HOLY BIBLE: Deuteronomy 4 (original) (raw)

1 καὶ νῦν Ισραηλ ἄκουε τῶν δικαιωμάτων καὶ τῶν κριμάτων ὅσα ἐγὼ διδάσκω ὑμᾶς σήμερον ποιεῖν ἵνα ζῆτε καὶ πολυπλασιασθῆτε καὶ εἰσελθόντες κληρονομήσητε τὴν γῆν ἣν κύριος ὁ θεὸς τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν δίδωσιν ὑμῖν 2 οὐ προσθήσετε πρὸς τὸ ῥῆμα ὃ ἐγὼ ἐντέλλομαι ὑμῖν καὶ οὐκ ἀφελεῖτε ἀ{P'} αὐτοῦ φυλάσσεσθε τὰς ἐντολὰς κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ ὑμῶν ὅσα ἐγὼ ἐντέλλομαι ὑμῖν σήμερον 3 οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ ὑμῶν ἑωράκασιν πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησεν κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν τῷ Βεελφεγωρ ὅτι πᾶς ἄνθρωπος ὅστις ἐπορεύθη ὀπίσω Βεελφεγωρ ἐξέτριψεν αὐτὸν κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὑμῶν ἐξ ὑμῶν 4 ὑμεῖς δὲ οἱ προσκείμενοι κυρίῳ τῷ θεῷ ὑμῶν ζῆτε πάντες ἐν τῇ σήμερον 5 ἴδετε δέδειχα ὑμῖν δικαιώματα καὶ κρίσεις καθὰ ἐνετείλατό μοι κύριος ποιῆσαι οὕτως ἐν τῇ γῇ εἰς ἣν ὑμεῖς εἰσπορεύεσθε ἐκεῖ κληρονομεῖν αὐτήν 6 καὶ φυλάξεσθε καὶ ποιήσετε ὅτι αὕτη ἡ σοφία ὑμῶν καὶ ἡ σύνεσις ἐναντίον πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν ὅσοι ἐὰν ἀκούσωσιν πάντα τὰ δικαιώματα ταῦτα καὶ ἐροῦσιν ἰδοὺ λαὸς σοφὸς καὶ ἐπιστήμων τὸ ἔθνος τὸ μέγα τοῦτο 7 ὅτι ποῖον ἔθνος μέγα ᾧ ἐστιν αὐτῷ θεὸς ἐγγίζων αὐτοῖς ὡς κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν ἐν πᾶσιν οἷς ἐὰν αὐτὸν ἐπικαλεσώμεθα 8 καὶ ποῖον ἔθνος μέγα ᾧ ἐστιν αὐτῷ δικαιώματα καὶ κρίματα δίκαια κατὰ πάντα τὸν νόμον τοῦτον ὃν ἐγὼ δίδωμι ἐνώπιον ὑμῶν σήμερον

1 And now, Israel, pay good heed to the laws and the decrees I am making known to you. It is yours to observe them, if you would have life; if you would find your way into the land promised you by the Lord God of your fathers, and take possession of it. 2 There must be no adding to this message of mine, no retrenching it; the commands I lay upon you are the commands of the Lord your God; keep them well. 3 Your own eyes have witnessed what sentence the Lord passed against Beelphegor, purging out from among you all that worshipped at his shrine, 4 while you, who remain faithful to the Lord, have lived to remember it. 5 Be well assured that the laws and decrees I have given you come from the Lord himself, and must still be observed when you have taken possession of the land that is to be yours. 6 Keep them in honour and live by them; these are to be the arts, this the wisdom, that you teach the world, as men come to hear of these laws, and say to themselves, Surely they must be wise, surely they must be discerning folk, that belong to so great a nation as this! 7 And indeed no other nation is so great; no other nation has gods that draw near to it, as our God draws near to us whenever we pray to him. 8 What other nation can boast that it has observances and decrees so rightly ordered as we have in this law of ours, this law which I am setting before your eyes to-day?

