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King James Bible

Obedience Commanded

Now, Israel, hear the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.

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An Exhortation to Obedience

Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.

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Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.

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Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

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You saw with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal Peor. The Lord your God destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor,

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Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you.

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but all of you who held fast to the Lord your God are still alive today.

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But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day.

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See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it.

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Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the LORD my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

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Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

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Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

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What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him?

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For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the LORD our God is in all things that we call upon him for?

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And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?

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And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

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Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.

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Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons' sons;

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Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”

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Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.

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You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.

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And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.

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Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.

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And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.

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He declared to you his covenant, the Ten Commandments, which he commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets.

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And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

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And the Lord directed me at that time to teach you the decrees and laws you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.

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And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

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Idolatry Forbidden

You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully,

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Warning against Idolatry

Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:

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so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman,

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Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

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or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air,

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The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,

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or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below.

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The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:

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And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars — all the heavenly array — do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.

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And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

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But as for you, the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are.

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But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

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The Lord was angry with me because of you, and he solemnly swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the Lord your God is giving you as your inheritance.

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Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance:

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I will die in this land; I will not cross the Jordan; but you are about to cross over and take possession of that good land.

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But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.

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Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden.

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Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the LORD thy God hath forbidden thee.

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For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

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For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

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After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time — if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger,

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When thou shalt beget children, and children's children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger:

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I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed.

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I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.

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The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you.

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And the LORD shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the LORD shall lead you.

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There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

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And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

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But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

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But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

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When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him.

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When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;

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For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.

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(For the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

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The Lord Is God

Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of?

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The Lord Alone is God

For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?

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Has any other people heard the voice of Goda speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived?

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Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?

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Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?

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Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

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You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other.

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Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.

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From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire.

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Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.

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Because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength,

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And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;

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to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.

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To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.

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Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.

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Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

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Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time.

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Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.

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Cities of Refuge

Then Moses set aside three cities east of the Jordan,

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Cities of Refuge

Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sunrising;

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to which anyone who had killed a person could flee if they had unintentionally killed a neighbor without malice aforethought. They could flee into one of these cities and save their life.

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That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live:

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The cities were these: Bezer in the wilderness plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.

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Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.

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Introduction to the Law

This is the law Moses set before the Israelites.

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Introduction to the Law

And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:

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These are the stipulations, decrees and laws Moses gave them when they came out of Egypt

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These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt,

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and were in the valley near Beth Peor east of the Jordan, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon and was defeated by Moses and the Israelites as they came out of Egypt.

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On this side Jordan, in the valley over against Bethpeor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they were come forth out of Egypt:

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They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan.

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And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were on this side Jordan toward the sunrising;

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This land extended from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge to Mount Sirionb (that is, Hermon),

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From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which is Hermon,

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and included all the Arabah east of the Jordan, as far as the Dead Sea,c below the slopes of Pisgah.

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And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.

Parallel

New International Version

King James Bible

Deuteronomy 4

Deuteronomy 4