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Deuteronomy

About this book
Chapter 5

1 Then Moses called all the people of Israel together and said to them: “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am about to deliver to you today; learn them and be careful to keep them! 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3 He did not make this covenant with our ancestors but with us, we who are here today, all of us living now.⁠ 4 The Lord spoke face to face with you at the mountain, from the middle of the fire.⁠ 5 (I was standing between the Lord and you at that time to reveal the Lord’s message to you, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain.) He said: 6 “I am the Lord your God—he who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the place of slavery. 7 “You must not have any other gods besides me.⁠ 8 “You must not make for yourself an image of anything in heaven above, on earth below, or in the waters beneath.⁠ 9 You must not worship or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I punish the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers who reject me,⁠ 10 but I show covenant faithfulness to the thousands who choose me and keep my commandments. 11 “You must not make use of the name of the Lord your God for worthless purposes, for the Lord will not exonerate anyone who abuses his name that way. 12 “Be careful to observe the Sabbath day just as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 You are to work and do all your tasks in six days, 14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. On that day you must not do any work, you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, your ox, your donkey, any other animal, or the resident foreigner who lives with you, so that your male and female slaves, like yourself, may have rest.⁠ 15 Recall that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there by strength and power. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.⁠ 16 “Honor your father and your mother just as the Lord your God has commanded you to do, so that your days may be extended and that it may go well with you in the land that he is about to give you.⁠ 17 “You must not murder. 18 “You must not commit adultery. 19 “You must not steal. 20 “You must not offer false testimony against another.⁠ 21 You must not desire another man’s wife, nor should you crave his house, his field, his male and female servants, his ox, his donkey, or anything else he owns.”⁠ 22 The Lord said these things to your entire assembly at the mountain from the middle of the fire, the cloud, and the darkness with a loud voice, and that was all he said. Then he inscribed the words on two stone tablets and gave them to me. 23 Then, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness while the mountain was ablaze, all your tribal leaders and elders approached me. 24 You said, “The Lord our God has shown us his great glory, and we have heard him speak from the middle of the fire. It is now clear to us that God can speak to human beings and they can keep on living. 25 But now, why should we die, because this intense fire will consume us? If we keep hearing the voice of the Lord our God we will die! 26 Who is there from the entire human race who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the middle of the fire as we have, and has lived? 27 You go near so that you can hear everything the Lord our God is saying and then you can tell us whatever he says to you; then we will pay attention and do it.” 28 When the Lord heard you speaking to me, he said to me, “I have heard what these people have said to you—they have spoken well. 29 If only it would really be their desire to fear me and obey all my commandments⁠ in the future, so that it may go well with them and their descendants forever. 30 Go and tell them, ‘Return to your tents!’ 31 But as for you, remain here with me so I can declare to you all the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that you are to teach them, so that they can carry them out in the land I am about to give them.” 32 Be careful, therefore, to do exactly what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn right or left!⁠ 33 Walk just as he has commanded you so that you may live, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land you are going to possess.

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 5:21 and Samaritan Deuteronomy 5:21

Hebrew Bible · Samaritan

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Summary

The Hebrew Bible ends the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy with the command against coveting. The Samaritan Pentateuch adds the same Mount Gerizim altar command it places in Exodus, making Gerizim worship part of the Ten Commandments.

Passages

Deuteronomy 5:21

Hebrew Bible
20 “You must not offer false testimony against another. 21 You must not desire another man’s wife, nor should you crave his house, his field, his male and female servants, his ox, his donkey, or anything else he owns.” 22 The Lord said these things to your entire assembly at the mountain from the middle of the fire, the cloud, and the darkness with a loud voice, and that was all he said. Then he inscribed the words on two stone tablets and gave them to me.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

Samaritan Deuteronomy 5:21

Samaritan · Samaritan Penteteuch
20 You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 21 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, nor shall you covet your neighbor’s wife, his field, his male slave, or his female slave, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s. And when Shema your God brings you into the land of the Canaanite which you are entering to possess, you shall set up large stones, and plaster them with plaster. And you shall write on the stones all the words of this law. And when you have crossed the Jordan, you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, in [Mount] Ārgarizem. And there you shall build an altar to Shema your God, an altar of stones; you shall use no iron tool on them. You shall build an altar to Shema your God of uncut stones, and you shall offer burned offerings on it to Shema your God. And you shall sacrifice peace offerings, and shall eat there. And you shall celebrate in the presence of Shema your God. That mountain is beyond the Jordan, beyond the road toward the sunset, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside Elon Moreh, opposite Shechem.’ 22 Shema spoke these words to all your assembly in the mountain from the middle of the fire, [with] darkness, cloud, and thick darkness, [with] a great voice, and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone, and gave them to me.
130–120 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Samaritan Deuteronomy

References

... Yet, the literary contextualization of this pastiche of instructions is important in another way. By placing these decrees in a literary context (Exodus 20 || Deuteronomy 5) prior to the Covenant Code altar laws (Exodus 20:24-26), the centralization decrees (Deuteronomy 11:31-12:31), and the Mount Gerizim/Mount Ebal instructions (Deuteronomy 27:1-26), the writers effectively suggest a continuity of identity among the Covenant Code altar instructions, the Mount Gerizim altar, and the central altar. Elements within the Covenant Code decrees, the centralization instructions, and the Mount Gerizim/Mount Ebal commands echo what was previously revealed in the Ten Commandments. ...
Gary N. Knoppers, “Altared States: The Altar Laws in the Samaritan and Jewish Pentateuchs, and Their Early Interpreters,” in The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Dead Sea Scrolls, ed. Michael Langlois (Leuven: Peeters, 2019), 110–111.

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 5:21 and Samaritan Deuteronomy 5:21

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