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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//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"><title>Deuteronomy 4 GNT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></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="../topmenuchap/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="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">GNT</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">Good News Translation</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s">Moses Urges Israel to Be Obedient</h3><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_1"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.1" class="v5_4_1">1</span>Then Moses said to the people, “Obey all the laws that I am teaching you, and you will live and occupy the land which the <span class="nd">Lord</span>, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. </span><span class="v5_4_2"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.2" class="v5_4_2">2</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.2!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Do not add anything to what I command you, and do not take anything away. Obey the commands of the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God that I have given you. </span><span class="v5_4_3"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.3" class="v5_4_3">3</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.3!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> You yourselves saw what the <span class="nd">Lord</span> did at Mount Peor. He destroyed everyone who worshiped Baal there, </span><span class="v5_4_4"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.4" class="v5_4_4">4</span>but those of you who were faithful to the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God are still alive today.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_5"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.5" class="v5_4_5">5</span>“I have taught you all the laws, as the <span class="nd">Lord</span> my God told me to do. Obey them in the land that you are about to invade and occupy. </span><span class="v5_4_6"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.6" class="v5_4_6">6</span>Obey them faithfully, and this will show the people of other nations how wise you are. When they hear of all these laws, they will say, ‘What wisdom and understanding this great nation has!’</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_7"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.7" class="v5_4_7">7</span>“No other nation, no matter how great, has a god who is so near when they need him as the <span class="nd">Lord</span> our God is to us. He answers us whenever we call for help. </span><span class="v5_4_8"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.8" class="v5_4_8">8</span>No other nation, no matter how great, has laws so just as those that I have taught you today. </span><span class="v5_4_9"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.9" class="v5_4_9">9</span>Be on your guard! Make certain that you do not forget, as long as you live, what you have seen with your own eyes. Tell your children and your grandchildren </span><span class="v5_4_10"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.10" class="v5_4_10">10</span>about the day you stood in the presence of the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God at Mount Sinai,<a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.10!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> when he said to me, ‘Assemble the people. I want them to hear what I have to say, so that they will learn to obey me as long as they live and so that they will teach their children to do the same.’</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_11"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.11" class="v5_4_11">11</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.11!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> “Tell your children how you went and stood at the foot of the mountain which was covered with thick clouds of dark smoke and fire blazing up to the sky. </span><span class="v5_4_12"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.12" class="v5_4_12">12</span>Tell them how the <span class="nd">Lord</span> spoke to you from the fire, how you heard him speaking but did not see him in any form at all. </span><span class="v5_4_13"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.13" class="v5_4_13">13</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.13!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> He told you what you must do to keep the covenant he made with you—you must obey the Ten Commandments, which he wrote on two stone tablets. </span><span class="v5_4_14"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.14" class="v5_4_14">14</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.14!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> The <span class="nd">Lord</span> told me to teach you all the laws that you are to obey in the land that you are about to invade and occupy.</span></p><h3 class="s">Warning against Idolatry</h3><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_15"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.15" class="v5_4_15">15</span>“When the <span class="nd">Lord</span> spoke to you from the fire on Mount Sinai, you did not see any form. For your own good, then, make certain </span><span class="v5_4_16"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.16" class="v5_4_16">16</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.16!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> that you do not sin by making for yourselves an idol in any form at all—whether man or woman, </span><span class="v5_4_17"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.17" class="v5_4_17">17</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.17!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> animal or bird, </span><span class="v5_4_18"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.18" class="v5_4_18">18</span>reptile or fish. </span><span class="v5_4_19"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.19" class="v5_4_19">19</span>Do not be tempted to worship and serve what you see in the sky—the sun, the moon, and the stars. The <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God has given these to all other peoples for them to worship. </span><span class="v5_4_20"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.20" class="v5_4_20">20</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.20!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> But you are the people he rescued from Egypt, that blazing furnace. He brought you out to make you his own people, as you are today. </span><span class="v5_4_21"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.21" class="v5_4_21">21</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.21!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Because of you the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God was angry with me and solemnly declared that I would not cross the Jordan River to enter the fertile land which he is giving you. </span><span class="v5_4_22"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.22" class="v5_4_22">22</span>I will die in this land and never cross the river, but you are about to go across and occupy that fertile land. </span><span class="v5_4_23"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.23" class="v5_4_23">23</span>Be certain that you do not forget the covenant that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God made with you. Obey his command not to make yourselves any kind of idol, </span><span class="v5_4_24"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.24" class="v5_4_24">24</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.24!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> because the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God is like a flaming fire; he tolerates no rivals.