| New King James Version | NET Bible |
| 1“Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers is giving you. | 1Now, Israel, pay attention to the statutes and ordinances 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, is giving you. |
| 2You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you. | 2Do 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 to you. |
| 3Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal Peor; for the LORD your God has destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor. | 3You have witnessed what the LORD did at Baal Peor, how he eradicated from your midst everyone who followed Baal Peor. |
| 4But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive today, every one of you. | 4But you who remained faithful to the LORD your God are still alive to this very day, every one of you. |
| 5“Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. | 5Look! I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the LORD my God told me to do, so that you might carry them out in the land you are about to enter and possess. |
| 6Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ | 6So be sure to do them, because this will testify of your wise understanding to the people who will learn of all these statutes and say, "Indeed, this great nation is a very wise people." |
| 7“For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the LORD our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him? | 7In fact, what other great nation has a god so near to them like the LORD our God whenever we call on him? |
| 8And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day? | 8And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this whole law that I am about to share with you today? |
| 9Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren, | 9Again, however, pay very careful attention, 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. |
| 10especially concerning the day you stood before the LORD your God in Horeb, when the LORD said to me, ‘Gather the people to Me, and I will let them hear My words, that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’ | 10You stood before the LORD your God at Horeb and he said to me, "Assemble the people before me so that I can tell them my commands. Then they will learn to revere me all the days they live in the land, and they will instruct their children." |
| 11“Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness. | 11You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain ablaze to the sky above it and yet dark with a thick cloud. |
| 12And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice. | 12Then 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. |
| 13So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. | 13And he revealed to you the covenant he has commanded you to keep, the ten commandments, writing them on two stone tablets. |
| 14And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might observe them in the land which you cross over to possess. | 14Moreover, 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. |
| 15“Take careful heed to yourselves, for you saw no form when the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, | 15Be very careful, then, because you saw no form at the time the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the middle of the fire. |
| 16lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female, | 16I say this 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, |
| 17the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, | 17any kind of land animal, any bird that flies in the sky, |
| 18the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. | 18anything that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the deep waters of the earth. |
| 19And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the LORD your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage. | 19When you look up to the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars--the whole heavenly creation--you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, for the LORD your God has assigned them to all the people of the world. |
| 20But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be His people, an inheritance, as you are this day. | 20You, however, the LORD has selected and brought from Egypt, that iron-smelting furnace, to be his special people as you are today. |
| 21Furthermore the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I would not cross over the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. | 21But the LORD became angry with me because of you and vowed that I would never cross the Jordan nor enter the good land that he is about to give you. |
| 22But I must die in this land, I must not cross over the Jordan; but you shall cross over and possess that good land. | 22So I must die here in this land; I will not cross the Jordan. But you are going over and will possess that good land. |
| 23Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you. | 23Be on guard so that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he has made with you, and that you do not make an image of any kind, just as he has forbidden you. |
| 24For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. | 24For the LORD your God is a consuming fire; he is a jealous God. |
| 25“When you beget children and grandchildren and have grown old in the land, and act corruptly and make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the LORD your God to provoke Him to anger, | 25After you have produced children and grandchildren and have been in the land a long time, if you become corrupt and make an image of any kind and do other evil things before the LORD your God that enrage him, |
| 26I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. | 26I invoke heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that you will surely and swiftly be removed from the very land you are about to cross the Jordan to possess. You will not last long there because you will surely be annihilated. |
| 27And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you. | 27Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples and there will be very few of you among the nations where the LORD will drive you. |
| 28And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. | 28There you will worship gods made by human hands--wood and stone that can neither see, hear, eat, nor smell. |
| 29But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. | 29But if you seek the LORD your God from there, you will find him, if, indeed, you seek him with all your heart and soul. |
| 30When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the LORD your God and obey His voice | 30In your distress when all these things happen to you in the latter days, if you return to the LORD your God and obey him |
| 31(for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them. | 31(for he is a merciful God), he will not let you down or destroy you, for he cannot forget the covenant with your ancestors that he confirmed by oath to them. |
| 32“For ask now concerning the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard. | 32Indeed, ask about the distant past, starting from the day God created humankind on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether there has ever been such a great thing as this, or even a rumor of it. |
| 33Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live? | 33Have a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the middle of fire, as you yourselves have, and lived to tell about it? |
| 34Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? | 34Or has God ever before tried to deliver a nation from the middle of another nation, accompanied by judgments, signs, wonders, war, strength, power, and other very terrifying things like the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? |
| 35To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD Himself is God; there is none other besides Him. | 35You have been taught that the LORD alone is God--there is no other besides him. |
| 36Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire. | 36From heaven he spoke to you in order to teach you, and on earth he showed you his great fire from which you also heard his words. |
| 37And because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His Presence, with His mighty power, | 37Moreover, because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants who followed them and personally brought you out of Egypt with his great power |
| 38driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day. | 38to dispossess nations greater and stronger than you and brought you here this day to give you their land as your property. |
| 39Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart, that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. | 39Today realize and carefully consider that the LORD is God in heaven above and on earth below--there is no other! |
| 40You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD your God is giving you for all time.” | 40Keep his statutes and commandments that I am setting forth today so that it may go well with you and your descendants and that you may enjoy longevity in the land that the LORD your God is about to give you as a permanent possession. |
| 41Then Moses set apart three cities on this side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun, | 41Then Moses selected three cities in the Transjordan, toward the east. |
| 42that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without having hated him in time past, and that by fleeing to one of these cities he might live: | 42Anyone who accidentally killed someone without hating him at the time of the accident could flee to one of those cities and be safe. |
| 43Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites. | 43These cities are Bezer, in the desert plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for the Manassehites. |
| 44Now this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel. | 44This is the law that Moses set before the Israelites. |
| 45These are the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which Moses spoke to the children of Israel after they came out of Egypt, | 45These are the stipulations, statutes, and ordinances that Moses spoke to the Israelites after he had brought them out of Egypt, |
| 46on this side of the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel defeated after they came out of Egypt. | 46in the Transjordan, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, in the land of King Sihon of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. (It is he whom Moses and the Israelites attacked after they came out of Egypt. |
| 47And they took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, who were on this side of the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun, | 47They possessed his land and that of King Og of Bashan--both of whom were Amorite kings in the Transjordan, to the east. |
| 48from Aroer, which is on the bank of the River Arnon, even to Mount Sion (that is, Hermon), | 48Their territory extended from Aroer at the edge of the Arnon valley as far as Mount Siyon--that is, Hermon-- |
| 49and all the plain on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, below the slopes of Pisgah. | 49including all the Arabah of the Transjordan in the east to the sea of the Arabah, beneath the watershed of Pisgah.) |
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