Deuteronomy 4:1

The Privileges of the Covenant

4:1 Now, Israel, pay attention to the statutes and ordinances ¹  I am about to teach you, so that you might live and go on to enter and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, ²  is giving you.

Deuteronomy 4:5

4:5 Look! I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the Lord my God told me to do, so that you might carry them out in ³  the land you are about to enter and possess.

Deuteronomy 4:14

4:14 Moreover, at that same time the Lord commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to keep in the land which you are about to enter and possess. ⁴ 

Deuteronomy 4:45

4:45 These are the stipulations, statutes, and ordinances that Moses spoke to the Israelites after he had brought them out of Egypt,

Deuteronomy 5:31

5:31 But as for you, remain here with me so I can declare to you all the commandments, ⁵  statutes, and ordinances that you are to teach them, so that they can carry them out in the land I am about to give them.” ⁶ 

Deuteronomy 12:1

The Central Sanctuary

12:1 These are the statutes and ordinances you must be careful to obey as long as you live in the land the Lord, the God of your ancestors, ⁷  has given you to possess. ⁸ 

Leviticus 27:34

Final Colophon

27:34 These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses to tell the Israelites ⁹  at Mount Sinai.

Numbers 36:13

36:13 These are the commandments and the decisions that the Lord commanded the Israelites through the authority ¹⁰  of Moses, on the plains of Moab by the Jordan River ¹¹  opposite Jericho. ¹² 

Ezekiel 37:24

37:24 “‘My servant David will be king over them; there will be one shepherd for all of them. They will follow ¹³  my regulations and carefully observe my statutes. ¹⁴ 

¹ tn These technical Hebrew terms (חֻקִּים [khuqqim] and מִשְׁפָּטִים [mishpatim]) occur repeatedly throughout the Book of Deuteronomy to describe the covenant stipulations to which Israel had been called to subscribe (see, in this chapter alone, vv. 1, 5, 6, 8). The word חֻקִּים derives from the verb חֹק (khoq, “to inscribe; to carve”) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim) from שָׁפַט (shafat, “to judge”). They are virtually synonymous and are used interchangeably in Deuteronomy.

² tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 31, 37).

³ tn Heb “in the midst of” (so ASV).

⁴ tn Heb “to which you are crossing over to possess it.”

⁵ tn Heb “commandment.” The MT actually has the singular (הַמִּצְוָה, hammitsvah), suggesting perhaps that the following terms (חֻקִּים [khuqqim] and מִשְׁפָּטִים [mishpatim]) are in epexegetical apposition to “commandment.” That is, the phrase could be translated “the entire command, namely, the statutes and ordinances.” This would essentially make מִצְוָה (mitsvah) synonymous with תּוֹרָה (torah), the usual term for the whole collection of law.

⁶ tn Heb “to possess it” (so KJV, ASV); NLT “as their inheritance.”

⁷ tn Heb “fathers.”

⁸ tn Heb “you must be careful to obey in the land the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess all the days which you live in the land.” This adverbial statement modifies “to obey,” not “to possess,” so the order in the translation has been rearranged to make this clear.

⁹ tn Most of the commentaries and English versions translate, “which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel.” The preposition אֶל (’el), however, does not usually mean “for.” In this book it is commonly used when the Lord commands Moses “to speak [un]to” a person or group of persons (see, e.g., Lev 1:2; 4:2, etc.). The translation “to tell” here reflects this pattern in the book of Leviticus.

¹⁰ tn Heb “by the hand.”

¹¹ tn The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

¹² map For the location of Jericho see Map5-B2; Map6-E1; Map7-E1; Map8-E3; Map10-A2; Map11-A1.

¹³ tn Heb “walk [in].”

¹⁴ tn Heb “and my statutes they will guard and they will do them.”