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 4:5

Context
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 in³ the land you are about to enter and possess.

[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).

[4:5] ³tn Heb “in the midst of” (so ASV).