| International Standard Version | Holman Christian Standard Bible |
| 1"Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the ordinances that I'm teaching you to observe so you may live and go in to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is about to give you. | 1Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live, enter, and take possession of the land Yahweh, the God of your fathers, is giving you. |
| 2Do not add or subtract a thing to what I'm commanding you. Observe the commands of the LORD your God. | 2You must not add anything to what I command you or take anything away from it, so that you may keep the commands of the LORD your God I am giving you. |
| 3You saw with your own eyes what he did in Baal Peor. The LORD your God exterminated from among you every man who followed Baal of Peor. | 3Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed every one of you who followed Baal of Peor. |
| 4But all of you who are clinging to the LORD your God are alive today. | 4But you who have remained faithful to the LORD your God are all alive today. |
| 5See! I taught you the statutes and the ordinances, just as the LORD God commanded. Therefore, observe them when you enter the land you are about to possess. | 5Look, I have taught you statutes and ordinances as the LORD my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to possess. |
| 6Observe them carefully, because this will show your wisdom and discernment in the eyes of people who'll listen to all these decrees. Then they'll say: 'Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people.' | 6Carefully follow them, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the eyes of the peoples. When they hear about all these statutes, they will say, 'This great nation is indeed a wise and understanding people.' |
| 7For what great nation has a god so near like the LORD our God whenever we call on him? | 7For what great nation is there that has a god near to it as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call to Him? |
| 8And what great nation has all the decrees and righteous ordinances like all this teaching that I'm giving you today? | 8And what great nation has righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?" |
| 9Only guard yourselves carefully so you won't forget the things that you saw and let them slip from your mind for the rest of your life. Tell them to your children and to your grandchildren. | 9Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you don't forget the things your eyes have seen and so that they don't slip from your mind as long as you live. Teach them to your children and your grandchildren. |
| 10The day you stood in the presence of the LORD your God in Horeb, the LORD told me, 'Gather the people before me so they may hear my words, learn to revere me the whole time that they live in the land, and teach them to their children.'" | 10The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, 'Assemble the people before Me, and I will let them hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth and may instruct their children.' |
| 11"When you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain—a mountain that was blazing with fire at its core while the sky was covered with thick, dark clouds— | 11You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire into the heavens and enveloped in a dense, black cloud. |
| 12the LORD your God spoke from the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but you saw no form; there was only a voice. | 12Then the LORD spoke to you from the fire. You kept hearing the sound of the words, but didn't see a form; there was only a voice. |
| 13He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to observe—the Ten Commandments that he wrote on two stone tablets. | 13He declared His covenant to you. He commanded you to follow the Ten Commandments, which He wrote on two stone tablets. |
| 14The LORD commanded me at that time to teach you to observe the statutes and ordinances in the land after you cross over to take possession of it. | 14At that time the LORD commanded me to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to follow in the land you are about to cross into and possess." |
| 15"Therefore, for your own sake, be very careful, since you did not see any form on the day that the LORD your God spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the fire. | 15For your own good, be extremely careful--because you did not see any form on the day the LORD spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb-- |
| 16Be careful! Otherwise, you will be destroyed when you make carved images for yourself—all sorts of images in the form of man, woman, | 16not to act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of any figure: a male or female form, |
| 17any animal on earth, any winged bird that flies in the sky, | 17or the form of any beast on the earth, any winged creature that flies in the sky, |
| 18any creeping thing on the ground, or any fish in the sea. | 18any creature that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the waters under the earth. |
| 19Do not gaze toward the heavens and observe the sun, the moon, the stars—the entire array of the sky—with the intent to worship and serve what the LORD your God gave every nation. | 19When you look to the heavens and see the sun, moon, and stars--all the array of heaven--do not be led astray to bow down and worship them. The LORD your God has provided them for all people everywhere under heaven. |
| 20For the LORD took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace—out of Egypt—to be the people of his inheritance, as you are today. | 20But the LORD selected you and brought you out of Egypt's iron furnace to be a people for His inheritance, as you are today." |
| 21"But the LORD was angry with me because of you. So he swore that I'll never cross the Jordan River to enter the good land that the LORD your God is about to give you as an inheritance. | 21The LORD was angry with me on your account. He swore that I would not cross the Jordan and enter the good land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. |
| 22I'm going to die in this land and I won't cross the Jordan River, but you're about to cross over to possess that good land. | 22I won't be crossing the Jordan because I am going to die in this land. But you are about to cross over and take possession of this good land. |
| 23Be careful! Otherwise, you will forget the covenant of the LORD your God, who established that covenant with you. Don't make carved images of any likeness in violation of everything that you were commanded by the LORD your God. | 23Be careful not to forget the covenant of the LORD your God that He made with you, and make an idol for yourselves in the shape of anything He has forbidden you. |
| 24Indeed, the LORD your God is a consuming fire. He is a jealous God." | 24For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." |
