Deuteronomy 5-9
GOD’S WORD Translation
The Ten Commandments(A)
5 Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: Israel, listen to the laws and rules I’m telling you today. Learn them and faithfully obey them.
2 The Lord our God made a promise [a] to us at Mount Horeb. 3 He didn’t make this promise to our ancestors, but to all of us who are alive here today. 4 The Lord spoke to you face to face from the fire on the mountain. 5 I stood between the Lord and you to tell you the Lord’s word, because you were afraid of the fire and didn’t go up on the mountain. The Lord said:
6 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery in Egypt.
7 “Never have any other gods. 8 Never make your own carved idols or statues that represent any creature in the sky, on the earth, or in the water. 9 Never worship them or serve them, because I, the Lord your God, am a God who does not tolerate rivals. I punish children for their parents’ sins to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. 10 But I show mercy to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my commandments.
11 “Never use the name of the Lord your God carelessly. The Lord will make sure that anyone who uses his name carelessly will be punished.
12 “Observe the day of rest as a holy day. This is what the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 You have six days to do all your work. 14 The seventh day is the day of rest—a holy day dedicated to the Lord your God. You, your sons, your daughters, your male and female slaves, your oxen, your donkeys—all of your animals—even the foreigners living in your city must never do any work ⌞on that day⌟. In this way your male and female slaves can rest as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God used his mighty hand and powerful arm to bring you out of there. This is why the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the day of rest as a holy day.
16 “Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded you. Then you will live for a long time, and things will go well for you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
17 “Never murder.
18 “Never commit adultery.
19 “Never steal.
20 “Never avoid the truth when you testify about your neighbor.[b]
21 “Never desire to take your neighbor’s wife away from him.
“Never long for your neighbor’s household, his field, his male or female slave, his ox, his donkey, or anything else that belongs to him.”
22 These are the commandments the Lord spoke to your whole assembly on the mountain. He spoke in a loud voice from the fire, the cloud, and the gloomy darkness. Then he stopped speaking. He wrote the commandments on two stone tablets and gave them to me.
23 But when you heard the voice coming from the darkness and saw the mountain blazing with fire, all the leaders and heads of your tribes came to me. 24 You said, “The Lord our God has let us see how great and glorious he is. We’ve heard his voice come from the fire. Today we’ve seen that people can live even if God speaks to them. 25 Why should we die? This great fire will consume us! If we continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God, we’ll die! 26 Who has ever heard the voice of the living God speak from a fire, as we did, and lived? 27 ⌞Moses,⌟ go and listen to everything that the Lord our God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We’ll listen and obey.”
28 When the Lord heard the words that you spoke to me, he said, “I have heard what these people said to you. Everything they said was good. 29 If only they would fear me and obey all my commandments as long as they live! Then things would go well for them and their children forever.
30 “Tell the people to go back to their tents. 31 But you stay here with me. I will give you all the commands, laws, and rules that you must teach them to obey in the land which I’m giving them to possess.”
32 So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you. Never stop living this way. 33 Follow all the directions the Lord your God has given you. Then you will continue to live, life will go well for you, and you will live for a long time in the land that you are going to possess.
Love the Lord
6 These are the commands, laws, and rules the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. Obey them after you enter the land and take possession of it. 2 As long as you live, you, your children, and your grandchildren must fear the Lord your God. All of you must obey all his laws and commands that I’m giving you, and you will live a long time. 3 Listen, Israel, and be careful to obey these laws. Then things will go well for you and your population will increase in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord God of your ancestors promised you.
4 Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God. The Lord is the only God. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 Take to heart these words that I give you today. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you’re at home or away, when you lie down or get up. 8 ⌞Write them down, and⌟ tie them around your wrist, and wear them as headbands as a reminder. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
10 The Lord your God will bring you into the land and give it to you, as he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This land will have large, prosperous cities that you didn’t build. 11 Your houses will be filled with all kinds of things that you didn’t put there. You will have cisterns that you didn’t dig and vineyards and olive trees that you didn’t plant. After you have eaten all that you want, 12 be careful that you don’t forget the Lord, who brought you out of slavery in Egypt. 13 You must fear the Lord your God, serve him, and take your oaths only in his name. 14 Never worship any of the gods worshiped by the people around you. 15 If you do, the Lord your God will become very angry with you and will wipe you off the face of the earth, because the Lord your God, who is with you, is a God who does not tolerate rivals.
16 Never test the Lord your God as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to obey the commands of the Lord your God and the regulations and laws he has given you. 18 Do what the Lord considers right and good. Then things will go well for you, and you will enter and take possession of that good land which the Lord promised to your ancestors with an oath. 19 You will see the Lord expel your enemies as he said he would.
