Albert Barnes Commentary Deuteronomy 4:44-49

"And this is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel: these are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Moses spake unto the children of Israel, when they came forth out of Egypt, beyond the Jordan, in the valley over against Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel smote, when they came forth out of Egypt. And they took his land in possession, and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan toward the sunrising; from Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, even unto mount Sion (the same is Hermon), and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan eastward, even unto the sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah." — Deuteronomy 4:44-49 (ASV)

These verses would be more properly assigned to the next chapter. They are intended to serve as the announcement and introduction of the address now to be begun. Deuteronomy 4:44 gives a kind of general title to the whole of the weighty address, including in fact the central part and substance of the book, which now follows in 22 chapters, divided into two groups:

• Deuteronomy 5–11
• Deuteronomy 12–26

The address was delivered when they had already received the first-fruits of those promises (Deuteronomy 4:46). The full fruition of these promises was dependent on their fulfillment of that covenant, which was now about to be reviewed for them again in its main features.

Sion (Deuteronomy 4:48) must not be confused with Zion .