1 Et nunc, Israël, audi præcepta et judicia, quæ ego doceo te: ut faciens ea, vivas, et ingrediens possideas terram, quam Dominus Deus patrum vestrorum daturus est vobis. 2 Non addetis ad verbum, quod vobis loquor, nec auferetis ex eo: custodite mandata Domini Dei vestri, quæ ego præcipio vobis. 3 Oculi vestri viderunt omnia quæ fecit Dominus contra Beelphegor, quomodo contriverit omnes cultores ejus de medio vestri. 4 Vos autem qui adhæretis Domino Deo vestro, vivitis universi usque in præsentem diem. 5 Scitis quod docuerim vos præcepta atque justitias, sicut mandavit mihi Dominus Deus meus: sic facietis ea in terra, quam possessuri estis: 6 et observabitis et implebitis opere. Hæc est enim vestra sapientia, et intellectus coram populis, ut audientes universa præcepta hæc, dicant: En populus sapiens et intelligens, gens magna. 7 Nec est alia natio tam grandis, quæ habeat deos appropinquantes sibi, sicut Deus noster adest cunctis obsecrationibus nostris. 8 Quæ est enim alia gens sic inclyta, ut habeat cæremonias, justaque judicia, et universam legem, quam ego proponam hodie ante oculos vestros?

9 πρόσεχε σεαυτῷ καὶ φύλαξον τὴν ψυχήν σου σφόδρα μὴ ἐπιλάθῃ πάντας τοὺς λόγους οὓς ἑωράκασιν οἱ ὀφθαλμοί σου καὶ μὴ ἀποστήτωσαν ἀπὸ τῆς καρδίας σου πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς ζωῆς σου καὶ συμβιβάσεις τοὺς υἱούς σου καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν υἱῶν σου 10 ἡμέραν ἣν ἔστητε ἐναντίον κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ ὑμῶν ἐν Χωρηβ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῆς ἐκκλησίας ὅτε εἶπεν κύριος πρός με ἐκκλησίασον πρός με τὸν λαόν καὶ ἀκουσάτωσαν τὰ ῥήματά μου ὅπως μάθωσιν φοβεῖσθαί με πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἃς αὐτοὶ ζῶσιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτῶν διδάξωσιν 11 καὶ προσήλθετε καὶ ἔστητε ὑπὸ τὸ ὄρος καὶ τὸ ὄρος ἐκαίετο πυρὶ ἕως τοῦ οὐρανοῦ σκότος γνόφος θύελλα φωνὴ μεγάλη 12 καὶ ἐλάλησεν κύριος πρὸς ὑμᾶς ἐκ μέσου τοῦ πυρός φωνὴν ῥημάτων ὑμεῖς ἠκούσατε καὶ ὁμοίωμα οὐκ εἴδετε ἀλ{L'} ἢ φωνήν 13 καὶ ἀνήγγειλεν ὑμῖν τὴν διαθήκην αὐτοῦ ἣν ἐνετείλατο ὑμῖν ποιεῖν τὰ δέκα ῥήματα καὶ ἔγραψεν αὐτὰ ἐπὶ δύο πλάκας λιθίνας 14 καὶ ἐμοὶ ἐνετείλατο κύριος ἐν τῷ καιρῷ ἐκείνῳ διδάξαι ὑμᾶς δικαιώματα καὶ κρίσεις ποιεῖν αὐτὰ ὑμᾶς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς εἰς ἣν ὑμεῖς εἰσπορεύεσθε ἐκεῖ κληρονομεῖν αὐτήν

9 Keep anxious guard, then, Israel, as thou lovest thy own life. Never let the memory of what thy own eyes have seen fade from thy heart, as long as thou livest; hand it on to thy sons, and thy sons’ sons, 10 the memory of that day when thou didst stand in the Lord’s presence at mount Horeb. Summon the whole people, the Lord said to me, so that they may hear these words of mine, and learn, and teach their children after them, to fear me all their life long. 11 And you, as you came close to the spurs of the mountain, found it sending up flames high as heaven, all wreathed in darkness and cloud and mist. 12 From the heart of those flames the Lord spoke to you, so that you could hear his voice, but had no vision of his form. 13 He told you of his covenant, that you were to keep; uttered ten warnings, which he wrote down on two stone tablets; 14 bade me, at that same time, hand on to you the observances and decrees you were to follow in the land that should one day be your home.

9 Custodi igitur temetipsum, et animam tuam sollicite. Ne obliviscaris verborum, quæ viderunt oculi tui, et ne excidant de corde tuo cunctis diebus vitæ tuæ. Docebis ea filios ac nepotes tuos, 10 a die in quo stetisti coram Domino Deo tuo in Horeb, quando Dominus locutus est mihi, dicens: Congrega ad me populum, ut audiant sermones meos, et discant timere me omni tempore quo vivunt in terra, doceantque filios suos. 11 Et accessistis ad radices montis, qui ardebat usque ad cælum: erantque in eo tenebræ, et nubes, et caligo. 12 Locutusque est Dominus ad vos de medio ignis. Vocem verborum ejus audistis, et formam penitus non vidistis. 13 Et ostendit vobis pactum suum, quod præcepit ut faceretis, et decem verba, quæ scripsit in duabus tabulis lapideis. 14 Mihique mandavit in illo tempore ut docerem vos cæremonias et judicia, quæ facere deberetis in terra, quam possessuri estis.

