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The Ten Commandments

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 L ord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. ³Not with our ancestors did the L ord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. ⁴The L ord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the fire. ⁵(At that time I was standing between the L ord and you to declare to you the words of the L ord; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he said:

⁶ I am the L ord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; ⁷you shall have no other gods before 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 L ord 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 generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

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

¹² Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the L ord your God commanded you. ¹³Six days you shall labor and do all your work. ¹⁴But the seventh day is a sabbath to the L ord 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 L ord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the L ord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.

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

¹⁷ You shall not murder.

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 L ord 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 L ord 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 L ord 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 L ord our God will say. Then tell us everything that the L ord our God tells you, and we will listen and do it.”

²⁸ The L ord heard your words when you spoke to me, and the L ord 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 L ord your God has commanded you; you shall not turn to the right or to the left. ³³You must follow exactly the path that the L ord 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.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

32. Ye shall observe to do therefore. Again, in this verse also, he does not merely exhort the people to embrace the Law, but at the same time enjoins them to be content with its unadulterated teaching; and, in fact, to receive as just and right whatever God has commanded, is only to be half obedient, unless men also put this restraint upon themselves, not to import anything else, (in addition to His Law.) So, also, in another passage, which I have subjoined, God no less severely forbids additions to it than taking away from it; and this is a declaration deserving our especial observation, because, in its preposterous wilfulness, the whole world almost is carried away into false religions; which, nevertheless, God has briefly condemned in a single word, when He commands His people so to acquiesce in His appointed Law that they may not seek to be more righteous than they are taught to be. There is a similar passage at the end of Deuteronomy 12:32,) but, because it is connected with a particular circumstance, and depends on the preceding passage, it will be more conveniently reserved for consideration in that place. He adds, in conclusion, that they will not satisfy the Law unless they keep themselves within its bounds; and in order that they may be more disposed to obedience, he gently attracts them by subjoining the promise.²²⁵²²⁵ “La promesse accoustumee;” the usual promise. — Fr.

²²⁵ “La promesse accoustumee;” the usual promise. — Fr.