Verse Lens · Context pointer
Deuteronomy 4:2 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 2. 2Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Deuteronomy 4:2 guards the commanded word against both addition and subtraction.
Read It With
- Deuteronomy 4:1–14
Read Deuteronomy 4:2 with 4:1–14. It guards the commanded word against both addition and subtraction. The complete unit establishes this contextual meaning: Moses turns memory into exhortation: Israel must hear and do the statutes, neither add nor subtract, remember Baal-peor and Horeb, and teach a wisdom marked by God's nearness and righteous judgment.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Deuteronomy 4:1–14 — Hear, Remember, and Teach the Horeb CovenantSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Deuteronomy 4:1–14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Deuteronomy
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, speech and legal clauses, poetic lines, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Deut.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 4:1–14
Open source ↗