Deuteronomy 5-6

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

The Ten Commandments

5 Moses convened all Israel and said to them:

“Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances that I am addressing to you today; you shall learn them and observe them diligently. ² The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.^{(A) 3} Not with our ancestors did the Lord make this covenant but with us, who are all of us here alive today. ⁴ The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the fire.^{(B) 5} (At that time I was standing between the Lord and you to declare to you the word of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he said:^(C)

⁶ “ ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;^{(D) 7} you shall have no other gods before^[a] me.

⁸ “ ‘You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth. ⁹ You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me^{(E) 10} but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation^[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.^(F)

¹¹ “ ‘You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

¹² “ ‘Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. ¹³ Six days you shall labor and do all your work. ¹⁴ But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you.^{(G) 15} Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.^(H)

¹⁶ “ ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

¹⁷ “ ‘You shall not murder.^[c]

¹⁸ “ ‘Neither shall you commit adultery.

¹⁹ “ ‘Neither shall you steal.

²⁰ “ ‘Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor.

²¹ “ ‘Neither shall you covet your neighbor’s wife.

“ ‘Neither shall you desire your neighbor’s house, or field, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’ ”^(I)

Moses the Mediator of God’s Will

²² “These words the Lord spoke with a loud voice to your whole assembly at the mountain, out of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, and he added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.^{(J) 23} When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders, ²⁴ and you said, ‘Look, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the fire. We have seen this day that God may speak to someone and the person may still live.^{(K) 25} But now why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, we shall die.^{(L) 26} For who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the fire, as we have, and lived?^{(M) 27} Go near, you yourself, and hear all that the Lord our God will say. Then tell us everything that the Lord our God tells you, and we will listen and do it.’

²⁸ “The Lord heard your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you; they are right in all that they have spoken.^{(N) 29} If only they had such a mind as this, to fear me and to keep all my commandments always, so that it might go well with them and with their children forever!^{(O) 30} Go say to them, “Return to your tents.” ³¹ But you, stand here by me, and I will tell you all the commandments, the statutes and the ordinances, that you shall teach them, so that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’^{(P) 32} You must therefore be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn to the right or to the left.^{(Q) 33} You must follow exactly the path that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land that you are to possess.^(R)

The Great Commandment

6 “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that the Lord your God charged me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and occupy, ² so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life and keep all his decrees and his commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long.^{(S) 3} Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them diligently, so that it may go well with you and so that you may multiply greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.^(T)

⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.^{[d](U) 5} You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.^{(V) 6} Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. ⁷ Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise.^{(W) 8} Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem^[e] on your forehead,^{(X) 9} and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.^(Y)

Caution against Disobedience

¹⁰ “When the Lord your God has brought you into the land that he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—a land with fine, large cities that you did not build,^{(Z) 11} houses filled with all sorts of goods that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you have eaten your fill,^{(AA) 12} take care that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹³ The Lord your God you shall fear, him you shall serve, and by his name alone you shall swear.^{(AB) 14} Do not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who are all around you, ¹⁵ because the Lord your God, who is present with you, is a jealous God. The anger of the Lord your God would be kindled against you and he would destroy you from the face of the earth.^(AC)

¹⁶ “Do not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.^{(AD) 17} You must diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees and his statutes that he has commanded you.^{(AE) 18} Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, so that it may go well with you and so that you may go in and occupy the good land that the Lord swore to your ancestors,^{(AF) 19} thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.

²⁰ “When your children ask you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the decrees and the statutes and the ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded you?’^{(AG) 21} then you shall say to your children, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²² The Lord displayed before our eyes great and awesome signs and wonders against Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his household. ²³ He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land that he promised on oath to our ancestors. ²⁴ Then the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our lasting good, so as to keep us alive, as is now the case.^{(AH) 25} If we diligently observe this entire commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, we will be in the right.’^(AI)