Deuteronomy 4:1-16

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. 4:2 Do not add a thing to what I command you nor subtract from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am delivering to ³  you. 4:3 You have witnessed what the Lord did at Baal Peor, ⁴  how he ⁵  eradicated from your midst everyone who followed Baal Peor. ⁶  4:4 But you who remained faithful to the Lord your God are still alive to this very day, every one of you. 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 ⁷  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 ⁸  to the people who will learn of all these statutes and say, “Indeed, this great nation is a very wise ⁹  people.” 4:7 In fact, what other great nation has a god so near to them like the Lord our God whenever we call on him? 4:8 And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just ¹⁰  as this whole law ¹¹  that I am about to share with ¹²  you today?

Reminder of the Horeb Covenant

4:9 Again, however, pay very careful attention, ¹³  lest you forget the things you have seen and disregard them for the rest of your life; instead teach them to your children and grandchildren. 4:10 You ¹⁴  stood before the Lord your God at Horeb and he ¹⁵  said to me, “Assemble the people before me so that I can tell them my commands. ¹⁶  Then they will learn to revere me all the days they live in the land, and they will instruct their children.” 4:11 You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain ablaze to the sky above it ¹⁷  and yet dark with a thick cloud. ¹⁸  4:12 Then the Lord spoke to you from the middle of the fire; you heard speech but you could not see anything – only a voice was heard. ¹⁹  4:13 And he revealed to you the covenant ²⁰  he has commanded you to keep, the ten commandments, ²¹  writing them on two stone tablets. 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. ²² 

The Nature of Israel’s God

4:15 Be very careful, ²³  then, because you saw no form at the time the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the middle of the fire. 4:16 I say this ²⁴  so you will not corrupt yourselves by making an image in the form of any kind of figure. This includes the likeness of a human male or female,

[4:1]  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.

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

[4:2]  ³ tn Heb “commanding.”

[4:3]  ⁴ tc The LXX and Syriac read “to Baal Peor,” that is, the god worshiped at that place; see note on the name “Beth Peor” in Deut 3:29.

[4:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[4:3]  ⁶ tn Or “followed the Baal of Peor” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV), referring to the pagan god Baal.

[4:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the midst of” (so ASV).

[4:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “it is wisdom and understanding.”

[4:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “wise and understanding.”

[4:8]  ¹⁰ tn Or “pure”; or “fair”; Heb “righteous.”

[4:8]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew phrase הַתּוֹרָה הַזֹּאת (hattorah hazzo’t), in this context, refers specifically to the Book of Deuteronomy. That is, it is the collection of all the חֻקִּים (khuqqim, “statutes,” 4:1) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim, “ordinances,” 4:1) to be included in the covenant text. In a full canonical sense, of course, it pertains to the entire Pentateuch or Torah.

[4:8]  ¹² tn Heb “place before.”

[4:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “watch yourself and watch your soul carefully.”

[4:10]  ¹⁴ tn The text begins with “(the) day (in) which.” In the Hebrew text v. 10 is subordinate to v. 11, but for stylistic reasons the translation treats v. 10 as an independent clause, necessitating the omission of the subordinating temporal phrase at the beginning of the verse.

[4:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 4:3.

[4:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “my words.” See v. 13; in Hebrew the “ten commandments” are the “ten words.”

[4:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a mountain burning with fire as far as the heart of the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[4:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “darkness, cloud, and heavy cloud.”

[4:12]  ¹⁹ tn The words “was heard” are supplied in the translation to avoid the impression that the voice was seen.

[4:13]  ²⁰ sn This is the first occurrence of the word בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”) in the Book of Deuteronomy but it appears commonly hereafter (4:23, 31; 5:2, 3; 7:9, 12; 8:18; 9:9, 10, 11, 15; 10:2, 4, 5, 8; 17:2; 29:1, 9, 12, 14, 15, 18, 21, 25; 31:9, 16, 20, 25, 26; 33:9). Etymologically, it derives from the notion of linking or yoking together. See M. Weinfeld, TDOT 2:255.

[4:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “the ten words.”

[4:14]  ²² tn Heb “to which you are crossing over to possess it.”

[4:15]  ²³ tn Heb “give great care to your souls.”

[4:16]  ²⁴ tn The words “I say this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text v. 16 is subordinated to “Be careful” in v. 15, but this makes for an unduly long sentence in English.