Deuteronomy 5–6

Chapter 5

¹And Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances that I speak in your ears this day, and learn them, and keep them to do them. ²Jehovah our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. ³Not with our fathers did Jehovah make this covenant, but with us, even us, those who are here alive all of us this day. ⁴Face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire Jehovah spoke with you ⁵(I stood between Jehovah and you at that time, to declare to you the word of Jehovah; for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up to the mountain), saying,

⁶I am Jehovah thy God who have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ⁷Thou shalt have no other gods before me. ⁸Thou shalt not make thyself any graven image, any form of what is in the heavens above, or what is in the earth beneath, or what is in the waters under the earth: ⁹thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them; for I, Jehovah thy God, am a jealous •God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, and upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me, ¹⁰and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. ¹¹Thou shalt not idly utter the name of Jehovah thy God; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that idly uttereth his name. ¹²Keep the sabbath day to hallow it, as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee. ¹³Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; ¹⁴but the seventh day is the sabbath of Jehovah thy God: thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy bondman, nor thy handmaid, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy sojourner that is within thy gates; that thy bondman and thy handmaid may rest as well as thou. ¹⁵And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and that Jehovah thy God brought thee out thence with a powerful hand and with a stretched-out arm; therefore Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee to observe the sabbath day. ¹⁶Honour thy father and thy mother, as Jehovah thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may be well with thee in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee. ¹⁷Thou shalt not kill. ¹⁸Neither shalt thou commit adultery. ¹⁹Neither shalt thou steal. ²⁰Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour. ²¹Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, nor his bondman, nor his handmaid, his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour’s. ²²These words Jehovah spoke to all your congregation on the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the obscurity, with a great voice, and he added no more; and he wrote them on two tables of stone, and gave them to me.

²³And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, and the mountain burned with fire, that ye came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; ²⁴and ye said, Behold, Jehovah our God has shewn us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God talks with man, and he lives. ²⁵And now, why should we die? for this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more, we shall die. ²⁶For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we, and has lived? ²⁷Come thou near, and hear all that Jehovah our God will say; and speak thou to us all that Jehovah our God will speak to thee; and we will hear it, and do it. ²⁸And Jehovah heard the voice of your words, when ye spoke to me; and Jehovah said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people that have spoken to thee: they have well spoken all that they have spoken. ²⁹Oh that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments continually, that it might be well with them and with their sons for ever! ³⁰Go, say unto them, Get you into your tents again. ³¹But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it. ³²Take heed then to do as Jehovah your God hath commanded you: turn not aside to the right hand or to the left. ³³In all the way that Jehovah your God hath commanded you shall ye walk, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.

Chapter 6

¹And these are the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah your God commanded to teach you, that ye may do them in the land whereunto ye pass over to possess it, ²that thou mayest fear Jehovah thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. ³And thou shalt hear, Israel, and take heed to do them; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase greatly, as Jehovah the God of thy fathers hath said unto thee, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴Hear, Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah; ⁵and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength. ⁶And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart; ⁷and thou shalt impress them on thy sons, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou goest on the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. ⁸And thou shalt bind them for a sign on thy hand, and they shall be for frontlets between thine eyes. ⁹And thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and upon thy gates. ¹⁰And it shall be, when Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into the land which he swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee: great and good cities which thou buildedst not, ¹¹and houses full of everything good which thou filledst not, and wells digged which thou diggedst not, vineyards and oliveyards which thou plantedst not, and thou shalt have eaten and shalt be full; ¹²then beware lest thou forget Jehovah who brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ¹³Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. ¹⁴Ye shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples that are round about you; ¹⁵for Jehovah thy God is a jealous •God in thy midst; lest the anger of Jehovah thy God be kindled against thee, and he destroy thee from the face of the earth. ¹⁶Ye shall not tempt Jehovah your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.

¹⁷Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of Jehovah your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. ¹⁸And thou shalt do what is right and good in the sight of Jehovah, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest enter in and possess the good land which Jehovah swore unto thy fathers, ¹⁹thrusting out all thine enemies from before thee, as Jehovah hath spoken. ²⁰When thy son shall ask thee in time to come, saying, What are the testimonies, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which Jehovah our God hath commanded you? ²¹then thou shalt say unto thy son, We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in Egypt; and Jehovah brought us out of Egypt with a powerful hand; ²²and Jehovah shewed signs and wonders, great and grievous, upon Egypt, upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household, before our eyes; ²³and he brought us out thence, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore unto our fathers. ²⁴And Jehovah commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Jehovah our God, for our good continually, that he might preserve us alive, as it is this day. ²⁵And it shall be our righteousness if we take heed to do all these commandments before Jehovah our God, as he hath commanded us.