Ulangan 5:1-21

The Opening Exhortation

5:1 Then Moses called all the people of Israel together and said to them: ¹  “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am about to deliver to you today; learn them and be careful to keep them! 5:2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 5:3 He ²  did not make this covenant with our ancestors ³  but with us, we who are here today, all of us living now. 5:4 The Lord spoke face to face with you at the mountain, from the middle of the fire. 5:5 (I was standing between the Lord and you at that time to reveal to you the message ⁴  of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain.) He said:

The Ten Commandments

5:6 “I am the Lord your God, he who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the place of slavery. 5:7 You must not have any other gods ⁵  besides me. ⁶  5:8 You must not make for yourself an image ⁷  of anything in heaven above, on earth below, or in the waters beneath. ⁸  5:9 You must not worship or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I punish ⁹  the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers who reject ¹⁰  me, ¹¹  5:10 but I show covenant faithfulness ¹²  to the thousands ¹³  who choose ¹⁴  me and keep my commandments. 5:11 You must not make use of the name of the Lord your God for worthless purposes, ¹⁵  for the Lord will not exonerate anyone who abuses his name that way. ¹⁶  5:12 Be careful to observe ¹⁷  the Sabbath day just as the Lord your God has commanded you. 5:13 You are to work and do all your tasks in six days, 5:14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath ¹⁸  of the Lord your God. On that day you must not do any work, you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, your ox, your donkey, any other animal, or the foreigner who lives with you, ¹⁹  so that your male and female slaves, like yourself, may have rest. 5:15 Recall that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there by strength and power. ²⁰  That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to observe ²¹  the Sabbath day. 5:16 Honor ²²  your father and your mother just as the Lord your God has commanded you to do, so that your days may be extended and that it may go well with you in the land that he ²³  is about to give you. 5:17 You must not murder. ²⁴  5:18 You must not commit adultery. 5:19 You must not steal. 5:20 You must not offer false testimony against another. ²⁵  5:21 You must not desire ²⁶  another man’s ²⁷  wife, nor should you crave his ²⁸  house, his field, his male and female servants, his ox, his donkey, or anything else he owns.” ²⁹ 

Ulangan 6:4-9

The Essence of the Covenant Principles

6:4 Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! ³⁰  6:5 You must love ³¹  the Lord your God with your whole mind, ³²  your whole being, ³³  and all your strength. ³⁴ 

Exhortation to Teach the Covenant Principles

6:6 These words I am commanding you today must be kept in mind, 6:7 and you must teach ³⁵  them to your children and speak of them as you sit in your house, as you walk along the road, ³⁶  as you lie down, and as you get up. 6:8 You should tie them as a reminder on your forearm ³⁷  and fasten them as symbols ³⁸  on your forehead. 6:9 Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and gates. ³⁹ 

Ulangan 10:12-22

An Exhortation to Love Both God and People

10:12 Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you except to revere him, ⁴⁰  to obey all his commandments, ⁴¹  to love him, to serve him ⁴²  with all your mind and being, ⁴³  10:13 and to keep the Lord’s commandments and statutes that I am giving ⁴⁴  you today for your own good? 10:14 The heavens – indeed the highest heavens – belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it. 10:15 However, only to your ancestors did he ⁴⁵  show his loving favor, ⁴⁶  and he chose you, their descendants, ⁴⁷  from all peoples – as is apparent today. 10:16 Therefore, cleanse ⁴⁸  your heart and stop being so stubborn! ⁴⁹  10:17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who is unbiased and takes no bribe, 10:18 who justly treats ⁵⁰  the orphan and widow, and who loves resident foreigners, giving them food and clothing. 10:19 So you must love the resident foreigner because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 10:20 Revere the Lord your God, serve him, be loyal to him and take oaths only in his name. 10:21 He is the one you should praise; ⁵¹  he is your God, the one who has done these great and awesome things for you that you have seen. 10:22 When your ancestors went down to Egypt, they numbered only seventy, but now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky. ⁵² 

[5:1]  ¹ tn Heb “and Moses called to all Israel and he said to them”; NAB, NASB, NIV “Moses summoned (convened NRSV) all Israel.”

[5:3]  ² tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[5:3]  ³ tn Heb “fathers.”

[5:5]  ⁴ tn Or “word” (so KJV, NASB, NIV); NRSV “words.”

[5:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “there must not be for you other gods.” The expression “for you” indicates possession.

[5:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “upon my face,” or “before me” (עַל־פָּנָיַ, ’al-panaya). Some understand this in a locative sense: “in my sight.” The translation assumes that the phrase indicates exclusion. The idea is that of placing any other god before the Lord in the sense of taking his place. Contrary to the view of some, this does not leave the door open for a henotheistic system where the Lord is the primary god among others. In its literary context the statement must be taken in a monotheistic sense. See, e.g., 4:39; 6:13-15.

[5:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “an image, any likeness.”

[5:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “under the earth” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV); NCV “below the land.”

