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.

And now, O Israel, hear the commandments and judgments which I teach thee: that doing them, thou mayst live, and entering in mayst possess the land which the Lord the God of your fathers will give you.

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.

Non addetis ad verbum, quod vobis loquor, nec auferetis ex eo: custodite mandata Domini Dei vestri, quæ ego præcipio vobis.

You shall not add to the word that I speak to you, neither shall you take away from it: keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

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.

Oculi vestri viderunt omnia quæ fecit Dominus contra Beelphegor, quomodo contriverit omnes cultores ejus de medio vestri.

Your eyes have seen all that the Lord hath done against Beelphegor, how he hath destroyed all his worshippers from among you.

Your own eyes have witnessed what sentence the Lord passed against Beelphegor, purging out from among you all that worshipped at his shrine,

Vos autem qui adhæretis Domino Deo vestro, vivitis universi usque in præsentem diem.

But you that adhere to the Lord your God, are all alive until this present day.

while you, who remain faithful to the Lord, have lived to remember it.

Scitis quod docuerim vos præcepta atque justitias, sicut mandavit mihi Dominus Deus meus: sic facietis ea in terra, quam possessuri estis:

You know that I have taught you statutes and justices, as the Lord my God hath commanded me: so shall you do them in the land which you shall possess:

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.

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.

And you shall observe, and fulfil them in practice. For this is your wisdom, and understanding in the sight of nations, that hearing all these precepts, they may say: Behold a wise and understanding people, a great nation.

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!

Nec est alia natio tam grandis, quæ habeat deos appropinquantes sibi, sicut Deus noster adest cunctis obsecrationibus nostris.

Neither is there any other nation so great, that hath gods so nigh them, as our God is present to all our petitions.

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.

Quæ est enim alia gens sic inclyta, ut habeat cæremonias, justaque judicia, et universam legem, quam ego proponam hodie ante oculos vestros?

For what other nation is there so renowned that hath ceremonies, and just judgments, and all the law, which I will set forth this day before your eyes?

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?

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,

Keep thyself therefore, and thy soul carefully. Forget not the words that thy eyes have seen, and let them not go out of thy heart all the days of thy life. Thou shalt teach them to thy sons and to thy grandsons,

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,

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.

From the day in which thou didst stand before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord spoke to me, saying: Call together the people unto me, that they may hear my words, and may learn to fear me all the time that they live on the earth, and may teach their children.

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.

Et accessistis ad radices montis, qui ardebat usque ad cælum: erantque in eo tenebræ, et nubes, et caligo.

And you came to the foot of the mount, which burned even unto heaven: and there was darkness, and a cloud and obscurity in it.

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.

Locutusque est Dominus ad vos de medio ignis. Vocem verborum ejus audistis, et formam penitus non vidistis.

And the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the voice of his words, but you saw not any form at all.

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.

Et ostendit vobis pactum suum, quod præcepit ut faceretis, et decem verba, quæ scripsit in duabus tabulis lapideis.

And he shewed you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, and the ten words that he wrote in two tables of stone.

He told you of his covenant, that you were to keep; uttered ten warnings, which he wrote down on two stone tablets;

Mihique mandavit in illo tempore ut docerem vos cæremonias et judicia, quæ facere deberetis in terra, quam possessuri estis.

And he commanded me at that time that I should teach you the ceremonies and judgments which you shall do in the land, that you shall possess.

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.

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

Keep therefore your souls carefully. You saw not any similitude in the day that the Lord God spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the fire:

Be watchful, then, at the peril of your lives. When the Lord spoke to you from the heart of the flame on mount Horeb, there was no outward shape you saw.

ne forte decepti faciatis vobis sculptam similitudinem, aut imaginem masculi vel feminæ:

Lest perhaps being deceived you might make you a graven similitude, or image of male or female,

And will you be deluded into carving some outward image or likeness, of man or woman,

similitudinem omnium jumentorum, quæ sunt super terram, vel avium sub cælo volantium,

The similitude of any beasts, that are upon the earth, or of birds, that fly under heaven,

of beasts that roam on the earth or birds that fly in the air,

atque reptilium, quæ moventur in terra, sive piscium qui sub terra morantur in aquis:

Or of creeping things, that move on the earth, or of fishes, that abide in the waters under the earth:

of creeping things on land or fish that dwell in the waters, down at the roots of earth?

ne forte elevatis oculis ad cælum, videas solem et lunam, et omnia astra cæli, et errore deceptus adores ea, et colas quæ creavit Dominus Deus tuus in ministerium cunctis gentibus, quæ sub cælo sunt.