21 καὶ κύριος ἐθυμώθη μοι περὶ τῶν λεγομένων ὑ{F'} ὑμῶν καὶ ὤμοσεν ἵνα μὴ διαβῶ τὸν Ιορδάνην τοῦτον καὶ ἵνα μὴ εἰσέλθω εἰς τὴν γῆν ἣν κύριος ὁ θεὸς δίδωσίν σοι ἐν κλήρῳ 22 ἐγὼ γὰρ ἀποθνῄσκω ἐν τῇ γῇ ταύτῃ καὶ οὐ διαβαίνω τὸν Ιορδάνην τοῦτον ὑμεῖς δὲ διαβαίνετε καὶ κληρονομήσετε τὴν γῆν τὴν ἀγαθὴν ταύτην 23 προσέχετε ὑμεῖς μὴ ἐπιλάθησθε τὴν διαθήκην κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ ὑμῶν ἣν διέθετο πρὸς ὑμᾶς καὶ ποιήσητε ὑμῖν ἑαυτοῖς γλυπτὸν ὁμοίωμα πάντων ὧν συνέταξεν κύριος ὁ θεός σου 24 ὅτι κύριος ὁ θεός σου πῦρ καταναλίσκον ἐστίν θεὸς ζηλωτής 25 ἐὰν δὲ γεννήσῃς υἱοὺς καὶ υἱοὺς τῶν υἱῶν σου καὶ χρονίσητε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἀνομήσητε καὶ ποιήσητε γλυπτὸν ὁμοίωμα παντὸς καὶ ποιήσητε τὰ πονηρὰ ἐναντίον κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ ὑμῶν παροργίσαι αὐτόν 26 διαμαρτύρομαι ὑμῖν σήμερον τόν τε οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν ὅτι ἀπωλείᾳ ἀπολεῖσθε ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς εἰς ἣν ὑμεῖς διαβαίνετε τὸν Ιορδάνην ἐκεῖ κληρονομῆσαι αὐτήν οὐχὶ πολυχρονιεῖτε ἡμέρας ἐ{P'} αὐτῆς ἀλ{L'} ἢ ἐκτριβῇ ἐκτριβήσεσθε 27 καὶ διασπερεῖ κύριος ὑμᾶς ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν καὶ καταλειφθήσεσθε ὀλίγοι ἀριθμῷ ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν εἰς οὓς εἰσάξει κύριος ὑμᾶς ἐκεῖ 28 καὶ λατρεύσετε ἐκεῖ θεοῖς ἑτέροις ἔργοις χειρῶν ἀνθρώπων ξύλοις καὶ λίθοις οἳ οὐκ ὄψονται οὐδὲ μὴ ἀκούσωσιν οὔτε μὴ φάγωσιν οὔτε μὴ ὀσφρανθῶσιν 29 καὶ ζητήσετε ἐκεῖ κύριον τὸν θεὸν ὑμῶν καὶ εὑρήσετε ὅταν ἐκζητήσητε αὐτὸν ἐξ ὅλης τῆς καρδίας σου καὶ ἐξ ὅλης τῆς ψυχῆς σου ἐν τῇ θλίψει σου 30 καὶ εὑρήσουσίν σε πάντες οἱ λόγοι οὗτοι ἐ{P'} ἐσχάτῳ τῶν ἡμερῶν καὶ ἐπιστραφήσῃ πρὸς κύριον τὸν θεόν σου καὶ εἰσακούσῃ τῆς φωνῆς αὐτοῦ 31 ὅτι θεὸς οἰκτίρμων κύριος ὁ θεός σου οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψει σε οὐδὲ μὴ ἐκτρίψει σε οὐκ ἐπιλήσεται τὴν διαθήκην τῶν πατέρων σου ἣν ὤμοσεν αὐτοῖς

