✝
← Bible
ARCBLIVREKJVVBL

Deuteronomy 4

KJV · Chapter 4/34

1Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.

2Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

3Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baal–peor: for all the men that followed Baal–peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you.

4But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.

5Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

6Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

7For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?

8And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

9Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;

10Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.

11And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.

12And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.

13And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

14And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

15Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:

16Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

17The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,

18The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:

19And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

20But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

21Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance:

22But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land.

23Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make you a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee.

24For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

25When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves, and make a graven image, or the likeness of any thing, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger:

26I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.

27And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you.

28And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

29But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.

30When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;

31(For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

32For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?

33Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?

34Or hath God assayed to go and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

35Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the Lord he is God; there is none else beside him.

36Out of heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might instruct thee: and upon earth he shewed thee his great fire; and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.

37And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt;

38To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.

39Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.

40Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, for ever.

41Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sunrising;

42That the slayer might flee thither, which should kill his neighbour unawares, and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live:

43Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.

44And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel:

45These are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the judgments, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, after they came forth out of Egypt,

46On this side Jordan, in the valley over against Beth–peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, after they were come forth out of Egypt:

47And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were on this side Jordan toward the sunrising;

48From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which is Hermon,

49And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Moses urges Israel to obey the Law faithfully without adding to it or taking away from it, recalls the awe-inspiring experience at Sinai with no visible image of God (hence the prohibition of idols), and warns of the consequences of future idolatry while also promising restoration if the people repent.

Explanation

This is one of the most theologically rich chapters in the book: Moses argues that, since the people saw 'no manner of similitude' of God at Sinai — only heard his voice — they should not attempt to represent him through carved images, a common error among neighboring religions. The command not to add to or take away from God's word establishes an important principle of integrity in transmitting divine revelation across generations. The prophecy of being scattered among the nations because of idolatry, followed by the promise that God would seek them out and restore them if the people sought him with all their heart, anticipates with remarkable precision Israel's future history of exiles and returns over the following centuries.