Lest perhaps lifting up thy eyes to heaven, thou see the sun and the moon, and all the stars of heaven, and being deceived by error thou adore and serve them, which the Lord thy God created for the service of all the nations, that are under heaven.

Wilt thou be led astray as thou lookest up at the sky, at sun and moon and all the host of stars, into making gods of them, worshipping those creatures which the Lord thy God has made, to be the common drudges of every nation under heaven?

Vos autem tulit Dominus, et eduxit de fornace ferrea Ægypti, ut haberet populum hæreditarium, sicut est in præsenti die.

But the Lord hath taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace of Egypt, to make you his people of inheritance, as it is this present day.

Why else did the Lord choose you out, deliver you from Egypt’s furnace of iron, but to make you a people all his own, as you are this day?

Iratusque est Dominus contra me propter sermones vestros, et juravit ut non transirem Jordanem, nec ingrederer terram optimam, quam daturus est vobis.

And the Lord was angry with me for your words, and he swore that I should not pass over the Jordan, nor enter into the excellent land, which he will give you.

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?

Ecce morior in hac humo; non transibo Jordanem: vos transibitis, et possidebitis terram egregiam.

Behold I die in this land, I shall not pass over the Jordan: you shall pass, and possess the goodly land.

What though I must die here, still on Jordan’s further bank? You will cross over it; that fair land will be yours.

Cave nequando obliviscaris pacti Domini Dei tui, quod pepigit tecum, et facias tibi sculptam similitudinem eorum, quæ fieri Dominus prohibuit:

Beware lest thou ever forget the covenant of the Lord thy God, which he hath made with thee: and make to thyself a graven likeness of those things which the Lord hath forbid to be made:

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;

quia Dominus Deus tuus ignis consumens est, Deus æmulator.

Because the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

the Lord thy God is a fire that burns all before it, loves thee with a jealous love.

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:

If you shall beget sons and grandsons, and abide in the land, and being deceived, make to yourselves any similitude, committing evil before the Lord your God, to provoke him to wrath:

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?

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,

I call this day heaven and earth to witness, that you shall quickly perish out of the land, which, when you have passed over the Jordan, you shall possess. You shall not dwell therein long, but the Lord will destroy you,

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,

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

And scatter you among all nations, and you shall remain a few among the nations, to which the Lord shall lead you.

scattering you over the world and leaving but a few of you to live in a land of exile,

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

And there you shall serve gods, that were framed with men’s hands: wood and stone, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.

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.

Cumque quæsieris ibi Dominum Deum tuum, invenies eum: si tamen toto corde quæsieris, et tota tribulatione animæ tuæ.

And when thou shalt seek there the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him: yet so, if thou seek him with all thy heart, and all the affliction of thy soul.

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.

Postquam te invenerint omnia quæ prædicta sunt, novissimo tempore reverteris ad Dominum Deum tuum, et audies vocem ejus.

After all the things aforesaid shall find thee, in the latter time thou shalt return to the Lord thy God, and shalt hear his voice.

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.

Quia Deus misericors Dominus Deus tuus est: non dimittet te, nec omnino delebit, neque obliviscetur pacti, in quo juravit patribus tuis.

Because the Lord thy God is a merciful God: he will not leave thee, nor altogether destroy thee, nor forget the covenant, by which he swore to thy fathers.

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.

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,

Ask of the days of old, that have been before thy time from the day that God created man upon the earth, from one end of heaven to the other end thereof, if ever there was done the like thing, or it hath been known at any time,

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?

ut audiret populus vocem Dei loquentis de medio ignis, sicut tu audisti, et vixisti:

That a people should hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of fire, as thou hast heard, and lived:

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?

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:

If God ever did so as to go, and take to himself a nation out of the midst of nations by temptations, signs, and wonders, by fight, and a strong hand, and stretched out arm, and horrible visions according to all the things that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, before thy eyes.

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;

ut scires quoniam Dominus ipse est Deus, et non est alius præter eum.