20 In the future your children will ask you, “What do these regulations, laws, and rules which the Lord our God commanded you mean to you?” 21 Tell them, “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord used his mighty hand to bring us out of there. 22 Right before our eyes the Lord did miraculous signs and amazing things that were spectacular but terrible for Egypt, Pharaoh, and his whole family. 23 The Lord led us out of there to bring us here and give us this land he promised to our ancestors with an oath. 24 The Lord our God commanded us to obey all these laws and to fear him. These laws are for our own good as long as we live so that he will preserve our lives. It’s still true today. 25 This is how we’ll have the Lord’s approval: If we faithfully obey all these laws in the presence of the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.”
Israel Is Commanded to Destroy the Canaanites and Their Idols
7 The Lord your God will bring you to the land you’re about to enter and take possession of. He will force many nations out of your way: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—seven nations larger and more powerful than you. 2 When the Lord your God gives them to you and you defeat them, destroy every one of them because they have been claimed by the Lord. Don’t make any treaties with them or show them any mercy. 3 Never marry any of them. Never let your daughters marry their sons or your sons marry their daughters. 4 These people will turn your children away from me to worship other gods. Then the Lord will get very angry with you and will quickly destroy you.
5 But this is what you must do to these people: Tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah, and burn their idols. 6 You are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. He chose you to be his own special possession out of all the nations on earth.
7 The Lord set his heart on you and chose you, even though you didn’t outnumber all the other people. You were the smallest of all nations. 8 You were chosen because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors. So he used his mighty hand to bring you out. He freed you from slavery under Pharaoh (the king of Egypt). 9 Keep in mind that the Lord your God is ⌞the only⌟ God. He is a faithful God, who keeps his promise [c] and is merciful to thousands of generations of those who love him and obey his commands. 10 But he sends destruction to pay back everyone who hates him. He never takes long to pay back anyone who hates him.
11 So obey the commands, laws, and rules I’m giving you today.
12 If you listen to these rules and faithfully obey them, the Lord your God will keep his promise to you and be merciful to you, as he swore to your ancestors. 13 He will love you, bless you, and increase the number of your descendants. He will bless you with children. He will bless your land with produce: grain, new wine, and olive oil. He will bless your herds with calves, and your flocks with lambs and kids. This will all happen in the land the Lord will give you, as he swore to your ancestors. 14 You will be blessed more than any other people. Your men and women will be able to have children, and your animals will be able to have offspring. 15 The Lord will keep you from having any kind of illness. He will not strike you with any of the terrible diseases you experienced in Egypt. Instead, he will strike all those who hate you. 16 You must destroy all the people the Lord your God hands over to you. Have no pity on them, and never worship their gods, because they will be a trap for you.
17 You may say to yourselves, “These nations outnumber us. How can we force them out?” 18 Don’t be afraid of them. Remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all of Egypt. 19 You saw with your own eyes the terrible plagues, the miraculous signs, and the amazing things the Lord did. He used his mighty hand and powerful arm to bring you out. He will do the same thing to all the people you’re afraid of. 20 The Lord your God will spread panic among them until they all die. There will be no one left—not even those who were hiding from you. 21 Don’t be afraid of them, because the Lord your God is with you. He is a great and awe-inspiring God. 22 Little by little he will force these nations out of your way. You won’t be able to wipe them out quickly. Otherwise, you would be overrun with wild animals. 23 The Lord your God will hand these people over to you and will throw them into a great panic until they’re destroyed. 24 He will hand their kings over to you, and no one on earth will even remember their names. No one will be able to stop you. You will destroy them all. 25 Burn their idols. Don’t ever long for the silver and gold on these idols or take any of it for yourselves. It might be a trap for you. Besides, these idols are disgusting to the Lord your God. 26 Never bring a disgusting idol into your house. If you do, you and the idol will be destroyed. Consider it detestable and disgusting. It must be destroyed.”
Israel Told Never to Forget God
8 Be careful to obey every command I give you today. Then you will live, and your population will increase. You will enter and take possession of the land that the Lord promised to your ancestors with an oath.
2 Remember that for 40 years the Lord your God led you on your journey in the desert. He did this in order to humble you and test you. He wanted to know whether or not you would wholeheartedly obey his commands. 3 So he made you suffer from hunger and then fed you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had seen before. He did this to teach you that a person cannot live on bread alone but on every word that the Lord speaks. 4 Your clothes didn’t wear out, and your feet didn’t swell these past 40 years. 5 Learn this lesson by heart: The Lord your God was disciplining you as parents discipline their children. 6 Obey the commands of the Lord your God. Follow his directions, and fear him.