Fun facts

  • The principle of not adding to or taking away from God's word (v. 2) is echoed almost word for word at the very end of the Bible, in Revelation 22:18-19, forming a kind of frame around the beginning and end of the biblical canon concerning the integrity of revelation.
  • The six 'cities of refuge' briefly mentioned at the end of the chapter (vv. 41-43) are the same three cities east of the Jordan detailed later in Numbers 35, showing legislative continuity between the books.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Deuteronomy 4:1After retelling the story of the forty years, Moses changes tone: now is the time to truly listen to the laws, because life itself, and taking possession of the promised land, depends on them.
  2. Deuteronomy 4:2The command not to add to or take away from the law is a typical clause in ancient treaties: the text is closed, no one may tamper with it once it is set. The warning protects the agreement between the people and God against future additions or cuts.
  3. Deuteronomy 4:3Moses uses a recent, concrete example: everyone there saw with their own eyes what happened to those who followed the god Baal-peor — they died in the midst of the people.
  4. Deuteronomy 4:4In direct contrast, those who stayed faithful to the LORD are still alive today — obedience literally separated who survived from who did not.
  5. Deuteronomy 4:5Moses reaffirms his own role: he is only passing on to the people the statutes and judgments God Himself commanded, to be put into practice as soon as they enter the land.
  6. Deuteronomy 4:6Keeping these laws is not just a matter of religion: it would be the proof, in the eyes of other nations, that Israel was a wise and understanding people.
  7. Deuteronomy 4:7No other nation has a god as close at hand as the LORD, who answers every time the people call on Him — that is Moses’ argument for valuing the covenant.
  8. Deuteronomy 4:8In the same way, no nation has laws as just as the ones Moses is about to repeat to the people.
  9. Deuteronomy 4:9The warning is about memory: do not forget what they saw with their own eyes, and pass that memory on to children and grandchildren.
  10. Deuteronomy 4:10Moses recalls the very day the people gathered before God at Horeb, to learn to fear Him and to teach that to the next generation.
  11. Deuteronomy 4:11The scene described is striking: the people standing at the foot of the mountain, which burned with fire up to the heavens, surrounded by darkness, clouds, and thick gloom.
  12. Deuteronomy 4:12The central point is that only God’s voice was heard — no shape or image was seen, only sound coming out of the midst of the fire.
  13. Deuteronomy 4:13God announces the formal covenant with the Ten Commandments, written by His own hand on two stone tablets.
  14. Deuteronomy 4:14Along with the Ten Commandments, God also charged Moses with teaching more detailed statutes and judgments for life in the promised land.
  15. Deuteronomy 4:15The central point here is that the people saw no shape at Horeb, only heard a voice: that is why any carved image would be an invention, not a faithful representation of what actually happened there. The ban on images grows out of that specific experience, not out of some abstract rule against art.
  16. Deuteronomy 4:16The command is not to corrupt themselves by making any carved figure or image, whether of a man or a woman, to represent God.
  17. Deuteronomy 4:17The ban on images extends to any animal on the earth or bird that flies in the sky.
  18. Deuteronomy 4:18The list continues: images of reptiles or of fish in the waters may not be carved either.
  19. Deuteronomy 4:19Even the sun, the moon, and the stars — things other peoples worshipped — are not to be worshipped by Israel, who serves the LORD alone.
  20. Deuteronomy 4:20The image of “the iron furnace” describes the harshness of slavery in Egypt, out of which God brought the people to make them His own special people.
  21. Deuteronomy 4:21Moses repeats, now in this speech, that the ban on entering Canaan fell on him too, because of the people’s rebellion.
  22. Deuteronomy 4:22He accepts his own sentence without protest: he will die on that side of the Jordan, while the people cross over and take possession of the land.
  23. Deuteronomy 4:23The warning is repeated with force: do not forget the covenant, and do not make any carved image, something God clearly forbade.
  24. Deuteronomy 4:24The sentence sums up the reason for the ban: God is described as a consuming fire, a jealous God who shares His place with no idol.
  25. Deuteronomy 4:25Moses already looks ahead to the future: even generations later, once the people are settled, there is a real risk of becoming corrupt and going back to making images.
  26. Deuteronomy 4:26He calls heaven and earth as witnesses to a serious warning: if that happens, the people will quickly be destroyed and driven out of the land.
  27. Deuteronomy 4:27The announced consequence is exile: God would scatter the people among the nations, reducing them to a small number.
  28. Deuteronomy 4:28In exile, ironically, they would end up serving gods of wood and stone — idols that cannot see, cannot hear, cannot eat, cannot smell.
  29. Deuteronomy 4:29Even in that scenario of punishment, there is an open door: seeking God with the whole heart is the way to find Him again.
  30. Deuteronomy 4:30The promise is that, even after distress and exile, in the end the people can turn back to God, and He will listen.
  31. Deuteronomy 4:31The reason for this second chance is God’s own character: merciful, one who does not abandon or forget the covenant sworn to their ancestors.
  32. Deuteronomy 4:32Moses challenges the people to search all of human history, from the day of creation, and ask whether anything like what they experienced had ever happened before.
  33. Deuteronomy 4:33The rhetorical question drives home how unique the episode at Horeb was: no other people had heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire and lived.
  34. Deuteronomy 4:34The rescue from Egypt itself is also unique: no god before had ever tried to take a people out from inside another people using signs, wonders, war, and a strong hand.
  35. Deuteronomy 4:35All of this was shown to Israel for a specific reason: so that they would know, without doubt, that the LORD is God, and there is no other.
  36. Deuteronomy 4:36Moses sums up the twofold experience: the voice coming from heaven to teach, and the fire visible on earth to show God’s power.
  37. Deuteronomy 4:37Israel’s election is not random: it grows out of God’s love for their ancestors and for their descendants, the reason behind the deliverance from Egypt.
  38. Deuteronomy 4:38The final goal of this election is to drive out nations bigger and stronger than Israel, to give their land over as an inheritance.
  39. Deuteronomy 4:39The practical conclusion of all this is to take to heart that the LORD is God, both in heaven and on earth, and there is no other.
  40. Deuteronomy 4:40Keeping the commandments, then, is not a burden: it is the condition for things to go well, for their children, and for them to remain in the land for a long time.
  41. Deuteronomy 4:41Moses already sets apart three cities of refuge on the east side of the Jordan, even before the people cross the river, for anyone who killed someone without meaning to. It is the same idea that will be spelled out later, in chapter 19: protecting someone who erred by accident from the victim’s family taking immediate revenge.
  42. Deuteronomy 4:42These cities of refuge were meant to protect anyone who killed someone without meaning to, by accident, with no prior hatred toward the victim.
  43. Deuteronomy 4:43The three cities on the east side of the Jordan are named: Bezer for the Reubenites, Ramoth for the Gadites, and Golan for the Manassites.
  44. Deuteronomy 4:44A simple transition sentence closes this block: this is the law Moses formally set before the people of Israel.
  45. Deuteronomy 4:45It restates the same point in other words: testimonies, statutes, and judgments, all spoken by Moses after the departure from Egypt.
  46. Deuteronomy 4:46It places the speech geographically: on the east side of the Jordan, in the land that had belonged to Sihon, the Amorite king defeated by Moses and the people.
  47. Deuteronomy 4:47It recalls that Israel had already taken possession of two whole Amorite kingdoms, Sihon’s and Og’s, both on the east side of the Jordan.
  48. Deuteronomy 4:48It details the boundaries of that conquest: from Aroer, by the brook Arnon, all the way to Mount Hermon (here called Sion).
  49. Deuteronomy 4:49It closes with the last boundary: the whole plain on the east side of the Jordan, as far as the Dead Sea, at the foot of Mount Pisgah.

Chapters

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334

Our apps

Our apps →

Bible in Stories

The Bible told as a story, with audio and videos.

📱 Get the app

World in Stories

True stories of humanity that sound made up.

App StoreGoogle Play

Feito! Pequenas Vitórias

A light daily routine for people who lose track of the day.

App StoreGoogle Play