| King James Bible | New Living Translation |
| 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. | 1“And now, Israel, listen carefully to these decrees and regulations that I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you may live, so you may enter and occupy the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving 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. | 2Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you. Just obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you. |
| 3Your eyes have seen what the LORD did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the LORD thy God hath destroyed them from among you. | 3“You saw for yourself what the LORD did to you at Baal-peor. There the LORD your God destroyed everyone who had worshiped Baal, the god of Peor. |
| 4But ye that did cleave unto the LORD your God are alive every one of you this day. | 4But all of you who were faithful to the LORD your God are still alive today—every one of you. |
| 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. | 5“Look, I now teach you these decrees and regulations just as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy. |
| 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. | 6Obey them completely, and you will display your wisdom and intelligence among the surrounding nations. When they hear all these decrees, they will exclaim, ‘How wise and prudent are the people of this great nation!’ |
| 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? | 7For what great nation has a god as near to them as the LORD our God is near to us whenever we call on him? |
| 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? | 8And what great nation has decrees and regulations as righteous and fair as this body of instructions that I am giving you today? |
| 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; | 9“But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren. |
| 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. | 10Never forget the day when you stood before the LORD your God at Mount Sinai, where he told me, ‘Summon the people before me, and I will personally instruct them. Then they will learn to fear me as long as they live, and they will teach their children to fear me also.’ |
| 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. | 11“You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while flames from the mountain shot into the sky. The mountain was shrouded in black clouds and deep 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. | 12And the LORD spoke to you from the heart of the fire. You heard the sound of his words but didn’t see his form; there was only 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. | 13He proclaimed his covenant—the Ten Commandments —which he commanded you to keep, and which he wrote on two stone tablets. |
| 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. | 14It was at that time that the LORD commanded me to teach you his decrees and regulations so you would obey them in the land you are about to enter and occupy. A Warning against Idolatry |
| 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: | 15“But be very careful! You did not see the LORD’s form on the day he spoke to you from the heart of the fire at Mount Sinai. |
| 16Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female, | 16So do not corrupt yourselves by making an idol in any form—whether of a man or a woman, |
| 17The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air, | 17an animal on the ground, a bird in the sky, |
| 18The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth: | 18a small animal that scurries along the ground, or a fish in the deepest sea. |
| 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. | 19And when you look up into the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the forces of heaven—don’t be seduced into worshiping them. The LORD your God gave them to all the peoples of the earth. |
| 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. | 20Remember that the LORD rescued you from the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt in order to make you his very own people and his special possession, which is what you are today. |
| 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: | 21“But the LORD was angry with me because of you. He vowed that I would not cross the Jordan River into the good land the LORD your God is giving you as your special possession. |
| 22But I must die in this land, I must not go over Jordan: but ye shall go over, and possess that good land. | 22You will cross the Jordan to occupy the land, but I will not. Instead, I will die here on the east side of the river. |
| 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. | 23So be careful not to break the covenant the LORD your God has made with you. Do not make idols of any shape or form, for the LORD your God has forbidden this. |
| 24For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. | 24The LORD your God is a devouring fire; he is 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: | 25“In the future, when you have children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time, do not corrupt yourselves by making idols of any kind. This is evil in the sight of the LORD your God and will arouse his 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. | 26“Today I call on heaven and earth as witnesses against you. If you break my covenant, you will quickly disappear from the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. You will live there only a short time; then you will be utterly 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. | 27For the LORD will scatter you among the nations, where only a few of you will survive. |
| 28And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. | 28There, in a foreign land, you will worship idols made from wood and stone—gods that 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. | 29But from there you will search again for the LORD your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him. |
| 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; | 30“In the distant future, when you are suffering all these things, you will finally return to the LORD your God and listen to what he tells you. |
| 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. | 31For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the solemn covenant he made with your ancestors. There Is Only One God |
| 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? | 32“Now search all of history, from the time God created people on the earth until now, and search from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything as great as this ever been seen or heard before? |
| 33Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live? | 33Has any nation ever heard the voice of God speaking from fire—as you did—and survived? |
| 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? | 34Has any other god dared to take a nation for himself out of another nation by means of trials, miraculous signs, wonders, war, a strong hand, a powerful arm, and terrifying acts? Yet that is what the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, right before your eyes. |
| 35Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him. | 35“He showed you these things so you would know that the LORD is God and there is no other. |
| 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. | 36He let you hear his voice from heaven so he could instruct you. He let you see his great fire here on earth so he could speak to you from it. |
| 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; | 37Because he loved your ancestors, he chose to bless their descendants, and he personally brought you out of Egypt with a great display of power. |
| 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. | 38He drove out nations far greater than you, so he could bring you in and give you their land as your special possession, as it is today. |
| 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. | 39“So remember this and keep it firmly in mind: The LORD is God both in heaven and on earth, and there is no other. |
| 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. | 40If you obey all the decrees and commands I am giving you today, all will be well with you and your children. I am giving you these instructions so you will enjoy a long life in the land the LORD your God is giving you for all time.” Eastern Cities of Refuge |
| 41Then Moses severed three cities on this side Jordan toward the sunrising; | 41Then Moses set apart three cities of refuge east of the Jordan River. |
| 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: | 42Anyone who killed another person unintentionally, without previous hostility, could flee there to live in safety. |
| 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. | 43These were the cities: Bezer on the wilderness plateau for the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth in Gilead for the tribe of Gad; Golan in Bashan for the tribe of Manasseh. Introduction to Moses’ Second Address |
| 44And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel: | 44This is the body of instruction that Moses presented to the Israelites. |
| 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, | 45These are the laws, decrees, and regulations that Moses gave to the people of Israel when they left Egypt, |
| 46On this side Jordan, in the valley over against Bethpeor, 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: | 46and as they camped in the valley near Beth-peor east of the Jordan River. (This land was formerly occupied by the Amorites under King Sihon, who ruled from Heshbon. But Moses and the Israelites destroyed him and his people when they came up from 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; | 47Israel took possession of his land and that of King Og of Bashan—the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan. |
| 48From Aroer, which is by the bank of the river Arnon, even unto mount Sion, which is Hermon, | 48So Israel conquered the entire area from Aroer at the edge of the Arnon Gorge all the way to Mount Sirion, also called Mount Hermon. |
| 49And all the plain on this side Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the plain, under the springs of Pisgah. | 49And they conquered the eastern bank of the Jordan River as far south as the Dead Sea, below the slopes of Pisgah.) |
| King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com. | Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. |
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