[5:9]  ⁹ tn In the Hebrew text the form is a participle, which is subordinated to what precedes. For the sake of English style, the translation divides this lengthy verse into two sentences.

[5:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “who hate” (so NAB, NIV, NLT). Just as “to love” (אָהַב, ’ahav) means in a covenant context “to choose, obey,” so “to hate” (שָׂנֵא, sane’) means “to reject, disobey” (cf. the note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37; see also 5:10).

[5:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “visiting the sin of fathers upon sons and upon a third (generation) and upon a fourth (generation) of those who hate me.” God sometimes punishes children for the sins of a father (cf. Num 16:27, 32; Josh 7:24-25; 2 Sam 21:1-9). On the principle of corporate solidarity and responsibility in OT thought see J. Kaminsky, Corporate Responsibility in the Hebrew Bible (JSOTSup). In the idiom of the text, the father is the first generation and the “sons” the second generation, making grandsons the third and great-grandsons the fourth. The reference to a third and fourth generation is a way of emphasizing that the sinner’s punishment would last throughout his lifetime. In this culture, where men married and fathered children at a relatively young age, it would not be unusual for one to see his great-grandsons. In an Aramaic tomb inscription from Nerab dating to the seventh century b.c., Agbar observes that he was surrounded by “children of the fourth generation” as he lay on his death bed (see ANET 661). The language of the text differs from Exod 34:7, the sons are the first generation, the grandsons (literally, “sons of the sons”) the second, great-grandsons the third, and great-great-grandsons the fourth. One could argue that formulation in Deut 5:9 (see also Exod 20:50) is elliptical/abbreviated or that it suffers from textual corruption (the repetition of the words “sons” would invite accidental omission).

[5:10]  ¹² tn This theologically rich term (חֶסֶד, khesed) describes God’s loyalty to those who keep covenant with him. Sometimes it is used synonymously with בְּרִית (bÿrit, “covenant”; Deut 7:9), and sometimes interchangeably with it (Deut 7:12). See H.-J. Zobel, TDOT 5:44-64.

[5:10]  ¹³ tc By a slight emendation (לַאֲלּוּפִים [la’allufim] for לַאֲלָפִים [la’alafim]) “clans” could be read in place of the MT reading “thousands.” However, no ms or versional evidence exists to support this emendation.

[5:10]  tn Another option is to understand this as referring to “thousands (of generations) of those who love me” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). See Deut 7:9.

[5:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “love.” See note on the word “reject” in v. 9.

[5:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “take up the name of the Lord your God to emptiness”; KJV “take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” The idea here is not cursing or profanity in the modern sense of these terms but rather the use of the divine Name for unholy, mundane purposes, that is, for meaningless (the Hebrew term is שָׁוְא) and empty ends. In ancient Israel this would include using the Lord’s name as a witness in vows one did not intend to keep.

[5:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “who takes up his name to emptiness.”

[5:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “to make holy,” that is, to put to special use, in this case, to sacred purposes (cf. vv. 13-15).

[5:14]  ¹⁸ tn There is some degree of paronomasia (wordplay) here: “the seventh (הַשְּׁבִיעִי, hashÿvi’i) day is the Sabbath (שַׁבָּת, shabbat).” Otherwise, the words have nothing in common, since “Sabbath” is derived from the verb שָׁבַת (shavat, “to cease”).

[5:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in your gates”; NRSV, CEV “in your towns”; TEV “in your country.”

[5:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “by a strong hand and an outstretched arm,” the hand and arm symbolizing divine activity and strength. Cf. NLT “with amazing power and mighty deeds.”

[5:15]  ²¹ tn Or “keep” (so KJV, NRSV).

[5:16]  ²² tn The imperative here means, literally, “regard as heavy” (כַּבֵּד, kabbed). The meaning is that great importance must be ascribed to parents by their children.

[5:16]  ²³ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “He” in 5:3.

[5:17]  ²⁴ tn Traditionally “kill” (so KJV, ASV, RSV, NAB). The verb here (רָצַח, ratsakh) is generic for homicide but in the OT both killing in war and capital punishment were permitted and even commanded (Deut 13:5, 9; 20:13, 16-17), so the technical meaning here is “murder.”

[5:20]  ²⁵ tn Heb “your neighbor.” Clearly this is intended generically, however, and not to be limited only to those persons who live nearby (frequently the way “neighbor” is understood in contemporary contexts). So also in v. 20.

[5:21]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew verb used here (חָמַד, khamad) is different from the one translated “crave” (אָוַה, ’avah) in the next line. The former has sexual overtones (“lust” or the like; cf. Song of Sol 2:3) whereas the latter has more the idea of a desire or craving for material things.

[5:21]  ²⁷ tn Heb “your neighbor’s.” See note on the term “fellow man” in v. 19.