7 The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land. It is a land with rivers that don’t dry up. There are springs and underground streams flowing through the valleys and hills. 8 The land has wheat and barley, grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates. The land has honey and olive trees for olive oil. 9 The land will have enough food for you, and you will have everything you need. The land has rocks with iron ore, and you will be able to mine copper ore in the hills. 10 When you have eaten all you want, thank the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
11 Be careful that you don’t forget the Lord your God. Don’t fail to obey his commands, rules, and laws that I’m giving you today. 12 You will eat all you want. You will build nice houses and live in them. 13 Your herds and flocks, silver and gold, and everything else you have will increase. 14 When this happens, be careful that you don’t become arrogant and forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery in Egypt. 15 He was the one who led you through that vast and dangerous desert—a thirsty and arid land, with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He was the one who made water come out of solid rock for you. 16 He was the one who fed you in the desert with manna, which your ancestors had never seen. He did this in order to humble you and test you. But he also did this so that things would go well for you in the end. 17 You may say to yourselves, “I became wealthy because of my own ability and strength.” 18 But remember the Lord your God is the one who makes you wealthy. He’s confirming the promise [d] which he swore to your ancestors. It’s still in effect today.
19 I warn you today that if you forget the Lord your God and follow other gods, and if you serve them and bow down to them, you will certainly be destroyed. 20 The Lord is going to destroy other nations as you enter the land. You will be destroyed like them if you don’t obey the Lord your God.
Israel Has Been Given Canaan because of God’s Mercy
9 Listen, Israel, you’re about to cross the Jordan River. You’ll be forcing out nations that are larger and stronger than you, with big cities that have sky-high walls. 2 Their people are tall and strong. They’re descendants of Anak. You know all about them. You’ve also heard it said, “Who can oppose the descendants of Anak?” 3 Realize today that the Lord your God is the one who is going ahead of you like a raging fire. He will wipe them out and will use you to crush their power. You will take possession of their land and will quickly destroy them as the Lord promised you.
4 When the Lord your God expels these people in front of you, don’t say to yourselves, “Because we’ve been living right, the Lord brought us here to take possession of this land.” No, it’s because these nations are so wicked that the Lord is forcing them out of your way. 5 It’s not because you’ve been living right or because you’re so honest that you’re entering to take possession of their land. It’s because these people are so wicked that the Lord your God is forcing them out of your way. It’s also because the Lord wants to confirm the promise he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 So understand this: It’s not because you’ve been living right that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess. You are impossible to deal with!
7 Never forget how you made the Lord your God angry in the desert. You’ve rebelled against the Lord from the day you left Egypt until you came here. 8 Even at Mount Horeb you made the Lord so angry that he wanted to destroy you. 9 When I went up on the mountain to get the stone tablets, the tablets of the promise that the Lord made to you, I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights without food or water. 10 Then the Lord gave me the two stone tablets inscribed by God himself. On them were written all the words that the Lord spoke to you from the fire on the mountain on the day of the assembly.
11 At the end of the 40 days and 40 nights, the Lord gave me the two stone tablets with his promise on them. 12 He told me, “Leave right away. Your people whom you brought out of Egypt have ruined ⌞everything⌟. They’ve quickly turned from the way I commanded them to live. They’ve made an idol for themselves.”
13 The Lord also said to me, “I’ve seen these people, and they are impossible to deal with. 14 Leave me alone! I’ll destroy them and wipe their name off the earth. Then I’ll make you into a nation larger and stronger than they are.”
15 So I turned and went down the mountain while it was still burning with fire. I was carrying the two tablets with the promise on them. 16 Then I saw that you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made a statue of a calf for yourselves. You had quickly turned from the way the Lord commanded you to live. 17 I took the two tablets, threw them down, and smashed them in front of you.
18 Once again I threw myself down in front of the Lord. I went without food and water for 40 days and 40 nights because of the sin you committed. You did what the Lord considered evil and made him furious. 19 I was terrified of the Lord’s anger and fury. He was so angry he wanted to destroy you. But once more the Lord listened to me.
20 The Lord also became very angry with Aaron and wanted to destroy him. But at that time I prayed for Aaron, too.
21 I took that sinful calf you made and burned it. I crushed it, grinding it thoroughly until it was as fine as powder. Then I threw the powder into the river that flowed down the mountain.
22 You also made the Lord angry at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth Hattaavah.
23 When the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea, he said, “Go and take possession of the land I’m giving you.” But you rebelled against the Lord your God’s word. You didn’t believe him or obey him. 24 You’ve rebelled against the Lord as long as I’ve known you.
25 I threw myself down in front of the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights because the Lord said he would destroy you. 26 I prayed to the Lord and said, “Almighty Lord, don’t destroy your people. They belong to you. You saved them by your great power and used your mighty hand to bring them out of Egypt. 27 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Disregard the stubbornness, wickedness, and sin of these people. 28 Otherwise, the country we left will say, “The Lord wasn’t able to bring them to the land he promised them. He hated them. That’s why he brought them out—to let them die in the desert.” 29 They are your people. They belong to you. You used your great strength and powerful arm to bring them out ⌞of Egypt⌟.
Footnotes
- 5:2 Or “covenant.”
- 5:20 Deuteronomy 5:21–33 in English Bibles is Deuteronomy 5:17–30 in some Hebrew Bibles.
- 7:9 Or “covenant.”
- 8:18 Or “covenant.”
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