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The Book of Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy Chapter 5

  

The Ten Commandments

1
MOSES

summoned all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am proclaiming today in your hearing. Learn them and follow them carefully.  2  The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.  3  It was not with our fathers that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, all of us who are alive here today.  4  The Lord spoke to you face to face from out of the fire on the mountain.  5  I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain. And He said:

6 ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

  1.   7  ‘You shall have no other gods before Me.
  2.   8  ‘You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form or likeness of anything in the heavens above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth.  9  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,  10  but showing love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
  3.   11  ‘You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name.
  4.   12  ‘Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy.  13  Six days you shall labour and do all your work,  14  but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male servant or female servant, nor your ox or donkey, nor any of your animals, nor the foreigner who lives within your gates, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as you do.  15  Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
  5.   16  ‘Honour your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live a long life and so that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
  6.   17  ‘You shall not murder.
  7.   18  ‘You shall not commit adultery.
  8.   19  ‘You shall not steal.
  9.   20  ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
  10.   21  ‘You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife. You shall not desire your neighbour’s house, his field, or his male servant or female servant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour’.

The People’s Response

22  “These are the commandments that the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your entire assembly from out of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness up there on the mountain; and He added nothing more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

23  “All of you approached me with the leading men of your tribes and your elders when you heard the voice coming from the darkness, and while the mountain was blazing with fire.  24  And you said, ‘Look, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice coming from out of the fire. Today we have seen a man can live even when God speaks to him.  25  But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer.  26  For who is there from all mortal mankind who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from out of the fire, as we have, and remained alive?  27  Go near and listen to everything the Lord our God says. Then you can tell us everything that the Lord our God has said to you, and we will listen and obey’.

28  “The Lord heard your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the words that these people have spoken to you. Everything they said is right.  29  If only their hearts would be inclined to fear Me and always keep all My commands, so that it might go well with them and with their children forever!’

30  ‘Go and tell them to return to their tents.  31  But you stand here with Me, and I will tell you all the commands, statutes, and ordinances you are to teach them, so that they may follow them in the land I am giving them to possess’.

32  “So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; you must not turn aside to the right or to the left.  33  You must walk in all the ways that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper, and have a long life in the land you will possess.”