Deuteronomy 5
The Ten Commandments
1 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. 2The
LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3Not
with our ancestors did the LORD make this covenant, but with
us, who are all of us here alive today. 4The LORD
spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the fire. 5(At
that time I was standing between the LORD and you to declare
to you the words a of the LORD; for you
were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he
said:
6 I am the LORD your God, who
brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 7you
shall have no other gods beforeb 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. 9You shall not bow down to
them or worship 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, 10but showing
steadfast love to the thousandth generationc of those who
love me and keep my commandments.
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. 13Six days you shall labor
and do all your work. 14But 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. 15Remember
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.
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.d
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.
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. 23When 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; 24and
you said, "Look, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and
greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the fire. Today we have seen
that God may speak to someone and the person may still live. 25So
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. 26For
who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living God
speaking out of fire, as we have, and remained alive? 27Go
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. 29If
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! 30Go say to them, 'Return to
your tents.' 31But 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." 32You 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. 33You
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.