21 What though I, through your fault, have incurred the Lord’s anger, so that he has sworn never to let me cross Jordan, and see the fair land he means to give you? 22 What though I must die here, still on Jordan’s further bank? You will cross over it; that fair land will be yours. 23 Never forget, then, the covenant the Lord thy God has made with thee; never fashion thyself those images the Lord has forbidden thee to fashion; 24 the Lord thy God is a fire that burns all before it, loves thee with a jealous love. 25 Sons will spring from you, and beget sons in their turn; what if you should go astray, when you have been long settled in the land, fashion yourselves some idol, and rouse the Lord your God to indignation at the sight of your evil-doing? 26 I call heaven and earth to witness this day; the land which now lies within your grasp, beyond Jordan, will soon be yours no longer. Your enjoyment of it will be cut short, and the Lord will make an end of you, 27 scattering you over the world and leaving but a few of you to live in a land of exile, 28 where you must needs worship the gods which men’s hands have made, things of wood and stone that cannot see or hear, cannot taste or smell. 29 There, if thou wilt have recourse to the Lord thy God, if thou wilt but have recourse to him with all thy heart, in the bitterness of thy tribulation, thou wilt find him again. 30 Yes, when all these threats have come home to thee, thou wilt turn back to the Lord thy God at last, and listen to his voice. 31 The Lord thy God is a God of mercy; he will not forsake thee, will not utterly destroy thee, and will not forget the sworn covenant he made with thy fathers.

21 Iratusque est Dominus contra me propter sermones vestros, et juravit ut non transirem Jordanem, nec ingrederer terram optimam, quam daturus est vobis. 22 Ecce morior in hac humo; non transibo Jordanem: vos transibitis, et possidebitis terram egregiam. 23 Cave nequando obliviscaris pacti Domini Dei tui, quod pepigit tecum, et facias tibi sculptam similitudinem eorum, quæ fieri Dominus prohibuit: 24 quia Dominus Deus tuus ignis consumens est, Deus æmulator. 25 Si genueritis filios ac nepotes, et morati fueritis in terra, deceptique feceritis vobis aliquam similitudinem, patrantes malum coram Domino Deo vestro, ut eum ad iracundiam provocetis: 26 testes invoco hodie cælum et terram, cito perituros vos esse de terra, quam transito Jordane possessuri estis: non habitabitis in ea longo tempore, sed delebit vos Dominus, 27 atque disperget in omnes gentes, et remanebitis pauci in nationibus, ad quas vos ducturus est Dominus. 28 Ibique servietis diis, qui hominum manu fabricati sunt, ligno et lapidi qui non vident, nec audiunt, nec comedunt, nec odorantur. 29 Cumque quæsieris ibi Dominum Deum tuum, invenies eum: si tamen toto corde quæsieris, et tota tribulatione animæ tuæ. 30 Postquam te invenerint omnia quæ prædicta sunt, novissimo tempore reverteris ad Dominum Deum tuum, et audies vocem ejus. 31 Quia Deus misericors Dominus Deus tuus est: non dimittet te, nec omnino delebit, neque obliviscetur pacti, in quo juravit patribus tuis.

32 ἐπερωτήσατε ἡμέρας προτέρας τὰς γενομένας προτέρας σου ἀπὸ τῆς ἡμέρας ἧς ἔκτισεν ὁ θεὸς ἄνθρωπον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἄκρον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἕως ἄκρου τοῦ οὐρανοῦ εἰ γέγονεν κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμα τὸ μέγα τοῦτο εἰ ἤκουσται τοιοῦτο 33 εἰ ἀκήκοεν ἔθνος φωνὴν θεοῦ ζῶντος λαλοῦντος ἐκ μέσου τοῦ πυρός ὃν τρόπον ἀκήκοας σὺ καὶ ἔζησας 34 εἰ ἐπείρασεν ὁ θεὸς εἰσελθὼν λαβεῖν ἑαυτῷ ἔθνος ἐκ μέσου ἔθνους ἐν πειρασμῷ καὶ ἐν σημείοις καὶ ἐν τέρασιν καὶ ἐν πολέμῳ καὶ ἐν χειρὶ κραταιᾷ καὶ ἐν βραχίονι ὑψηλῷ καὶ ἐν ὁράμασιν μεγάλοις κατὰ πάντα ὅσα ἐποίησεν κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἐνώπιόν σου βλέποντος 35 ὥστε εἰδῆσαί σε ὅτι κύριος ὁ θεός σου οὗτος θεός ἐστιν καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι πλὴν αὐτοῦ 36 ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἀκουστὴ ἐγένετο ἡ φωνὴ αὐτοῦ παιδεῦσαί σε καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἔδειξέν σοι τὸ πῦρ αὐτοῦ τὸ μέγα καὶ τὰ ῥήματα αὐτοῦ ἤκουσας ἐκ μέσου τοῦ πυρός 37 διὰ τὸ ἀγαπῆσαι αὐτὸν τοὺς πατέρας σου καὶ ἐξελέξατο τὸ σπέρμα αὐτῶν με{T'} αὐτοὺς ὑμᾶς καὶ ἐξήγαγέν σε αὐτὸς ἐν τῇ ἰσχύι αὐτοῦ τῇ μεγάλῃ ἐξ Αἰγύπτου 38 ἐξολεθρεῦσαι ἔθνη μεγάλα καὶ ἰσχυρότερά σου πρὸ προσώπου σου εἰσαγαγεῖν σε δοῦναί σοι τὴν γῆν αὐτῶν κληρονομεῖν καθὼς ἔχεις σήμερον 39 καὶ γνώσῃ σήμερον καὶ ἐπιστραφήσῃ τῇ διανοίᾳ ὅτι κύριος ὁ θεός σου οὗτος θεὸς ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ ἄνω καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς κάτω καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἔτι πλὴν αὐτοῦ 40 καὶ φυλάξῃ τὰ δικαιώματα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς ἐντολὰς αὐτοῦ ὅσας ἐγὼ ἐντέλλομαί σοι σήμερον ἵνα εὖ σοι γένηται καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς σου μετὰ σέ ὅπως μακροήμεροι γένησθε ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἧς κύριος ὁ θεός σου δίδωσίν σοι πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας

