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 4:5-6

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. 4:6 So be sure to do them, because this will testify of your wise understanding ⁴  to the people who will learn of all these statutes and say, “Indeed, this great nation is a very wise ⁵  people.”

Deuteronomy 5:1

The Opening Exhortation

5:1 Then Moses called all the people of Israel together and said to them: ⁶  “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am about to deliver to you today; learn them and be careful to keep them!

Deuteronomy 5:31

5:31 But as for you, remain here with me so I can declare to you all the commandments, ⁷  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.” ⁸ 

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, ⁹  has given you to possess. ¹⁰ 

Deuteronomy 26:17

26:17 Today you have declared the Lord to be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commandments, and ordinances, and obey him.

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).

⁵ tn Heb “it is wisdom and understanding.”

⁶ tn Heb “wise and understanding.”

⁷ tn Heb “and Moses called to all Israel and he said to them”; NAB, NASB, NIV “Moses summoned (convened NRSV) all Israel.”

⁹ 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.

¹⁰ tn Heb “to possess it” (so KJV, ASV); NLT “as their inheritance.”

¹¹ tn Heb “fathers.”

¹² 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.