Chapter 4

Advantages of Fidelity. ¹ Now therefore, Israel, hear the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.^{(A) 2} In your observance of the commandments of the Lord, your God,^(B) which I am commanding you, you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it. ³ You have seen with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal-peor:^(C) the Lord, your God, destroyed from your midst everyone who followed the Baal of Peor; ⁴ but you, who held fast to the Lord, your God, are all alive today.

The Choice Before Israel. ¹⁵ See, I have today set before you life and good, death and evil.^{(A) 16} If you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I am giving you today, loving the Lord, your God, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and ordinances, you will live and grow numerous, and the Lord, your God, will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.^{(B) 17 (C)}If, however, your heart turns away and you do not obey, but are led astray and bow down to other gods and serve them, ¹⁸ I tell you today that you will certainly perish; you will not have a long life on the land which you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:^(D) I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live, ²⁰ by loving the Lord, your God, obeying his voice, and holding fast to him. For that will mean life for you, a long life for you to live on the land which the Lord swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them.^(E)