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_25"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.25" class="v5_4_25">25</span>“Even when you have been in the land a long time and have children and grandchildren, do not sin by making for yourselves an idol in any form at all. This is evil in the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s sight, and it will make him angry. </span><span class="v5_4_26"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.26" class="v5_4_26">26</span>I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that, if you disobey me, you will soon disappear from the land. You will not live very long in the land across the Jordan that you are about to occupy. You will be completely destroyed. </span><span class="v5_4_27"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.27" class="v5_4_27">27</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.27!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> The <span class="nd">Lord</span> will scatter you among other nations, where only a few of you will survive. </span><span class="v5_4_28"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.28" class="v5_4_28">28</span>There you will serve gods made by human hands, gods of wood and stone, gods that cannot see or hear, eat or smell. </span><span class="v5_4_29"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.29" class="v5_4_29">29</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.29!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> There you will look for the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God, and if you search for him with all your heart, you will find him. </span><span class="v5_4_30"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.30" class="v5_4_30">30</span>When you are in trouble and all those things happen to you, then you will finally turn to the <span class="nd">Lord</span> and obey him. </span><span class="v5_4_31"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.31" class="v5_4_31">31</span>He is a merciful God. He will not abandon you or destroy you, and he will not forget the covenant that he himself made with your ancestors.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_32"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.32" class="v5_4_32">32</span>“Search the past, the time before you were born, all the way back to the time when God created human beings on the earth. Search the entire earth. Has anything as great as this ever happened before? Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? </span><span class="v5_4_33"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.33" class="v5_4_33">33</span>Have any people ever lived after hearing a god speak to them from a fire, as you have? </span><span class="v5_4_34"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.34" class="v5_4_34">34</span>Has any god ever dared to go and take a people from another nation and make them his own, as the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God did for you in Egypt? Before your very eyes he used his great power and strength; he brought plagues and war, worked miracles and wonders, and caused terrifying things to happen. </span><span class="v5_4_35"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.35" class="v5_4_35">35</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.35!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> The <span class="nd">Lord</span> has shown you this, to prove to you that he alone is God and that there is no other. </span><span class="v5_4_36"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.36" class="v5_4_36">36</span>He let you hear his voice from heaven so that he could instruct you; and here on earth he let you see his holy fire, and he spoke to you from it. </span><span class="v5_4_37"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.37" class="v5_4_37">37</span>Because he loved your ancestors, he chose you, and by his great power he himself brought you out of Egypt. </span><span class="v5_4_38"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.38" class="v5_4_38">38</span>As you advanced, he drove out nations greater and more powerful than you, so that he might bring you in and give you their land, the land which still belongs to you. </span><span class="v5_4_39"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.39" class="v5_4_39">39</span>So remember today and never forget: the <span class="nd">Lord</span> is God in heaven and on earth. There is no other god. </span><span class="v5_4_40"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.40" class="v5_4_40">40</span>Obey all his laws that I have given you today, and all will go well with you and your descendants. You will continue to live in the land that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God is giving you to be yours forever.”</span></p><h3 class="s">The Cities of Refuge East of the Jordan</h3><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_41"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.41" class="v5_4_41">41</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.41!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Then Moses set aside three cities east of the Jordan River </span><span class="v5_4_42"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.42" class="v5_4_42">42</span>to which a man could escape and be safe if he had accidentally killed someone who had not been his enemy. He could escape to one of these cities and not be put to death. </span><span class="v5_4_43"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.43" class="v5_4_43">43</span>For the tribe of Reuben there was the city of Bezer, on the desert plateau; for the tribe of Gad there was Ramoth, in the territory of Gilead; and for the tribe of Manasseh there was Golan, in the territory of Bashan.</span></p><h3 class="s">Introduction to the Giving of God's Law</h3><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_44"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.44" class="v5_4_44">44</span>Moses gave God's laws and teachings to the people of Israel. </span><span class="v5_4_45"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.45-Deut.4.46" class="v5_4_45">45-46</span>It was after they had come out of Egypt and were in the valley east of the Jordan River, opposite the town of Bethpeor, that he gave them these laws. This was in the territory that had belonged to King Sihon of the Amorites, who had ruled in the town of Heshbon. Moses and the people of Israel defeated him when they came out of Egypt. </span><span class="v5_4_47"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.47" class="v5_4_47">47</span>They occupied his land and the land of King Og of Bashan, the other Amorite king who lived east of the Jordan. </span><span class="v5_4_48"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.48" class="v5_4_48">48</span>This land extended from the town of Aroer, on the edge of the Arnon River, all the way north to Mount Sirion,<a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.48!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> that is, Mount Hermon. </span><span class="v5_4_49"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.49" class="v5_4_49">49</span>It also included all the region east of the Jordan River as far south as the Dead Sea and east to the foot of Mount Pisgah.</span></p><a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">4.10: </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Sinai; </char><char style="ft" closed="false">or </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Horeb.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">4.48: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">One ancient translation </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Sirion; </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Hebrew </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Sion.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 1992 American Bible Society. 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