The Covenant at Horeb
1Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them:
Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances that I declare in your hearing this day. Learn them and observe them carefully. 2Yahweh our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.
3He did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with all of us who are alive here today. 4Yahweh spoke with you face to face out of the fire on the mountain.
The Ten Commandments// Exodus 20:1–17
5At that time I was standing between Yahweh and you to declare to you the word of Yahweh, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain. And He said: 6“I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- DT 5:6[NOTE]THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AGAIN. They match Exodus 20 almost word for word. Two changes stand out: here the Sabbath remembers slavery in Egypt, 5:15, not creation, and the wife comes before the house in the last command, 5:21.
- DT 5:6[FIELD NOTES]A copy of the Ten Commandments from about 150 to 100 BC. See the Nash Papyrus Field Notes page.
7You shall have no other gods before Me.
- DT 5:7[DEMONIC]No other gods and no idols
8You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. 9You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 10but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
- DT 5:9[DEMONIC]The command against idols warns of iniquity to the third and fourth generation
11You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.
12Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as Yahweh your God has commanded you. 13Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox or donkey or any of your livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest as you do. 15Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that Yahweh your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. That is why Yahweh your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
16Honor your father and your mother, as Yahweh your God has commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you.
- DT 5:16[QUOTED]Quoted in the New Testament → EPH 6:2-3
17You shall not murder.
- DT 5:17[QUOTED]Quoted in the New Testament → MT 5:21
- DT 5:17[QUOTED]Quoted in the New Testament → JAS 2:11
18You shall not commit adultery.
- DT 5:18[QUOTED]Quoted in the New Testament → MT 5:27
19You shall not steal.
20You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
21You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house or field, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
- DT 5:21[QUOTED]Quoted in the New Testament → ROM 7:7
Moses Intercedes for the People// Exodus 20:18–21; Hebrews 12:18–29
22Yahweh spoke these commandments in a loud voice to your whole assembly out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
23And when you heard the voice out of the darkness while the mountain was blazing with fire, all the heads of your tribes and your elders approached me, 24and you said, “Behold, Yahweh our God has shown us His glory and greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him. 25But now, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us, and we will die, if we hear the voice of Yahweh our God any longer. 26For who of all flesh has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the fire, as we have, and survived? 27Go near and listen to all that Yahweh our God says. Then you can tell us everything Yahweh our God tells you; we will listen and obey.”
28And Yahweh heard the words you spoke to me, and He said to me, “I have heard the words that these people have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. 29If only they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever. 30Go and tell them: ‘Return to your tents.’ 31But you stand here with Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and statutes and ordinances you are to teach them to follow in the land that I am giving them to possess.”
32So be careful to do as Yahweh your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or to the left. 33You must walk in all the ways that Yahweh your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.