Deuteronomy 4:9-20

Reminder of the Horeb Covenant

4:9 Again, however, pay very careful attention, ¹  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 ²  stood before the Lord your God at Horeb and he ³  said to me, “Assemble the people before me so that I can tell them my commands. ⁴  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 ⁵  and yet dark with a thick cloud. ⁶  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. ⁷  4:13 And he revealed to you the covenant ⁸  he has commanded you to keep, the ten commandments, ⁹  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. ¹⁰ 

The Nature of Israel’s God

4:15 Be very careful, ¹¹  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 ¹²  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, 4:17 any kind of land animal, any bird that flies in the sky, 4:18 anything that crawls ¹³  on the ground, or any fish in the deep waters of the earth. ¹⁴  4:19 When you look up ¹⁵  to the sky ¹⁶  and see the sun, moon, and stars – the whole heavenly creation ¹⁷  – you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, ¹⁸  for the Lord your God has assigned ¹⁹  them to all the people ²⁰  of the world. ²¹  4:20 You, however, the Lord has selected and brought from Egypt, that iron-smelting furnace, ²²  to be his special people ²³  as you are today.

[4:9]  ¹ tn Heb “watch yourself and watch your soul carefully.”

[4:10]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 4:3.

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

[4:11]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “darkness, cloud, and heavy cloud.”

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

[4:13]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “the ten words.”

[4:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “to which you are crossing over to possess it.”

[4:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “give great care to your souls.”

[4:16]  ⁸ 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.

[4:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “creeping thing.”

[4:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “under the earth.”

[4:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “lest you lift up your eyes.” In the Hebrew text vv. 16-19 are subordinated to “Be careful” in v. 15, but this makes for an unduly long sentence in English.

[4:19]  ¹¹ tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[4:19]  ¹² tn Heb “all the host of heaven.”

[4:19]  ¹³ tn In the Hebrew text the verbal sequence in v. 19 is “lest you look up…and see…and be seduced…and worship them…and serve them.” However, the first two actions are not prohibited in and of themselves. The prohibition pertains to the final three actions. The first two verbs describe actions that are logically subordinate to the following actions and can be treated as temporal or circumstantial: “lest, looking up…and seeing…, you are seduced.” See Joüon 2:635 §168.h.

[4:19]  ¹⁴ tn Or “allotted.”

[4:19]  ¹⁵ tn Or “nations.”

[4:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “under all the heaven.”

[4:20]  ¹¹ tn A כּוּר (kur) was not a source of heat but a crucible (“iron-smelting furnace”) in which precious metals were melted down and their impurities burned away (see I. Cornelius, NIDOTTE 2:618-19); cf. NAB “that iron foundry, Egypt.” The term is a metaphor for intense heat. Here it refers to the oppression and suffering Israel endured in Egypt. Since a crucible was used to burn away impurities, it is possible that the metaphor views Egypt as a place of refinement to bring Israel to a place of submission to divine sovereignty.

[4:20]  ¹² tn Heb “to be his people of inheritance.” The Lord compares his people to valued property inherited from one’s ancestors and passed on to one’s descendants.