Liber Deuteronomii, 4

1. Et nunc, Israel, audi praecepta et iudicia, quae ego doceo vos, ut facientes ea vivatis et ingredientes possideatis terram, quam Dominus, Deus patrum vestrorum, daturus est vobis.

1. "And now, O Israel, give heed to the statutes and the ordinances which I teach you, and do them; that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, gives you.

2. Non addetis ad verbum, quod vobis loquor, neque auferetis ex eo; custodite mandata Domini Dei vestri, quae ego praecipio vobis.

2. You 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.

3. Oculi vestri viderunt omnia, quae fecit Dominus contra Baalphegor, quomodo contriverit omnes cultores eius de medio vestri;

3. Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Ba'al-pe'or; for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Ba'al of Pe'or;

4. vos autem, qui adhaeretis Domino Deo vestro, vivitis universi usque in praesentem diem.

4. but you who held fast to the LORD your God are all alive this day.

5. En docui vos praecepta atque iudicia, sicut mandavit mihi Dominus Deus meus, ut faceretis ea in terra, quam possessuri estis,

5. Behold, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, as the LORD my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land which you are entering to take possession of it.

6. et observaretis et impleretis opere. Haec est enim vestra sapientia et intellectus coram populis, ut audientes universa praecepta haec dicant: “En populus sapiens et intellegens, gens magna haec!”.

6. Keep them and do them; for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, `Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'

7. Quae est enim alia natio tam grandis, quae habeat deos appropinquantes sibi, sicut Dominus Deus noster adest cunctis obsecrationibus nostris?

7. For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?

8. Et quae est alia gens sic inclita, ut habeat praecepta iustaque iudicia, sicut est universa lex haec, quam ego proponam hodie ante oculos vestros?

8. And what great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you this day?

9. Custodi igitur temetipsum et animam tuam sollicite, ne obliviscaris verborum, quae viderunt oculi tui, et ne excidant de corde tuo cunctis diebus vitae tuae. Docebis ea filios ac nepotes tuos

9. "Only take heed, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children's children --

10. die, in quo stetisti coram Domino Deo tuo in Horeb, quando Dominus locutus est mihi: “Congrega ad me populum, ut audiant sermones meos et discant timere me omni tempore, quo vivunt in terra, doceantque filios suos”.

10. how on the day that you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, `Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children so.'

11. Et accessistis et stetistis ad radices montis, qui ardebat usque ad caelum, erantque in eo tenebrae, nubes et caligo.

11. And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom.

12. Locutusque est Dominus ad vos de medio ignis; vocem verborum audistis et formam penitus non vidistis.

12. Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.

13. Et ostendit vobis pactum suum, quod praecepit, ut faceretis, et decem verba, quae scripsit in duabus tabulis lapideis.

13. And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

14. Mihique mandavit in illo tempore, ut docerem vos praecepta et iudicia, quae facere deberetis in terra, quam possessuri estis.

14. And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances, that you might do them in the land which you are going over to possess.

15. Custodite igitur sollicite animas vestras. Non vidistis aliquam similitudinem in die, qua locutus est vobis Dominus in Horeb de medio ignis;

15. "Therefore take good heed to yourselves. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire,

16. ne forte corrupti faciatis vobis sculptam similitudinem, imaginem masculi vel feminae,

16. beware lest you act corruptly by making a graven image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

17. similitudinem omnium iumentorum, quae sunt super terram, vel avium sub caelo volantium

17. the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air,

18. atque reptilium, quae moventur in terra, sive piscium, qui sub terra morantur in aquis;

18. the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth.

19. et ne forte oculis elevatis ad caelum videas solem et lunam et astra, omnem exercitum caeli, et errore deceptus adores ea et colas, quae attribuit Dominus Deus tuus cunctis gentibus, quae sub caelo sunt.

19. And beware lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and worship them and serve them, things which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven.

20. Vos autem tulit Dominus et eduxit de fornace ferrea Aegypti, ut haberet populum hereditarium, sicut est in praesenti die.

20. But the LORD has taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own possession, as at this day.

21. Iratusque est Dominus contra me propter sermones vestros et iuravit, ut non transirem Iordanem nec ingrederer terram optimam, quam Dominus Deus tuus daturus est tibi in haereditatem.

21. Furthermore the LORD was angry with me on your account, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.

22. Ecce morior in hac humo, non transibo Iordanem; vos transibitis et possidebitis terram egregiam hanc.

22. For I must die in this land, I must not go over the Jordan; but you shall go over and take possession of that good land.

23. Cavete, ne quando obliviscamini pacti Domini Dei vestri, quod pepigit vobiscum, et faciatis vobis sculptam similitudinem omnium, quae fieri Dominus Deus tuus prohibuit;

23. Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you, and make a graven image in the form of anything which the LORD your God has forbidden you.

24. quia Dominus Deus tuus ignis consumens est, Deus aemulator.

