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.5 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:6 And you shall observe, and fulfill 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.7 Neither is there any other nation so great, that hath gods so nigh them, as our God is present to all our petitions.8 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?9 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,
לא תספו YE SHALL NOT ADD — For instance, to place five chapters in the Tephillin, to employ five species of fruit and plants in the fulfilment of the command of Lulab And to place five fringes on one’s garment. Thus, too, must we explain the following words ולא תגרעו, Ye shall not diminish [from it]" (Sifrei Devarim 82:4).
ושמרתם AND YE SHALL BE ON THE WATCH [TO DO] — This refers to the study of the laws (Sifrei Devarim 58), ועשיתם — this must be explained according to what it implies: AND YE SHALL DO. כי היא חכמתכם ובינתכם וגו׳ FOR THIS IS YOUR WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING [IN THE EYES OF THE PEOPLES] — i.e. through this ye will be accounted wise and understanding men in the eyes of the peoples.
רק השמר לך … פן תשכח את הדברים ONLY TAKE HEED TO THYSELF … LEST THOU FORGET THE THINGS — But only then when you do not forget them but will do them in their correct manner, will you be accounted wise and understanding men, but if you do them in an incorrect manner through forgetfulness, you will be accounted foolish.
The psalm's verse numbering differs between the modern lectionary and the Douay-Rheims this library hosts, so the text isn't matched verse-for-verse here yet.
Do not think that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.†18 For amen I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot, or one tittle shall not pass of the law, till all be fulfilled.†19 He therefore that shall break one of these least commandments, and shall so teach men, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But he that shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Or, He calls the passion, and the cross, the least, which if one shall not confess openly, but be ashamed of them, he shall be least, that is, last, and as it were no man; but to him that confesses it He promises the great glory of a heavenly calling.
About CSB. A personal translation of the New Testament, rendered directly from the public-domain Greek in a literary style — not a scholarly critical edition, and not for liturgical or doctrinal authority. It is one reader's work, offered for enjoyment; where it matters, weigh it against an established translation. (Placeholder text — final wording to come.)