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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 5:7 and Hosea 13:4

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Deuteronomy requires exclusive loyalty to God who brought Israel out of Egypt and bans worship of other gods, and Hosea echoes this by rejecting Baal with the same language. Both acknowledge other deities but insist that only one be worshiped.

Passages

Deuteronomy 5:7

Hebrew Bible
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,
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

Hosea 13:4

Hebrew Bible
2 Even now they persist in sin! They make metal images for themselves, idols that they skillfully fashion from their own silver; all of them are nothing but the work of craftsmen. There is a saying about them: “Those who sacrifice to the calf idol are calf kissers!” 3 Therefore they will disappear like the morning mist, like early morning dew that evaporates, like chaff that is blown away from a threshing floor, like smoke that disappears through an open window. 4 But I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. Therefore, you must not acknowledge any God but me. Except for me there is no Savior. 5 I cared for you in the wilderness, in the dry desert where no water was. 6 When they were fed, they became satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; as a result, they forgot me!
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Hosea

References

"... The purification from Israel's cult of pagan elements, including the abolition of the high places, associated with the Hezekianic-Josianic reforms, has its roots in northern Israel. The struggle with Baal worship started in the north in the period of Ahab, and in the time of Jehu the Baal was extirpated from Israel (2 Kings 10:28). From the struggle with the Baal apparently evolved the polemic against the golden calves, which is expressed by Hosea (10:5; 13:2). As is well known, the sins of the Baal and of the golden calves are, in Deuteronomic historiography, the two decisive sins of Israel. Both sins were condemned in northern Israel (see especially Hosea) before the rise of the Deuteronomic movement. Furthermore, it seems that the condemnation of astral worship so characteristic of the Deuteronomic writings has its roots in the north. Amos 5:26 refers vaguely to this sin, but the assault is more clearly expressed in the LXX version of Hosea. In the framework of the admonition against pagan worship in Hosea 13:1-4 we find in the LXX a short doxology at the end of verse 4 ... (The pair stereo and ktizo is found only in Amos and Hosea, and the Greek of the doxology in Hosea 13:4 is very similar to Jeremiah 8:2, which is also concerned with astral worship) We find here affinities with other scriptures that condemn astral worship and specify that the worship was assigned by God to other nations and was forbidden to the Israelites (Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3; 29:25). It seems that, like Amos, Hosea incorporated doxologies into his prophecies in the context of admonitions concerning foreign worship. Similar hymnic affirmations are attested in Job (5:9-16; 9:410) and in Deutero-Isaiah (40:22, 42:5; 44:24; 45:18) ..."
Moshe Weinfeld, Deuteronomy 1–11: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, AB 5 (New York: Doubleday, 1991), 44–45.

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 5:7 and Hosea 13:4

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