That thou mightest know that the Lord he is God, and there is no other besides him.

proof to you that this Lord is God, that no other can compare with him.

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:

From heaven he made thee to hear his voice, that he might teach thee. And upon earth he shewed thee his exceeding great fire, and thou didst hear his words out of the midst of the fire,

From heaven he uttered his warnings, and on earth his voice came to thee from the heart of that dread fire he shewed thee;

quia dilexit patres tuos, et elegit semen eorum post eos. Eduxitque te præcedens in virtute sua magna ex Ægypto,

Because he loved thy fathers, and chose their seed after them. And he brought thee out of Egypt, going before thee with his great power,

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,

ut deleret nationes maximas et fortiores te in introitu tuo: et introduceret te, daretque tibi terram earum in possessionem, sicut cernis in præsenti die.

To destroy at thy coming very great nations, and stronger than thou art, and to bring thee in, and give thee their land for a possession, as thou seest at this present day.

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.

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

Know therefore this day, and think in thy heart that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and in the earth beneath, and there is no other.

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.

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.

Keep his precepts and commandments, which I command thee: that it may be well with thee, and thy children after thee, and thou mayst remain a long time upon the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee.

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.

Tunc separavit Moyses tres civitates trans Jordanem ad orientalem plagam,

Then Moses set aside three cities beyond the Jordan at the east side,

Then Moses set apart three cities on the east of Jordan,

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

That any one might flee to them who should kill his neighbour unwillingly, and was not his enemy a day or two before, and that he might escape to some one of these cities:

as a place of refuge, if he could but escape to one of them, for the man that had killed his neighbour unwittingly, without having any feud against him in times past.

Bosor in solitudine, quæ sita est in terra campestri de tribu Ruben: et Ramoth in Galaad, quæ est in tribu Gad: et Golan in Basan, quæ est in tribu Manasse.

Bosor in the wilderness, which is situate in the plains of the tribe of Ruben: and Ramoth in Galaad, which is in the tribe of Gad: and Golan in Basan, which is in the tribe of Manasses.

These were Bosor, out in the desert, in the plain that belongs to Ruben, Ramoth in Galaad, for Gad, and Golan in Basan, for Manasses.

Ista est lex, quam proposuit Moyses coram filiis Israël:

This is the law, that Moses set before the children of Israel,

Here follows the law which Moses proclaimed to the sons of Israel;

et hæc testimonia et cæremoniæ atque judicia, quæ locutus est ad filios Israël, quando egressi sunt de Ægypto,

And these are the testimonies and ceremonies and judgments, which he spoke to the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt,

these are the commandments and decrees and awards he gave to the Israelites that had marched with him out of Egypt.

trans Jordanem in valle contra fanum Phogor in terra Sehon regis Amorrhæi, qui habitavit in Hesebon, quem percussit Moyses. Filii quoque Israël egressi ex Ægypto

Beyond the Jordan in the valley over against the temple of Phogor, in the land of Sehon king of the Amorrhites, that dwelt in Hesebon, whom Moses slew. And the children of Israel coming out of Egypt,

It was beyond Jordan that he gave them, opposite the shrine of Phogor, in the country that once belonged to the Amorrhite king Sehon, who reigned in Hesebon. But now Moses had defeated him, and the sons of Israel, coming back from Egypt,

possederunt terram ejus, et terram Og regis Basan, duorum regum Amorrhæorum, qui erant trans Jordanem ad solis ortum:

Possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Basan, of the two kings of the Amorrhites, who were beyond the Jordan towards the rising of the sun:

had overrun both his territory and the territory of Og, king of Basan. These were the two Amorrhite kings that reigned east of the Jordan,

ab Aroër, quæ sita est super ripam torrentis Arnon, usque ad montem Sion, qui est et Hermon,

From Aroer, which is situate upon the bank of the torrent Arnon, unto mount Sion, which is also called Hermon,

from Aroer, on the banks of Arnon, to the hill of Sion, that is, of Hermon;

omnem planitiem trans Jordanem ad orientalem plagam, usque ad mare solitudinis, et usque ad radices montis Phasga.

All the plain beyond the Jordan at the east side, unto the sea of the wilderness, and unto the foot of mount Phasga.

ruled all over the plain that lies east of Jordan, down to the Desert Sea and the spurs of mount Phasga.