Deuteronomy 5

Deuteronomy 5:1 Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Israel, listen to the prescriptions and rules I am proclaiming as you hear them today. Learn and watch them carefully.

Deuteronomy 5:2 Yahveh our God established a covenant with us at Horeb.

Deuteronomy 5:3 Yahveh did not establish this covenant with our fathers, but with all of us who are alive here today.

Deuteronomy 5:4 Yahveh spoke to you face to face from the fire on the mountain.

Deuteronomy 5:5 At that time, I was standing between Yahveh and you to report the word of Yahveh to you because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain. And this is what he said:

Deuteronomy 5:6 I am Yahveh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

Deuteronomy 5:7 Do not have other gods besides me.

Deuteronomy 5:8 Do not make an idol for yourself in the shape of anything in the sky above or on the land below or in the water under the land.

Deuteronomy 5:9 Do not bow in worship to them and do not serve them, because I, Yahveh your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ violation[1] to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,

Deuteronomy 5:10 but showing faithful care to a thousand generations of those who care about me and watch my commands.

Deuteronomy 5:11 Do not misuse the name of Yahveh your God, because Yahveh will not leave anyone unpunished who misuses his name.

Deuteronomy 5:12 Be careful to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it sacred[2] like Yahveh, your God has commanded you.

Deuteronomy 5:13 You are to labor six days and do all your work,

Deuteronomy 5:14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahveh your God. Do not do any work– you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey, any of your livestock, or the guest who lives within your city gates, so that your male and female slaves may rest as you do.

Deuteronomy 5:15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahveh, your God, brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That is why Yahveh, your God, has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

Deuteronomy 5:16 Honor your father and your mother, as Yahveh your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and so that you may prosper in the land Yahveh your God is giving you.

Deuteronomy 5:17 You will not murder.

Deuteronomy 5:18 You will not commit adultery.

Deuteronomy 5:19 You will not steal.

Deuteronomy 5:20 You will not give dishonest testimony against your neighbor.

Deuteronomy 5:21 You will not crave[3] your neighbor’s wife or your neighbor’s house, his field, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

Deuteronomy 5:22 “Yahveh spoke these commands in a loud voice to your entire collected assembly from the fire, cloud, and total darkness on the mountain; he added nothing to them. He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

Deuteronomy 5:23 All of you approached me with your tribal leaders and elders when you heard the voice from the darkness and while the mountain was blazing with fire.

Deuteronomy 5:24 You said, ‘Notice,[4] Yahveh, our God, has shown us his impressive appearance[5] and greatness, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that God can speak with a human, and he stays alive.

Deuteronomy 5:25 But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us, and we will die if we hear the voice of Yahveh, our God, any longer.

Deuteronomy 5:26 For who out of everyone in the flesh[6] has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the fire, as we have, and stayed alive?

Deuteronomy 5:27 Go near and listen to everything Yahveh our God says. Then you can tell us everything Yahveh our God tells you; we will listen and obey.’

Deuteronomy 5:28 “Yahveh heard your words when you spoke to me. He said to me, ‘I have heard the words that these people have spoken to you. Everything they have said is right.

Deuteronomy 5:29 If only they had such a heart to fear me and watch all my commands always, so that they and their children would permanently[7] prosper.

Deuteronomy 5:30 Go and tell them: Return to your tents.

Deuteronomy 5:31 But you stand here with me, and I will tell you every command – the prescriptions and rules – you are to teach them, so that they may follow them in the land I am giving them to take possession of.’

Deuteronomy 5:32 “Be careful to do as Yahveh your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or the left.

Deuteronomy 5:33 Follow the whole instruction Yahveh your God has commanded you, so that you may stay alive, prosper, and have a long life in the land you will possess.

[1]עָוֹן = violation. Deuteronomy 5:9; 19:15.

[2]קָדַשׁ = sacred. Deuteronomy 5:12; 15:19; 22:9; 32:51.

[3]חמד = crave. Deuteronomy 5:21; 7:25.

[4] הֵן= notice. Deuteronomy 5:24; 10:14; 31:14, 27.

[5]כָּבוֹד = impressive appearance.

[6] בָּשָׂר= flesh, meat. Deuteronomy 5:26; 12:15, 20, 23, 27; 14:8; 16:4; 28:53, 55; 32:42.

[7] עוֹלָם= permanently, ancient, permanent. Deuteronomy 5:29; 12:28; 13:16; 15:17; 23:3, 6; 28:46; 29:29; 32:7, 40; 33:15, 27.

Deuteronomy 5 quotes:

“But in mediating the law, Moses applied it to the contemporary situation, and his repetition of the Decalog and laws in the verses and chapters that follow in Deuteronomy differs at a number of points from the initial presentation of the law in the book of Exodus.”

Craigie Peter C. The Book of Deuteronomy. Eerdmans 1976. p. 148.

“The laws of Deuteronomy are like a straight and well-marked ‘path’ or road, without any detours. Therefore, it was imperative for Israel to follow the Lord in all the way that he had commanded (repeated in vv. 32–33). Placed here, these verses are not seen as an intrusion on the assumption that the law had already been given, but may be perceived as anticipating the full complement of laws to follow.”

Woods, Edward J.. Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries Book 5) . InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.