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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 CEV</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="../">CEV</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">Contemporary English Version</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s1">Israel Must Obey God</h3><h5 class="sp">Moses said:</h5><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_1"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.1" class="v5_4_1">1</span>Israel, listen to these laws and teachings! If you obey them, you will live, and you will go in and take the land that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> is giving you. He is the God your ancestors worshiped, </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> and now he is your God. I am telling you everything he has commanded, so don't add anything or take anything away.</span></p><p class="par"><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 saw how he killed everyone who worshiped the god Baal Peor.<a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.3!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span><span class="v5_4_4"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.4" class="v5_4_4">4</span>But all of you that 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-Deut.4.8" class="v5_4_5">5-8</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.5-Deut.4.8!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> No other nation has laws that are as fair as the ones the Lord my God told me to give you. If you faithfully obey them when you enter the land, you will show other nations how wise you are. In fact, everyone that hears about your laws will say, “That great nation certainly is wise!” And what makes us greater than other nations? We have a God who is close to us and answers our prayers.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_9"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.9" class="v5_4_9">9</span>You must be very careful not to forget the things you have seen God do for you. Keep reminding yourselves, and tell your children and grandchildren as well. </span><span class="v5_4_10"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.10" class="v5_4_10">10</span>Do you remember the day you stood in the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s presence at Mount Sinai?<a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.10!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> The <span class="nd">Lord</span> said, “Moses, bring the people of Israel here. I want to speak to them so they will obey me as long as they live, and so they will teach their children to obey me too.”</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> Mount Sinai<a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.11!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> was surrounded by deep dark clouds, and fire went up to the sky. You came to the foot of the mountain, </span><span class="v5_4_12"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.12" class="v5_4_12">12</span>and the <span class="nd">Lord</span> spoke to you from the fire. You could hear him and understand what he was saying, but you couldn't see him. </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> The <span class="nd">Lord</span> said he was making an agreement with you, and he told you that your part of the agreement is to obey the Ten Commandments. Then the <span class="nd">Lord</span> wrote these Commandments on two flat stones.</span></p><p class="par"><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> That's when the <span class="nd">Lord</span> commanded me to give you the laws and teachings you must obey in the land that you will conquer west of the Jordan River.</span></p><h3 class="s1">Don't Worship Idols</h3><h5 class="sp">Moses said to Israel:</h5><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_15"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.15" class="v5_4_15">15</span>When God spoke to you from the fire, he was invisible. So be careful </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> not to commit the sin of worshiping idols. Don't make idols to be worshiped, whether they are shaped like men, women, </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> animals, birds, </span><span class="v5_4_18"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.18" class="v5_4_18">18</span>reptiles, or fish. </span><span class="v5_4_19"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.19" class="v5_4_19">19</span>And when you see the sun or moon or stars, don't be tempted to bow down and worship them. The <span class="nd">Lord</span> put them there for all the other nations 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 <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s people, because he rescued you from Egypt, that fiery furnace.</span></p><p class="par"><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> The <span class="nd">Lord</span> was angry with me because of what you said,<a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.21!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> and he told me that he would not let me cross the Jordan River into the good land that he is giving you.<a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.21!f.3" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span><span class="v5_4_22"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.22" class="v5_4_22">22</span>So I must stay here and die on this side of the Jordan, but you will cross the river and take the land.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_23"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.23" class="v5_4_23">23</span>Always remember the agreement that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God made with you, and don't make an idol in any shape or form. </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> The <span class="nd">Lord</span> will be angry if you worship other gods, and he can be like a fire destroying everything in its path.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_25"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.25-Deut.4.26" class="v5_4_25">25-26</span>Soon you will cross the Jordan River and settle down in the land. Then in the years to come, you will have children, and they will give you grandchildren. After many years, you might lose your sense of right and wrong and make idols, even though the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God hates them. So I am giving you fair warning today, and I call the earth and the sky as witnesses. If you ever make idols, the <span class="nd">Lord</span> will be angry, and you won't have long to live, because the <span class="nd">Lord</span> will let you be wiped out. </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> Only a few of you will survive, and the <span class="nd">Lord</span> will force you to leave the land and will scatter you among the nations. </span><span class="v5_4_28"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.28" class="v5_4_28">28</span>There you will have to worship gods made of wood and stone, and these are nothing but idols that can't see or hear or eat or smell.