| 25"After you've borne children and grandchildren, have been there for a long time in the land, have become so corrupted that you make images of any form, and have done evil in the eyes of the LORD your God, you will provoke him to anger. | 25When you have children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, and if you act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, provoking Him to anger, |
| 26Heaven and earth will testify against what has occurred today: you'll surely and swiftly be destroyed from the land that you are about to possess by crossing the Jordan River. You won't live long in it, because you'll certainly be exterminated. | 26I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will quickly perish from the land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not live long there, but you will certainly be destroyed. |
| 27Moreover, the LORD will scatter you among the nations, and you'll be fewer in number in the nations where the LORD your God will drive you. | 27The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be reduced to a few survivors among the nations where the LORD your God will drive you. |
| 28There you'll serve gods made by human hands, serving trees and stones that cannot see, hear, eat, nor smell. | 28There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see, hear, eat, or smell. |
| 29If from there you will seek the LORD your God, then you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and soul. | 29But from there, you will search for the LORD your God, and you will find Him when you seek Him with all your heart and all your soul. |
| 30In your distress, when all these things happen to you in days to come and you return to the LORD your God, then you will hear his voice. | 30When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, you will return to the LORD your God in later days and obey Him. |
| 31For God is compassionate. The LORD your God won't fail you. He won't destroy you or forget the covenant that he confirmed with your ancestors." | 31He will not leave you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your fathers that He swore to them by oath, because the LORD your God is a compassionate God." |
| 32"Indeed, ask from one end of the heavens to the other about days of old, before your time, when God created mankind on the earth. Did we ever have anything as great as this, or ever hear of anything like it? | 32Indeed, ask about the earlier days that preceded you, from the day God created man on the earth and from one end of the heavens to the other: Has anything like this great event ever happened, or has anything like it been heard of? |
| 33Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the middle of a fire just as you did, and survived it? | 33Has a people heard God's voice speaking from the fire as you have, and lived? |
| 34Or has any god ever taken for himself one nation out from another nation with testings, signs, wonders, wars, awesome power, and magnificent, terrifying deeds as the LORD your God did in Egypt before your eyes? | 34Or has a god attempted to go and take a nation as his own out of another nation, by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, by great terrors, as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? |
| 35"You have been shown this in order to know that 'the LORD is God' and there is no one like him. | 35You were shown these things so that you would know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him. |
| 36You have been made to hear his voice from heaven so you may be instructed. And he showed you his great fire here on earth, and you heard his voice from the middle of that fire. | 36He let you hear His voice from heaven to instruct you. He showed you His great fire on earth, and you heard His words from the fire. |
| 37Moreover, he loved your ancestors, chose their descendants after them, and brought you out of Egypt, accompanied by his presence and great power, | 37Because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by His presence and great power, |
| 38in order to drive out nations that are stronger and more powerful than you, to bring you into this land, and to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is today. | 38to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you in and give you their land as an inheritance, as is now taking place. |
| 39"May you acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in the heavens above and over the earth below—there is no other God. | 39Today, recognize and keep in mind that the LORD is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is no other. |
| 40May you observe his statutes and keep his commands that I'm giving you today, so that life may go well for you and for your descendants after you. That way, you'll live a long life in the land that the LORD your God is about to give you permanently." | 40Keep His statutes and commands, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper and so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you for all time." |
| 41Then Moses designated three cities on the east side of the Jordan, | 41Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the east. |
| 42where a person who accidentally killed someone could flee, if he killed his neighbor without having enmity toward him in the past. He may flee to one of these cities and live: | 42Someone could flee there who committed manslaughter, killing his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him. He could flee to one of these cities and stay alive: |
| 43Bezer in the desert plain for the descendants of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead for the descendants of Gad, and Golan in Bashan for the descendants of Manasseh. | 43Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau land, belonging to the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, belonging to the Gadites; or Golan in Bashan, belonging to the Manassites. |
| 44This is the Law that Moses reviewed in the presence of the Israelis. | 44This is the law Moses gave the Israelites. |
| 45These are the instructions, decrees, and ordinances that Moses declared to the Israelis when they came out of Egypt. | 45These are the decrees, statutes, and ordinances Moses proclaimed to them after they came out of Egypt, |
| 46He did this east of the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and whom Moses and the Israelis defeated after leaving Egypt. | 46across the Jordan in the valley facing Beth-peor in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites. He lived in Heshbon, and Moses and the Israelites defeated him after they came out of Egypt. |
| 47So they took possession of his land, as well as the land of King Og of Bashan. Both Amorite kings lived east of the Jordan— | 47They took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two Amorite kings who were across the Jordan to the east, |
| 48from Aroer on the edge of the Wadi Arnon as far as Mount Sirion, which is also called Hermon, | 48from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Sion (that is, Hermon) |
| 49and all the Arabah east of the Jordan as far as the Dead Sea below the slopes of Pisgah. | 49and all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Dead Sea below the slopes of Pisgah. |
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