32 Search the history of the days that went before thee, far back as the time when God made man on the earth, wide as earth’s end from earth’s end; is there any other record of such happenings? 33 That a people should hear the voice of God speaking out of the heart of the flames, as thou didst, and live to tell of it? 34 That God should intervene, and single out for himself one nation above all the rest; that he should try men’s hearts with portent and with marvel, fight against them with constraining force, with open display of his strength, with plagues terrible to see? All this the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, and your own eyes have witnessed it; 35 proof to you that this Lord is God, that no other can compare with him. 36 From heaven he uttered his warnings, and on earth his voice came to thee from the heart of that dread fire he shewed thee; 37 and all because he loved thy fathers, and had chosen out their posterity. He rescued thee from Egypt, and marched on before thee with the great power that is his, 38 ready to dispossess proud nations that were more than a match for thee at thy coming, and make their lands thine; it has happened here under thy eyes. 39 Be sure, then, of this henceforward, and keep it before thy mind, that the Lord is the God who reigns in heaven above and on earth beneath; there is no other. 40 His laws and decrees thou must observe, as I have proclaimed them to thee, if thou and thy sons after thee are to prosper, and have long enjoyment of the land the Lord thy God means to give thee.

32 Interroga de diebus antiquis, qui fuerunt ante te ex die quo creavit Deus hominem super terram, a summo cælo usque ad summum ejus, si facta est aliquando hujuscemodi res, aut umquam cognitum est, 33 ut audiret populus vocem Dei loquentis de medio ignis, sicut tu audisti, et vixisti: 34 si fecit Deus ut ingrederetur, et tolleret sibi gentem de medio nationum, per tentationes, signa atque portenta, per pugnam et robustam manum, extentumque brachium, et horribiles visiones juxta omnia quæ fecit pro vobis Dominus Deus vester in Ægypto, videntibus oculis tuis: 35 ut scires quoniam Dominus ipse est Deus, et non est alius præter eum. 36 De cælo te fecit audire vocem suam, ut doceret te, et in terra ostendit tibi ignem suum maximum, et audisti verba illius de medio ignis: 37 quia dilexit patres tuos, et elegit semen eorum post eos. Eduxitque te præcedens in virtute sua magna ex Ægypto, 38 ut deleret nationes maximas et fortiores te in introitu tuo: et introduceret te, daretque tibi terram earum in possessionem, sicut cernis in præsenti die. 39 Scito ergo hodie, et cogitato in corde tuo quod Dominus ipse sit Deus in cælo sursum, et in terra deorsum, et non sit alius. 40 Custodi præcepta ejus atque mandata, quæ ego præcipio tibi: ut bene sit tibi, et filiis tuis post te, et permaneas multo tempore super terram, quam Dominus Deus tuus daturus est tibi.

[1] ‘The common drudges’; this is the sense of the Latin, but the Hebrew text has ‘which the Lord thy God has assigned to all the nations under heaven’. Some would interpret this as a paradoxical expression, the sense of which is only made clear if we add the words ‘for their worship’.

[2] In the Hebrew, this hill of Sion in the Hermon range is distinguished from mount Sion at Jerusalem by a different initial letter.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd