Chapter Five

The covenant of God with the Hebrew people at Sinai.

Deuteronomy 5:2. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. Deuteronomy 5:3. Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. Deuteronomy 5:4. The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain out of the midst of the fire. Deuteronomy 5:5. I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said at that time: Deuteronomy 5:6. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Deuteronomy 5:7. You shall have no other gods before me. Deuteronomy 5:8. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any image of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below the earth. Deuteronomy 5:9. You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the guilt of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, Deuteronomy 5:10. but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. Deuteronomy 5:11. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord [your God] will not leave without punishment anyone who takes his name in vain. Deuteronomy 5:12. Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Deuteronomy 5:13. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, Deuteronomy 5:14. but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You shall not do any work [on it] — neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor the foreigner who is within your gates — so that your male servant and your female servant [and your donkey,] may rest just as you do. Deuteronomy 5:15. And 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 has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day [and to keep it holy]. Deuteronomy 5:16. Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, 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. Deuteronomy 5:17. You shall not murder. Deuteronomy 5:18. You shall not commit adultery. Deuteronomy 5:19. You shall not steal. Deuteronomy 5:20. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. Deuteronomy 5:21. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, and you shall not covet your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, [or any of his livestock,] or anything that belongs to your neighbor. Deuteronomy 5:22. These words the Lord spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness [and the storm] with a great voice, and he added no more; and he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. Deuteronomy 5:23. And as 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. Deuteronomy 5:24. And you said: Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. Today we have seen that God speaks with man, and man still lives. Deuteronomy 5:25. 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. Deuteronomy 5:26. For who of all flesh has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of fire, as we have, and survived? Deuteronomy 5:27. Go near yourself and hear everything that the Lord our God will say, and you tell us everything that the Lord our God says to you, and we will hear and do it. Deuteronomy 5:28. And the Lord heard the sound of 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. All they have said is good. Deuteronomy 5:29. Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, so that it might go well with them and with their children forever! Deuteronomy 5:30. Go and say to them: “Return to your tents. Deuteronomy 5:31. But you, stand here with me, and I will tell you all the commandments and statutes and ordinances that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess. Cf. Exod 19:1 and following.