Deuteronomy 5
Reader-Friendly Bible: Purple Letter EditionKJP 

1And Moses called all Israel, and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes, and laws that I give you this day. Learn, keep, and do them. 2The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, who are here alive today. 4The LORD spoke to you face to face out of the midst of the fire in the mountain, 5(I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD: for you were afraid of the fire, and did not go up the mountain); and He said:

6I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 7You shall have no other gods before Me. 8You shall not make any carved image, or a likeness of anything that is in heaven above, on the earth beneath, or in the waters below the earth: 9You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them: for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation of those that reject Me, 10But showing mercy to thousands of them that love Me and obey My commands. 11You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that misuses His name. 12Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD your God has commanded you. 13Six days you shall labor, and do all your work: 14But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God: in it you shall not do any work, neither you, your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your ox, donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor any stranger that is within your gates; that your manservant and maidservant, as well as you, may rest. 15And remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm: that is why the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. 16Honor your father and mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you; that your days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with you, in the land which the LORD your God gives you. 17You shall not murder. 18Neither shall you commit adultery, 19Nor steal, 20Nor give false testimony against your neighbor. 21Neither shall you desire your neighbor's wife, nor covet your neighbor's house, his field, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.’

Some may take the reason for the Sabbath given in Deut. 5:15 (which parallels that given in Ex. 23:12) as a contradiction of the reason originally given in Gen. 2:3 – “because in it He rested from all the creative work which He had done.” Most scholars share the opinion expressed by Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary that “the addition of another motive for the observance does not imply any necessary contrariety to (conflict with) the other.”

22“These are the words the LORD spoke to your entire assembly in the mount out of the blazing fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice: and He added nothing more. And He wrote them on two tables of stone, and delivered them to me. 23And, when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain blazed with fire), all the heads of your tribes, and your elders, came near me, 24And said: ‘The LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the blazing fire: we have seen today that a man may live, even after God talks with him. 25But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God anymore, we shall die. 26For what mortal has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the blazing fire, as we have, and lived? 27Go near, and hear all that the LORD our God says. Then tell us all that the LORD our God tells you; and we will listen, and obey.’ 28And the LORD heard your words, when you spoke to me; and the LORD said to me: ‘I have heard the words that these people have spoken to you. All that they said was well spoken. 29Oh, that their hearts would always be like this: to honor and fear Me, and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever! 30Go and tell them to return to their tents. 31But as for you, Moses, stay here by Me, and I will give to you all the commandments, statutes, and the judgments, which you shall teach them, that they may observe and do them in the land that I give them to possess.’ 32So be careful to do all that the LORD your God has commanded you; and not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33Walk in obedience to all that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.

Reader-Friendly Bible: Purple Letter Edition
© 2024 by Jim Musser. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved.

Bible Hub
Deuteronomy 4
Top of Page
Top of Page