Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, gives you.
- KJV Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the LORD God of your fathers giveth you.
- NKJV “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.
- NASB “Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you will live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
- NLT “And now, Israel, listen carefully to these decrees and regulations that I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you may live, so you may enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Moses urges Israel to obey God's statutes so they may live and possess the land. It links obedience with life and inheritance.
Overview
Moses opens his great appeal by calling Israel to listen and do God's commands, tying covenant obedience to flourishing in the land. Obedience here is the grateful response to grace, not a way of earning God's favor. This life-through-obedience theme finds its deepest fulfillment in Christ, who perfectly kept the law on His people's behalf.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 25
- Rom 10:5For concerning the righteousness that is by the law, Moses writes: “The man who does these things will live by them.”
- Ezek 20:11And I gave them My statutes and made known to them My ordinances—for the man who does these things will live by them.
- Lev 18:5Keep My statutes and My judgments, for the man who does these things will live by them. I am the LORD.
- Deut 8:1You must carefully follow every commandment I am giving you today, so that you may live and multiply, and enter and possess the land that the LORD swore to give your fathers.
- Deut 5:1Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances that I declare in your hearing this day. Learn them and observe them carefully.
- Lev 22:31You are to keep My commandments and practice them. I am the LORD.
- Deut 30:16For I am commanding you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and increase, and the LORD your God may bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.
- Deut 30:19I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, so that you and your descendants may live,
- Ezek 36:27And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and to carefully observe My ordinances.
- Deut 4:45These are the testimonies, statutes, and ordinances that Moses proclaimed to them after they had come out of Egypt,
- Ps 105:45that they might keep His statutes and obey His laws. Hallelujah!
- Lev 20:8And you shall keep My statutes and practice them. I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
- Deut 11:32be careful to follow all the statutes and ordinances that I am setting before you today.
- Ezek 37:24My servant David will be king over them, and there will be one shepherd for all of them. They will follow My ordinances and keep and observe My statutes.
- Ezek 11:20so that they may follow My statutes, keep My ordinances, and practice them. Then they will be My people, and I will be their God.
- Ezek 20:21But the children rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes or carefully observe My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they profaned My Sabbaths. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the wilderness.
- Deut 5:33You must walk in all the ways that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.
- Ps 119:4You have ordained Your precepts, that we should keep them diligently.
- Deut 11:1You shall therefore love the LORD your God and always keep His charge, His statutes, His ordinances, and His commandments.
- Deut 4:8And what nation is great enough to have righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?
- Matt 28:20and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
- Lev 19:37You must keep all My statutes and all My ordinances and follow them. I am the LORD.”
- John 15:14You are My friends if you do what I command you.
- Deut 16:20Pursue justice, and justice alone, so that you may live, and you may possess the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
- Luke 1:6Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and decrees of the Lord.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 4:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.