[5:21]  ²⁸ tn Heb “your neighbor’s.” The pronoun is used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[5:21]  ²⁹ tn Heb “or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

[6:4]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the Lord, our God, the Lord, one.” (1) One option is to translate: “The Lord is our God, the Lord alone” (cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT). This would be an affirmation that the Lord was the sole object of their devotion. This interpretation finds support from the appeals to loyalty that follow (vv. 5, 14). (2) Another option is to translate: “The Lord is our God, the Lord is unique.” In this case the text would be affirming the people’s allegiance to the Lord, as well as the Lord’s superiority to all other gods. It would also imply that he is the only one worthy of their worship. Support for this view comes from parallel texts such as Deut 7:9 and 10:17, as well as the use of “one” in Song 6:8-9, where the starstruck lover declares that his beloved is unique (literally, “one,” that is, “one of a kind”) when compared to all other women.

[6:4]  sn Verses 4-5 constitute the so-called Shema (after the first word שְׁמַע, shÿma’, “hear”), widely regarded as the very heart of Jewish confession and faith. When Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment of all, he quoted this text (Matt 22:37-38).

[6:5]  ³¹ tn The verb אָהַב (’ahav, “to love”) in this setting communicates not so much an emotional idea as one of covenant commitment. To love the Lord is to be absolutely loyal and obedient to him in every respect, a truth Jesus himself taught (cf. John 14:15). See also the note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37.

[6:5]  ³² tn Heb “heart.” In OT physiology the heart (לֵב, לֵבָב; levav, lev) was considered the seat of the mind or intellect, so that one could think with one’s heart. See A. Luc, NIDOTTE 2:749-54.

[6:5]  ³³ tn Heb “soul”; “being.” Contrary to Hellenistic ideas of a soul that is discrete and separate from the body and spirit, OT anthropology equated the “soul” (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh) with the person himself. It is therefore best in most cases to translate נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) as “being” or the like. See H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 10-25; D. Fredericks, NIDOTTE 3:133-34.

[6:5]  ³⁴ sn For NT variations on the Shema see Matt 22:37-39; Mark 12:29-30; Luke 10:27.

[6:7]  ³⁵ tn Heb “repeat” (so NLT). If from the root I שָׁנַן (shanan), the verb means essentially to “engrave,” that is, “to teach incisively” (Piel); note NAB “Drill them into your children.” Cf. BDB 1041-42 s.v.

[6:7]  ³⁶ tn Or “as you are away on a journey” (cf. NRSV, TEV, NLT); NAB “at home and abroad.”

[6:8]  ³⁷ sn Tie them as a sign on your forearm. Later Jewish tradition referred to the little leather containers tied to the forearms and foreheads as tefillin. They were to contain the following passages from the Torah: Exod 13:1-10, 11-16; Deut 6:5-9; 11:13-21. The purpose was to serve as a “sign” of covenant relationship and obedience.

[6:8]  ³⁸ sn Fasten them as symbols on your forehead. These were also known later as tefillin (see previous note) or phylacteries (from the Greek term). These box-like containers, like those on the forearms, held the same scraps of the Torah. It was the hypocritical practice of wearing these without heartfelt sincerity that caused Jesus to speak scathingly about them (cf. Matt 23:5).

[6:9]  ³⁹ sn The Hebrew term מְזוּזֹת (mÿzuzot) refers both to the door frames and to small cases attached on them containing scripture texts (always Deut 6:4-9 and 11:13-21; and sometimes the decalogue; Exod 13:1-10, 11-16; and Num 10:35-36). See J. H. Tigay, Deuteronomy (JPSTC), 443-44.

[10:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

[10:12]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “to walk in all his ways” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “follow his ways exactly”; NLT “to live according to his will.”

[10:12]  ⁴² tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

[10:12]  ⁴³ tn Heb “heart and soul” or “heart and being”; NCV “with your whole being.” See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.

[10:13]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “commanding” (so NASB, NRSV). For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.

[10:15]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 10:4.

[10:15]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “take delight to love.” Here again the verb אָהַב (’ahav, “love”), juxtaposed with בָחַר (bakhar, “choose”), is a term in covenant contexts that describes the Lord’s initiative in calling the patriarchal ancestors to be the founders of a people special to him (cf. the note on the word “loved” in Deut 4:37).

[10:15]  ⁴⁷ tn The Hebrew text includes “after them,” but it is redundant in English style and has not been included in the translation.

[10:16]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “circumcise the foreskin of” (cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV). Reference to the Abrahamic covenant prompts Moses to recall the sign of that covenant, namely, physical circumcision (Gen 17:9-14). Just as that act signified total covenant obedience, so spiritual circumcision (cleansing of the heart) signifies more internally a commitment to be pliable and obedient to the will of God (cf. Deut 30:6; Jer 4:4; 9:26).

[10:16]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “your neck do not harden again.” See note on the word “stubborn” in Deut 9:6.

[10:18]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “who executes justice for” (so NAB, NRSV); NLT “gives justice to.”

[10:21]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “your praise.” The pronoun is subjective and the noun “praise” is used here metonymically for the object of their praise (the Lord).

[10:22]  ⁵² tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.