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_29"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.29-Deut.4.30" class="v5_4_29">29-30</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.29-Deut.4.30!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> In all of your troubles, you may finally decide that you want to worship only the <span class="nd">Lord</span>. And if you turn back to him and obey him completely, he will again be your God. </span><span class="v5_4_31"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.31" class="v5_4_31">31</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God will have mercy—he won't destroy you or desert you. The <span class="nd">Lord</span> will remember his promise, and he will keep the agreement he made with your ancestors.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_32"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.32-Deut.4.34" class="v5_4_32">32-34</span>When the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God brought you out of Egypt, you saw how he fought for you and showed his great power by performing terrifying miracles. You became his people, and at Mount Sinai you heard him talking to you out of fiery flames. And yet you are still alive! Has anything like this ever happened since the time God created humans? No matter where you go or who you ask, you will get the same answer. No one has ever heard of another god even trying to do such things as the <span class="nd">Lord</span> your God has done for you.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_35"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.35-Deut.4.36" class="v5_4_35">35-36</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.35-Deut.4.36!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> The <span class="nd">Lord</span> wants you to know he is the only true God, and he wants you to obey him. That's why he let you see his mighty miracles and his fierce fire on earth, and why you heard his voice from that fire and from the sky.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_37"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.37" class="v5_4_37">37</span>The <span class="nd">Lord</span> loved your ancestors and decided that you would be his people. So the <span class="nd">Lord</span> used his great power to bring you out of Egypt. </span><span class="v5_4_38"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.38" class="v5_4_38">38</span>Now you face other nations more powerful than you are, but the <span class="nd">Lord</span> has already started forcing them out of their land and giving it to you.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_39"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.39" class="v5_4_39">39</span>So remember that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> is the only true God, whether in the sky above or on the earth below. </span><span class="v5_4_40"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.40" class="v5_4_40">40</span>Today I am explaining his laws and teachings. And if you always obey them, you and your descendants will live long and be successful in the land the <span class="nd">Lord</span> is giving you.</span></p><h3 class="s1">Safe Towns</h3><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_41"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.41-Deut.4.43" class="v5_4_41">41-43</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.41-Deut.4.43!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Moses said, “People of Israel, you must set aside the following three towns east of the Jordan River as Safe Towns: Bezer in the desert highlands belonging to the Reuben tribe; Ramoth in Gilead, belonging to the Gad tribe; and Golan in Bashan, belonging to the Manasseh tribe. If you kill a neighbor without meaning to, and if you had not been angry with that person, you can run to one of these towns and find safety.”<a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.41-Deut.4.43!f.2" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><h3 class="ms2">The Second Speech: Moses Tells What the Lord Demands</h3><h3 class="s1">Israel at Beth-Peor</h3><p class="par"><span class="v5_4_44"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.44-Deut.4.46" class="v5_4_44">44-46</span>The Israelites had come from Egypt and were camped east of the Jordan River near Beth-Peor, when Moses gave these laws and teachings. The land around their camp had once belonged to King Sihon of Heshbon. But Moses and the Israelites defeated him </span><span class="v5_4_47"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.47" class="v5_4_47">47</span>and King Og of Bashan, and took their lands. These two Amorite kings had ruled the territory east of the Jordan River </span><span class="v5_4_48"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.48" class="v5_4_48">48</span>from the town of Aroer on the edge of the Arnon River gorge, north to Mount Hermon.<a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.48!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span><span class="v5_4_49"><span class="reftext" id="Deut.4.49" class="v5_4_49">49</span>Their land included the eastern side of the Jordan River valley, as far south as the Dead Sea<a href="#fn" id="link_Deut.4.49!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> below the slopes of Mount Pisgah.</span></p></div> </div> <a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">4.3 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Baal Peor: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See Numbers 25.1-9.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">4.10 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Mount Sinai: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See the note at 1.1-5. </char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">4.11 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Mount Sinai: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See the note at 1.1-5. </char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">4.21 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">what you said: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Or “you people.”</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">4.21 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">The <char style="nd">Lord</char> was angry … giving you: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">See 1.37; 3.26.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">4.41-43 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">find safety: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">From the victim's clan, who might appoint one of their men to track down and put to death the killer (see also 19.1-13).</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">4.48 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Hermon: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">The Hebrew text also includes the name “Sion,” probably another form of “Sirion,” the name used by the Sidonians.</char></note><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">4.49 </char><char style="fq" closed="false">the Dead Sea: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Hebrew “the Sea of the Arabah.”</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 2006 American Bible Society. 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