Deuteronomy 10:1-9

1 At that time the LORD said to me, "Cut two [more] stone tablets like the first ones, and come up to me on the mountain. Also make an ark out of wood.

2 I will write on the tablets the same words that were on the first tablets, which you smashed. Then you will put them in the ark."

3 I made an ark out of acacia wood. I cut two [more] stone tablets like the first ones. I carried the two tablets up the mountain.

4 The LORD wrote on these tablets the same words as before, the ten commandments. He had spoken these words to you from the fire on the mountain on the day of the assembly. Then the LORD gave them to me.

5 I came back down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made. They are still there, where the LORD commanded me to put them.

6 The Israelites moved from the wells of the Jaakanites to Moserah. Aaron died there and was buried, and his son Eleazar succeeded him as priest.

7 They moved from there to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with rivers that don't dry up.

8 At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the LORD's promise, to stand in the LORD's presence when they serve him as priests, and to praise his name, as they still do today.

9 This is why the tribe of Levi has no land of their own as the other tribes have. The LORD your God is their only possession, as he promised them.

Deuteronomy 10:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 10

In this chapter an account is given of an order to Moses to hew two tables of stone, on which the Lord would write the words that were on the first, and to make an ark and put them into it, all which was accordingly done, De 10:1-5 and of some of the journeys of the children of Israel, De 10:6,7 and of the separation of the tribe of Levi to the service of the sanctuary, De 10:8,9 and of Moses's stay in the mount forty days and nights, and his success there, and the direction he had to lead on the people of Israel towards Canaan's land, De 10:10,11 and who by various arguments are exhorted to fear the Lord, and serve him, and keep his commands, De 10:12-22.