</span>Because you saw no form at all on the day the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, be strictly on your guard <span id="v05004016" class="ver">16</span>not to act corruptly by fashioning an idol for yourselves to represent any figure, whether it be the form of a man or of a woman,<a id="ren05004016-k" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004016-k">k</a> <span id="v05004017" class="ver">17</span>the form of any animal on the earth, the form of any bird that flies in the sky, <span id="v05004018" class="ver">18</span>the form of anything that crawls on the ground, or the form of any fish in the waters under the earth. <span id="v05004019" class="ver">19</span>And when you look up to the heavens and behold the sun or the moon or the stars, the whole heavenly host, do not be led astray into bowing down to them and serving them.<a id="ren05004019-l" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004019-l">l</a> These the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God, has apportioned to all the other nations under the heavens; <span id="v05004020" class="ver">20</span>but you the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> has taken and led out of that iron foundry, Egypt, that you might be his people, his heritage, as you are today.<a id="ren05004020-m" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004020-m">m</a> <span id="v05004021" class="ver">21</span>But the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> was angry with me on your account<a id="ren05004021-n" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004021-n">n</a> and swore that I should not cross the Jordan nor enter the good land which the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God, is giving you as a heritage. <span id="v05004022" class="ver">22</span>I myself shall die in this country; I shall not cross the Jordan; but you are going to cross over and take possession of that good land.<a id="ren05004022-o" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004022-o">o</a> <span id="v05004023" class="ver">23</span>Be careful, therefore, lest you forget the covenant which the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God, has made with you, and fashion for yourselves against his command an idol in any form whatsoever.<a id="ren05004023-p" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004023-p">p</a> <span id="v05004024" class="ver">24</span>For the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God, is a consuming fire, a jealous God.<a id="rfn05004024-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn05004024-1">*</a> <a id="ren05004024-q" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004024-q">q</a></p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">God’s Fidelity and Love.</span> <span id="v05004025" class="ver">25</span><a id="ren05004025-r" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004025-r">r</a> When you have children and children’s children, and have grown old in the land, should you then act corruptly by fashioning an idol in the form of anything, and by this evil done in his sight provoke the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God, <span id="v05004026" class="ver">26</span>I call heaven and earth this day to witness against you, that you shall all quickly perish from the land which you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You shall not live in it for any length of time but shall be utterly wiped out.<a id="ren05004026-s" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004026-s">s</a> <span id="v05004027" class="ver">27</span>The <span class="tetr">Lord</span> will scatter you among the peoples, and there shall remain but a handful of you among the nations to which the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> will drive you. <span id="v05004028" class="ver">28</span>There you shall serve gods that are works of human hands, of wood and stone, gods which can neither see nor hear, neither eat nor smell.<a id="ren05004028-t" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004028-t">t</a> <span id="v05004029" class="ver">29</span>Yet when you seek the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God, from there, you shall indeed find him if you search after him with all your heart and soul.<a id="ren05004029-u" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004029-u">u</a> <span id="v05004030" class="ver">30</span>In your distress, when all these things shall have come upon you, you shall finally return to the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God, and listen to his voice. <span id="v05004031" class="ver">31</span>Since the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God, is a merciful God, he will not abandon or destroy you, nor forget the covenant with your ancestors that he swore to them.<a id="ren05004031-v" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004031-v">v</a></p> <p><span id="v05004032" class="ver">32</span>Ask now of the days of old, before your time, ever since God created humankind upon the earth; ask from one end of the sky to the other: Did anything so great ever happen before? Was it ever heard of? <span id="v05004033" class="ver">33</span>Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live?<a id="ren05004033-w" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004033-w">w</a> <span id="v05004034" class="ver">34</span>Or did any god venture to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders,<a id="ren05004034-x" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004034-x">x</a> by war, with strong hand and outstretched arm, and by great terrors, all of which the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God, did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? <span id="v05004035" class="ver">35</span>All this you were allowed to see that you might know that the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> is God; there is no other.<a id="ren05004035-y" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004035-y">y</a> <span id="v05004036" class="ver">36</span>Out of the heavens he let you hear his voice to discipline you; on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard him speaking out of the fire. <span id="v05004037" class="ver">37</span>For love of your ancestors he chose their descendants after them and by his presence and great power led you out of Egypt, <span id="v05004038" class="ver">38</span>dispossessing before you nations greater and mightier than you, so as to bring you in and to give their land to you as a heritage, as it is today. <span id="v05004039" class="ver">39</span>This is why you must now acknowledge, and fix in your heart, that the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other.<a id="ren05004039-z" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004039-z">z</a> <span id="v05004040" class="ver">40</span>And you must keep his statutes and commandments which I command you today, that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may have long life on the land which the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>, your God, is giving you forever.<a id="ren05004040-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004040-a">a</a></p> <p class="psec"><span class="hemb">Cities of Refuge.</span> <span id="v05004041" class="ver">41</span><a id="ren05004041-b" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004041-b">b</a> Then Moses set apart three cities in the region east of the Jordan, <span id="v05004042" class="ver">42</span>to which a homicide might flee who killed a neighbor unintentionally, where there had been no hatred previously, so that the killer might flee to one of these cities and live: <span id="v05004043" class="ver">43</span>Bezer in the wilderness, in the region of the plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.</p> <h1 class="bksect">II. <span class="ac">Second Address</span></h1> <p class="sh">A. The Lord’s Covenant with Israel</p> <p class="paft"><span class="hemb">Introduction.</span> <span id="v05004044" class="ver">44</span>This is the law<a id="rfn05004044-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn05004044-1">*</a> which Moses set before the Israelites.<a id="ren05004044-c" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004044-c">c</a> <span id="v05004045" class="ver">45</span>These are the decrees, and the statutes and ordinances<a id="rfn05004045-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn05004045-1">*</a> which Moses proclaimed to the Israelites after they came out of Egypt,<a id="ren05004045-d" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004045-d">d</a> <span id="v05004046" class="ver">46</span><a id="ren05004046-e" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004046-e">e</a> beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses and the Israelites defeated after they came out of Egypt.<a id="ren05004046-f" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en05004046-f">f</a> <span id="v05004047" class="ver">47</span>They took possession of his land and the land of Og, king of Bashan, as well—the land of these two kings of the Amorites in the region beyond the Jordan to the east: <span id="v05004048" class="ver">48</span>from Aroer on the edge of the Wadi Arnon to Mount Sion<a id="rfn05004048-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn05004048-1">*</a> (that is, Hermon) <span id="v05004049" class="ver">49</span>and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan to the east, as far as the Arabah Sea<a id="rfn05004049-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn05004049-1">*</a> under the slopes of Pisgah.</p> </section> <br /><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="intro.htm"><span class="ac">Book Introduction</span></a></h1><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="footnotes.htm"><span class="ac">Footnotes</span></a></h1></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the <i>New American Bible, revised edition</i> © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. 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