Deuteronomy 4:1-3

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. 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 to³ you. 4:3 You have witnessed what the Lord did at Baal Peor,⁴ how he⁵ eradicated from your midst everyone who followed Baal Peor.⁶

[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).

[4:2] ³tn Heb “commanding.”

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

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