24. For the LORD your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.

25. Si genueris filios ac nepotes, et morati fueritis in terra corruptique feceritis aliquam similitudinem sculptam patrantes malum coram Domino Deo tuo, ut eum ad iracundiam provocetis,

25. "When you beget children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a graven image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, so as to provoke him to anger,

26. testes invoco contra vos hodie caelum et terram, cito perituros vos esse de terra, quam, transito Iordane, possessuri estis: non habitabitis in ea longo tempore, sed delebit vos Dominus

26. I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you will soon utterly perish from the land which you are going over the Jordan to possess; you will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.

27. atque disperget in gentes, et remanebitis pauci in nationibus, ad quas vos ducturus est Dominus.

27. And 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.

28. Ibique servietis diis, qui hominum manu fabricati sunt, ligno et lapidi, qui non vident nec audiunt nec comedunt nec odorantur.

28. And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of men's hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

29. Cumque quaesieris ibi Dominum Deum tuum, invenies eum, si tamen toto corde quaesieris eum et tota anima tua.

29. But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

30. Postquam in tribulatione tua te invenerint omnia, quae praedicta sunt, novissimo tempore reverteris ad Dominum Deum tuum et audies vocem eius;

30. When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice,

31. quia Deus misericors Dominus Deus tuus est, non dimittet te nec omnino delebit neque obliviscetur pacti, in quo iuravit patribus tuis.

31. for the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not fail you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers which he swore to them.

32. Interroga de diebus antiquis, qui fuerunt ante te ex die, quo creavit Deus hominem super terram, et a summo caeli usque ad summum eius, si facta est aliquando huiuscemodi res magna, aut umquam cognitum est,

32. "For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of.

33. num audivit populus vocem Dei loquentis de medio ignis, sicut tu audisti et vixisti?

33. Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live?

34. Aut tentavit Deus, ut ingrederetur et tolleret sibi gentem de medio nationis per tentationes, signa atque portenta, per pugnam et robustam manum extentumque brachium et terrores magnos, iuxta omnia, quae fecit pro vobis Dominus Deus vester in Aegypto, videntibus oculis tuis?

34. Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and 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?

35. Tibi monstratum est, ut scires quoniam Dominus ipse est Deus, et non est alius praeter eum.

35. To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him.

36. De caelo te fecit audire vocem suam, ut doceret te, et in terra ostendit tibi ignem suum maximum; et audisti verba illius de medio ignis,

36. Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you; and on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.

37. quia dilexit patres tuos et elegit semen eorum post eos. Eduxitque te vultu suo in virtute sua magna ex Aegypto,

37. And because he loved your fathers and chose their descendants after them, and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power,

38. ut expelleret nationes maiores et fortiores te in introitu tuo et introduceret te daretque tibi terram earum in possessionem, sicut cernis in praesenti die.

38. driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as at this day;

39. Scito ergo hodie et cogitato in corde tuo quod Dominus ipse sit Deus in caelo sursum et in terra deorsum, et non sit alius.

39. know therefore this day, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.

40. Custodi praecepta eius atque mandata, quae ego praecipio tibi hodie, ut bene sit tibi et filiis tuis post te, et permaneas multo tempore super terram, quam Dominus Deus tuus daturus est tibi”.

40. Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you this day, 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 gives you for ever."

41. Tunc separavit Moyses tres civitates trans Iordanem ad orientalem plagam,

41. Then Moses set apart three cities in the east beyond the Jordan,

42. ut confugiat ad eas, qui occiderit nolens proximum suum, nec fuerit inimicus ante unum et alterum diem, et ad harum aliquam urbium possit evadere et vivat:

42. that the manslayer might flee there, who kills his neighbor unintentionally, without being at enmity with him in time past, and that by fleeing to one of these cities he might save his life:

43. Bosor in solitudine, quae sita est in terra campestri, pro tribu Ruben, et Ramoth in Galaad pro tribu Gad et Golan in Basan pro tribu Manasse.

43. Bezer in the wilderness on the tableland for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manas'sites.

44. Ista est lex, quam proposuit Moyses coram filiis Israel;

44. This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel;

45. haec testimonia et praecepta atque iudicia, quae locutus est ad filios Israel, quando egressi sunt de Aegypto,

45. these are the testimonies, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spoke to the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt,

46. trans Iordanem in valle contra Bethphegor, in terra Sehon regis Amorraei, qui habitavit in Hesebon, quem percussit Moyses et filii Israel egressi ex Aegypto.

46. beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-pe'or, in the land of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel defeated when they came out of Egypt.

47. Et possederunt terram eius et terram Og regis Basan, duorum regum Amorraeorum, qui erant trans Iordanem ad solis ortum,

47. And they took possession of his land and the land of Og the king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who lived to the east beyond the Jordan;

48. ab Aroer, quae sita est super ripam torrentis Arnon, usque ad montem Sion, qui est Hermon,

48. from Aro'er, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, as far as Mount Si'rion (that is, Hermon),

49. omnem Arabam trans Iordanem ad orientalem plagam usque ad mare Arabae et usque ad radices montis Phasga.

49. together with all the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.