Deuteronomy 5-6

Complete Jewish Bible

5 (A: iv, S: iii) Then Moshe called to all Isra’el and said to them, “Listen, Isra’el, to the laws and rulings which I am announcing in your hearing today, so that you will learn them and take care to obey them. ²Adonai our God made a covenant with us at Horev. ³Adonai did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us — with us, who are all of us here alive today. ⁴Adonai spoke with you face to face from the fire on the mountain. ⁵At that time I stood between Adonai and you in order to tell you what Adonai was saying; because, on account of the fire, you were afraid and wouldn’t go up onto the mountain. He said,

א ⁶“‘I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you lived as slaves.

ב ⁷“‘You are to have no other gods before me. ⁸You are not to make for yourselves a carved image or any kind of representation of anything in heaven above, on the earth beneath or in the water below the shoreline — ⁹you are not to bow down to them or serve them; for I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the parents, also the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ¹⁰but displaying grace to the thousandth generation of those who love me and obey my mitzvot.

ג ¹¹“‘You are not to misuse the name of Adonai your God, because Adonai will not leave unpunished someone who misuses his name.

ד ¹²“‘Observe the day of Shabbat, to set it apart as holy, as Adonai your God ordered you to do. ¹³You have six days to labor and do all your work, ¹⁴but the seventh day is a Shabbat for Adonai your God. On it you are not to do any kind of work — not you, your son or your daughter, not your male or female slave, not your ox, your donkey or any of your other livestock, and not the foreigner staying with you inside the gates to your property — so that your male and female servants can rest just as you do. ¹⁵You are to remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Adonai your God brought you out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore Adonai your God has ordered you to keep the day of Shabbat.

ה ¹⁶“‘Honor your father and mother, as Adonai your God ordered you to do, so that you will live long and have things go well with you in the land Adonai your God is giving you.

ו ¹⁷“‘Do not murder.

ז ⁽¹⁸⁾“‘Do not commit adultery.

ח ⁽¹⁹⁾“‘Do not steal.

ט ⁽²⁰⁾“‘Do not give false evidence against your neighbor.

י ¹⁸⁽²¹⁾“‘Do not covet your neighbor’s wife; do not covet your neighbor’s house, his field, his male or female slave, his ox, his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’

(A: v, S: iv) ¹⁹⁽²²⁾“These words Adonai spoke to your entire gathering at the mountain from fire, cloud and thick mist, in a loud voice; then it ceased. But he wrote them on two stone tablets, which he gave to me. ²⁰⁽²³⁾When you heard the voice coming out of the darkness, as the mountain blazed with fire, you came to me, all the heads of your tribes and your leaders, ²¹⁽²⁴⁾and said, ‘Here, Adonai our God has shown us his glory and his greatness! We have heard his voice coming from the fire, and we have seen today that God does speak with human beings, and they stay alive. ²²⁽²⁵⁾But why should we keep risking death? This great fire will consume us! If we hear the voice of Adonai our God any more, we will die! ²³⁽²⁶⁾For who is there of all humanity that has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the fire, as we have, and stayed alive? ²⁴⁽²⁷⁾You, go near; and hear everything Adonai our God says. Then you will tell us everything Adonai our God says to you; and we will listen to it and do it.’

²⁵⁽²⁸⁾“Adonai heard what you were saying when you spoke to me, and Adonai said to me, ‘I have heard what this people has said when speaking to you, and everything they have said is good. ²⁶⁽²⁹⁾Oh, how I wish their hearts would stay like this always, that they would fear me and obey all my mitzvot; so that it would go well with them and their children forever. ²⁷⁽³⁰⁾Go, tell them to return to their tents. ²⁸⁽³¹⁾But you, stand here by me; and I will tell you all the mitzvot, laws and rulings which you are to teach them, so that they can obey them in the land I am giving them as their possession.’

²⁹⁽³²⁾“Therefore you are to be careful to do as Adonai your God has ordered you; you are not to deviate either to the right or the left. ³⁰⁽³³⁾You are to follow the entire way which Adonai your God has ordered you; so that you will live, things will go well with you, and you will live long in the land you are about to possess.

6 “Now this is the mitzvah, the laws and rulings which Adonai your God ordered me to teach you for you to obey in the land you are crossing over to possess, ²so that you will fear Adonai your God and observe all his regulations and mitzvot that I am giving you — you, your child and your grandchild — as long as you live, and so that you will have long life. ³Therefore listen, Isra’el, and take care to obey, so that things will go well with you, and so that you will increase greatly, as Adonai, the God of your ancestors, promised you by giving you a land flowing with milk and honey.

(A:vi, S: v) ⁴“Sh’ma, Yisra’el! Adonai Eloheinu, Adonai echad [Hear, Isra’el! Adonai our God, Adonai is one]; ⁵and you are to love Adonai your God with all your heart, all your being and all your resources. ⁶These words, which I am ordering you today, are to be on your heart; ⁷and you are to teach them carefully to your children. You are to talk about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸Tie them on your hand as a sign, put them at the front of a headband around your forehead, ⁹and write them on the door-frames of your house and on your gates.

(S: vi) ¹⁰“When Adonai your God has brought you into the land he swore to your ancestors Avraham, Yitz’chak and Ya‘akov that he would give you — cities great and prosperous, which you didn’t build; ¹¹houses full of all sorts of good things, which you didn’t fill; water cisterns dug out, which you didn’t dig; vineyards and olive trees, which you didn’t plant — and you have eaten your fill; ¹²then be careful not to forget Adonai, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you lived as slaves. ¹³You are to fear Adonai your God, serve him and swear by his name. ¹⁴You are not to follow other gods, chosen from the gods of the peoples around you; ¹⁵because Adonai, your God, who is here with you, is a jealous God. If you do, the anger of Adonai your God will flare up against you and he will destroy you from the face of the earth. ¹⁶Do not put Adonai your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah [testing]. ¹⁷Observe diligently the mitzvot of Adonai your God, and his instructions and laws which he has given you. ¹⁸You are to do what is right and good in the sight of Adonai, so that things will go well with you, and you will enter and possess the good land Adonai swore to your ancestors, ¹⁹expelling all your enemies ahead of you, as Adonai said.

²⁰“Some day your child will ask you, ‘What is the meaning of the instructions, laws and rulings which Adonai our God has laid down for you?’ ²¹Then you will tell your child, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and Adonai brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. ²²Adonai worked great and terrible signs and wonders against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household, before our very eyes. ²³He brought us out from there in order to bring us to the land he had sworn to our ancestors that he would give us. ²⁴Adonai ordered us to observe all these laws, to fear Adonai our God, always for our own good, so that he might keep us alive, as we are today. ²⁵It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to obey all these mitzvot before Adonai our God, just as he ordered us to do.’”