Deuteronomy - 4:8



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

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Deuteronomy 4:8.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
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?
And what great nation is there that hath righteous statutes and ordinances, as all this law which I set before you this day?
And what great nation is there, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
and which is the great nation which hath righteous statutes and judgments according to all this law which I am setting before you to-day?
And what great nation has laws and decisions so right as all this law which I put before you today?
Et quae gens est tam magna cui sint statuta et judicia justa, sicut est universa haec lex, quam ego proporno hodie coram oculis vestris?

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous,.... Founded in justice and equity, and so agreeable to right reason, and so well calculated and adapted to lead persons in the ways of righteousness and truth, and keep them from doing any injury to each other's persons and properties, and to maintain good order, peace, and concord among them:
as all this law which I set before you this day? which he then repeated, afresh declared, explained and instructed them in; for otherwise it had been delivered to them near forty years ago. Now there was not any nation then in being, nor any since, to be compared with the nation of the Jews, for the wise and wholesome laws given unto them; no, not the more cultivated and civilized nations, as the Grecians and Romans, who had the advantage of such wise lawgivers as they were accounted, as Solon, Lycurgus, Numa, and others; and indeed the best laws that they had seem to be borrowed from the Jews.

So righteous - Whereby he implies that the true greatness of a nation doth not consist in pomp or power, or largeness of empire, as commonly men think, but in the righteousness of its laws.

*More commentary available at chapter level.


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