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Deuteronomy

About this book
Chapter 10

1 At that same time the Lord said to me, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones and come up the mountain to me; also make for yourself a wooden ark. 2 I will write on the tablets the same words that were on the first tablets you broke, and you must put them into the ark.” 3 So I made an ark of acacia wood and carved out two stone tablets just like the first ones. Then I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. 4 The Lord then wrote on the tablets the same words, the Ten Commandments, which he had spoken to you at the mountain from the middle of the fire at the time of that assembly, and he gave them to me. 5 Then I turned, went down the mountain, and placed the tablets into the ark I had made—they are still there, just as the Lord commanded me. 6 During those days the Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died and was buried, and his son Eleazar became priest in his place. 7 From there they traveled to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a place of flowing streams. 8 At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi⁠ to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve him, and to formulate blessings in his name, as they do to this very day. 9 Therefore Levi has no allotment or inheritance among his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance just as the Lord your God told him. 10 As for me, I stayed at the mountain as I did the first time, 40 days and nights. The Lord listened to me that time as well and decided not to destroy you. 11 Then he said to me, “Get up, set out leading the people so they may go and possess the land I promised to give to their ancestors.” 12 Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you except to revere him, to obey all his commandments, to love him, to serve him with all your mind and being,⁠ 13 and to keep the Lord’s commandments and statutes that I am giving you today for your own good? 14 The heavens—indeed the highest heavens—belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it. 15 However, only to your ancestors did he show his loving favor, and he chose you, their descendants, from all peoples—as is apparent today. 16 Therefore, circumcise your hearts and stop being so stubborn!⁠ 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords,⁠ the great, mighty, and awesome God who is unbiased and takes no bribe,⁠ 18 who justly treats the orphan and widow,⁠ and who loves resident foreigners, giving them food and clothing.⁠ 19 So you must love the resident foreigner because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 Revere the Lord your God, serve him, be loyal to him, and take oaths only in his name.⁠ 21 He is the one you should praise; he is your God, the one who has done these great and awesome things for you⁠ that you have seen. 22 When your ancestors went down to Egypt, they numbered only seventy, but now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky.

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 7:18 and Deuteronomy 10:21 and Letter of Aristeas 155

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

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Summary

Deuteronomy 7 and 10 call on Israel to remember the great and awesome things God has done. The Letter of Aristeas blends the two verses into one quotation and introduces it as scripture, the earliest Greek Jewish use of that word for a quoted text.

Passages

Deuteronomy 7:18

Hebrew Bible
17 If you think, “These nations are more numerous than I—how can I dispossess them?” 18 you must not fear them. You must carefully recall what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt, 19 the great judgments you saw, the signs and wonders, the strength and power by which he brought you out—thus the Lord your God will do to all the people you fear. 20 Furthermore, the Lord your God will release hornets among them until the very last ones who hide from you perish. 21 You must not tremble in their presence, for the Lord your God, who is present among you, is a great and awesome God.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 10:21

Hebrew Bible
18 who justly treats the orphan and widow, and who loves resident foreigners, giving them food and clothing. 19 So you must love the resident foreigner because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 Revere the Lord your God, serve him, be loyal to him, and take oaths only in his name. 21 He is the one you should praise; he is your God, the one who has done these great and awesome things for you that you have seen. 22 When your ancestors went down to Egypt, they numbered only seventy, but now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

Letter of Aristeas 155

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions · Letter of Aristeas to Philocrates
represent to the initiated the symbol of memory. For the act of chewing the cud is nothing other than the reminiscence of life and existence. For life is usually sustained by means of food so he exhorts us in the Scripture also in these words: 'You shall surely remember the Lord who worked in you those great and wonderful things". For when they are properly conceived, they are manifestly great and glorious; first the construction of the body and the arrangement of the food and the separation of each individual limb and, far more, the organization of the senses, the operation and invisible movement of the mind, the rapidity of its particular actions and its discovery of the
200–150 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Letter of Aristeas

References

“... § 155. scripture. In this paragraph and in § 168, Ps.-Aristeas refers to the Jewish law as ἡ γραφή, usually translated “scripture.” Although the word generally indicates something with written characters or a piece of writing, in § 155, the designation introduces a quotation of Deut 7:18, which is followed by an allusion to Deut 10:21, and thus indicates a technical usage. It is the earliest occurrence in Greek-Jewish literature of the term in this technical sense. [...] Thus, there is enough similarity to the two passages, together with the designation that this is “scripture,” to think that Ps.-Aristeas knew the Deuteronomy text but enough difference to wonder in what form he knew it. ...”
Benjamin G. Wright III, The Letter of Aristeas: ‘Aristeas to Philocrates’ or ‘On the Translation of the Law of the Jews’ (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015), 291–292.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Deuteronomy 7:18 and Deuteronomy 10:21 and Letter of Aristeas 155

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