CHAP. IV.

1 An Exhortation to obedience. 41 Moses appointeth the three Cities of refuge on that side Iordan.

¹ Nowe therefore hearken, O Israel, vnto the Statutes, and vnto the Iudgments which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may liue, and goe in and possesse the lande, which the Lord God of your fathers giueth you.

² Ye shall not adde vnto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish ought from it, that ye may keepe the Commaundements of the Lord your God, which I command you.²

³ Your eyes haue seene 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.³

⁴ But yee that did cleaue vnto the Lord your God, are aliue euery one of you this day.

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⁵ Behold, I haue taught you Statutes, and Iudgements, euen as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so, in the land whither ye goe to possesse it.

⁶ Keepe therefore, and doe them; for this is your wisedome and your vnderstanding in the sight of the nations, which shall heare all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and vnderstanding people.

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

⁸ And what nation is there so great, that hath Statutes and Iudgements so righteous, as all this Law which I set before you this day?

⁹ Onely take heed to thy selfe, and keepe thy soule diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes haue seene, and lest they depart from thy heart all the dayes of thy life: but teach them thy sonnes, & thy sonnes sonnes:

¹⁰ Specially, the day that thou stoodst before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said vnto mee, Gather me the people together, and I will make them heare my wordes, that they may learne to feare mee all the dayes that they shall liue vpon the earth, and that they may teach their children.

¹¹ And ye came neere and stood vnder the mountaine, and the mountaine burnt with fire vnto the midst of heauen, with darkenes, cloudes, and thicke darkenesse.¹¹

¹² And the Lord spake vnto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voyce of the words, but saw no similitude, onely ye heard a voyce.¹²

¹³ And he declared vnto you his couenant, which he commanded you to performe, euen ten cōmandements, and he wrote them vpon two tables of stone.

¹⁴ ¶ And the Lord commanded me at that time, to teach you Statutes, and Iudgements, that yee might doe them in the land whither ye goe ouer to possesse it.

¹⁵ Take ye therfore good heed vnto your selues, (for ye saw no maner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake vnto you in Horeb, out of the midst of the fire)

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¹⁶ Lest yee corrupt your selues, and make you a grauen image, the similitude of any figure, the likenes of male, or female,

¹⁷ The likenesse of any beast that is on the earth, the likenes of any winged foule that flieth in the aire,

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

¹⁹ And lest thou lift vp thine eyes vnto heauen, and when thou seest the sun, and the moone, and the starres, euen all the hoste of heauen, shouldest be driuen to worship them, and serue them, which the Lord thy God hath diuided vnto all nations vnder the whole heauen.¹⁹

²⁰ But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you foorth out of the yron fornace, euen out of Egypt, to bee vnto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

²¹ Furthermore, the Lord was angry with mee for your sakes, and sware that I should not goe ouer Iordan, and that I should not goe in vnto that good land which the Lord thy God giueth thee for an inheritance.

²² But I must die in this lande, I must not goe ouer Iordan: but ye shall goe ouer and possesse that good land.

²³ Take heed vnto your selues, lest ye forget the couenant of the Lord your God, which hee made with you, and make you a grauen image, or the likenes of any thing which the Lord thy God hath forbidden thee.

²⁴ For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, euen a iealous God.²⁴

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²⁵ ¶ When thou shalt beget children, and childrens children, and shalt haue remained long in the land, and shal corrupt your selues, & make a grauen image, or the likenes of any thing, and shall doe euil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to prouoke him to anger:

²⁶ I call heauen and earth to witnesse against you this day, that ye shall soone vtterly perish from off the land whereunto you goe ouer Iordan, to possesse it: yee shall not prolong your dayes vpon it, but shall vtterly bee destroyed.

²⁷ And 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.

²⁸ And there ye shall serue gods, the worke of mens hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor heare, nor eate, nor smell.

²⁹ But if from thence thou shalt seeke the Lord thy God, thou shalt finde him, if thou seeke him with all thy heart, and with all thy soule.

³⁰ When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come vpon thee, euen in the latter dayes, if thou turne to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient vnto his voice:³⁰

³¹ (For the Lord thy God is a mercifull God) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the couenant of thy fathers, which he sware vnto them.

³² For aske now of the dayes that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man vpon earth, and aske from the one side of heauen vnto the other, whether there hath bene any such thing as this great thing is, or hath bene heard like it?

³³ Did euer people heare the voyce of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and liue?

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³⁴ Or hath God assayed to goe and take him a nation from the midst of another nation, by temptations, by signes, and by wonders, and by warre, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretehed out arme, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

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

³⁶ Out of heauen hee made thee to heare his voice, that he might instruct thee: and vpon earth hee shewed thee his great fire, and thou heardest his words out of the midst of the fire.

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

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

³⁹ Know therefore this day, & consider it in thine heart, that the Lord hee is God in heauen aboue, and vpon the earth beneath: there is none else.

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⁴⁰ Thou shalt keepe therefore his Statutes, and his Commandements, which I command thee this day; that it may goe well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy dayes vpon the earth, which the Lord thy God giueth thee, for euer.

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⁴¹ ¶ Then Moses seuered three cities on this side Iordan, toward the Sunne rising:

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

⁴³ Namely, Bezer in the wildernesse, in the plaine countrey of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.⁴³

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

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⁴⁵ These are the Testimonies, and the Statutes, and the Iudgements, which Moses spake vnto the children of Israel, after they came foorth out of Egypt;

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⁴⁶ On this side Iordan in the valley ouer 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 foorth out of Egypt.⁴⁶

⁴⁷ And they possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, which were on this side Iordan toward the sun rising,⁴⁷

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⁴⁸ From Aroer, which is by the banke of the riuer Arnon, euen vnto mount Sion, which is Hermon,

⁴⁹ And all the plaine of this side Iordan Eastward, euen vnto the sea, of the plaine vnder the springs of Pisgah.⁴⁹