Deuteronomy 4:1

Context

The Privileges of the Covenant

4:1 Now, Israel, pay attention to the statutes and ordinances¹ 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 12:8

Context
12:8 You must not do like we are doing here today, with everyone³ doing what seems best to him,

[4:1] ¹tn 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.

[4:1] ²tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 31, 37).

[12:8] ³tn Heb “a man.”