Deuteronomy 5–11

The Ten Commandments

5And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. ^2xThe Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. ^3yNot with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. ⁴The Lord spoke with you ^zface to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, ^5awhile I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord. For ^byou were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. He said:

^6c“ ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

⁷“ ‘You shall have no other gods before¹ me.

⁸“ ‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁹You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ¹⁰but showing steadfast love to ^dthousands² of those who love me and keep my commandments.

¹¹“ ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

¹²“ ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. ¹³Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁴but ^ethe seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, ^fthat your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. ^15gYou shall remember that you were a slave³ in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there ^hwith a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

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

^17j“ ‘You shall not murder.⁴

^18j“ ‘And you shall not commit adultery.

¹⁹“ ‘And you shall not steal.

²⁰“ ‘And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

²¹“ ‘And you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. And you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’

²²“These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly ^kat the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And ^lhe wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. ²³And ^mas soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders. ²⁴And you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and ⁿgreatness, and ^owe have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man ^pstill live. ²⁵Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. ^qIf we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die. ^26pFor who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived? ²⁷Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say, and ^rspeak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’

²⁸“And 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. ^sThey are right in all that they have spoken. ^29tOh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, ^uthat it might go well with them and with their descendants⁵ forever! ³⁰Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.” ³¹But you, stand here by me, and ^vI will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’ ³²You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. ^wYou shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. ^33xYou shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and ^ythat it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.

The Greatest Commandment

6“Now this is ^zthe commandment—the statutes and the rules¹—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, ²that ^ayou may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and ^bthat your days may be long. ³Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, ^cas the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴“Hear, O Israel: ^dThe Lord our God, the Lord is one.^{2 5}You ^eshall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ⁶And ^fthese words that I command you today shall be on your heart. ^7gYou shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ^8hYou shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ⁹ⁱYou shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

¹⁰“And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities ^jthat you did not build, ¹¹and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, ^12kthen take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹³It is ^lthe Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and ^mby his name you shall swear. ¹⁴You shall not ⁿgo after other gods, ^othe gods of the peoples who are around you— ¹⁵for ^pthe Lord your God in your midst ^qis a jealous God—^rlest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

^16s“You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, ^tas you tested him at Massah. ¹⁷You shall ^udiligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. ^18vAnd you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers ^19wby thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.

^20x“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ ²¹then you shall say to your son, ^y‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²²And ^zthe Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. ²³And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. ²⁴And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, ^ato fear the Lord our God, ^bfor our good always, that ^che might preserve us alive, as we are this day. ²⁵And ^dit will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’

A Chosen People

7“When the ^eLord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, ^fthe Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations ^gmore numerous and mightier than you, ^2hand when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must ⁱdevote them to complete destruction.^{1 j}You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. ^3kYou shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, ⁴for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. ^lThen the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you ^mquickly. ⁵But thus shall you deal with them: ⁿyou shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their ⁿpillars and chop down their ⁿAsherim and ^oburn their carved images with fire.

⁶“For ^pyou are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be ^pa people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. ⁷It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, ⁸but ^qit is because the Lord loves you and is keeping ^rthe oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, ^sthe faithful God ^twho keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, ¹⁰and ^urepays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. ^vHe will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. ^11wYou shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the…