Go to Related Reading
About this book

Exodus

About this book

The Ten Commandments and the Covenant

Chapter 20

1 God spoke all these words: 2 “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt,⁠ from the house of slavery.⁠ 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below.⁠ 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me,⁠ 6 and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.⁠ 7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain. 8 “Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy. 9 For six days you may labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.⁠ 12 “Honor your father and your mother,⁠ that you may live a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving to you.⁠ 13 “You shall not murder.⁠ 14 “You shall not commit adultery.⁠ 15 “You shall not steal.⁠ 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.⁠ 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife,⁠ nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.”⁠ 18 All the people were seeing the thundering and the lightning, and heard the sound of the horn, and saw the mountain smoking—and⁠ when the people saw it they trembled with fear and kept their distance.⁠ 19 They said to Moses, “You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, lest we die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you so that you do not sin.” 21 The people kept their distance, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was. 22 The Lord said to Moses, “Thus you will tell the Israelites: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken with you from heaven.⁠ 23 You must not make gods of silver alongside me,⁠ nor make gods of gold for yourselves. 24 “‘You must make for me an altar made of earth, and you will sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be honored I will come to you and I will bless you.⁠ 25 If you make me an altar of stone, you must not build it of stones shaped with tools, for if you use your tool on it you have defiled it.⁠ 26 And you must not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed.’⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Exodus 20:6 and Jubilees 23:31

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions

Share:

Summary

Jubilees 23 echoes Exodus 20 by repeating the expression that divine mercy extends to thousands who love God and obey his commandments. This connects Jubilees’ vision of future restoration with the covenantal promises in the Torah.

Passages

Exodus 20:6

Hebrew Bible
5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me, 6 and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Exodus

Jubilees 23:31

Pseudepigrapha, Hebrew Bible Expansions
30 And at that time the Lord will heal His servants, And they shall rise up and see great peace, And drive out their adversaries. And the righteous shall see and be thankful, And rejoice with joy forever and ever, And shall see all their judgments and all their curses on their enemies. 31 And their bones shall rest in the earth, And their spirits shall have much joy, And they shall know that it is the Lord who executes judgment, And shows mercy to hundreds and thousands and to all that love Him 32 And you, Moses, write down these words; for thus they are written, and they record (them) on the heavenly tablets for a testimony for the generations forever.
170–125 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jubilees

References

"... Implicit intertextuality between this chapter in Jubilees and the biblical text is found in several cases. The long life indicated in Jubilees 23:9 and 27 reflects the genealogy of Genesis 5. Traditional condemnation formulas used in Jubilees 23:22-23 agrees with formulas found in the Bible. The idea of nations who have no mercy or grace in Jubilees 23:23 repeat Jeremiah 6:23. The call to be saved from the hand of the sinners in Jubilees 23:24-25 agrees with the language and motifs used in Trito Isaiah. The description of seniors and young people in Jubilees 23:28 agrees with the ideas in Isaiah 65:20. The idea in Jubilees 23:31 that their bones will rest in the earth and their spirits will increase joy, is also found in Isaiah 66:14. The expression that God will show mercy to hundreds and thousands, to all who love him (Jubilees 23:31) is the same expression used in the Decalogue in Exodus 20:6 and Deuteronomy 5:10 ..."
Pieter M Venter, “Intertextuality in the Book of Jubilees,” HvTSt 63.2 (2007): 463–480.

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

Your feedback

Exodus 20:6 and Jubilees 23:31

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library