Deuteronomy 10

Modern English Version

The Second Pair of Tablets

10 At that time the Lord said to me, “Cut out for yourself two tablets of stone like the first and come up to Me onto the mountain and make an ark of wood for yourself. ² I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.”

³ So I made an ark of acacia wood and cut out two tablets of stone just like the first and went up onto the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. ⁴ He wrote on the tablets just like the first writing, the Ten Commandments which the Lord spoke to you at the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly, and the Lord gave them to me. ⁵ I turned around and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I had made, and there they are, just as the Lord commanded me.

⁶ (The children of Israel set out from Beeroth of the sons of Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died and was buried, and his son Eleazar ministered in the priest’s office in his place. ⁷ From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of rivers of waters. ⁸ At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to Him, and to bless in His name, to this day. ⁹ Therefore, Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers. The Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God promised him.)

¹⁰ As for me, I stayed on the mountain like the first time, forty days and forty nights, and the Lord listened to me at that time also. The Lord was not willing to destroy you. ¹¹ The Lord said to me, “Arise, take your journey before the people, so that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to give to their fathers.”

The Essence of the Law

¹² Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?

¹⁴ Indeed, heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it. ¹⁵ The Lord delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, even you above all people, as it is today. ¹⁶ Therefore, circumcise your heart, and do not be stubborn anymore. ¹⁷ For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the fearsome God who is unbiased and takes no bribe. ¹⁸ He executes the judgment of the orphan and the widow and loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. ¹⁹ Therefore, love the foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ You must fear the Lord your God. You must serve Him and cling to Him, and swear by His name. ²¹ He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and fearsome things which your eyes have seen. ²² Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy people, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.