Deuteronomy 5:16-26

16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God commanded thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long upon the land, which the Lord thy God gives thee.

17 Thou shalt not commit murder.

18 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

19 Thou shalt not steal.

20 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

21 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife; thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, nor his field, nor his man-servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any beast of his, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

22 These words the Lord spoke to all the assembly of you in the mountain out of the midst of the fire— darkness, blackness, storm, a loud voice—and he added no more, and he wrote them on two tables of stone, and he gave them to me.

23 And it came to pass when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the fire, for the mountain burned with fire, that ye came to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders:

24 and ye said, Behold, the Lord our God has shewn us his glory, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: this day we have seen that God shall speak to man, and he shall live.

25 And now let us not die, for this great fire will consume us, if we shall hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, and we shall die.

26 For what flesh which has heard the voice of the living God, speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we , and shall live?

Deuteronomy 5:16-26 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO DEUTERONOMY 5

In this chapter Moses, after a short preface, De 5:1-5, repeats the law of the decalogue, or ten commands, with some little variation, De 5:6-21, and then reminds the Israelites of the terrible manner in which it was delivered to them, De 5:22,23 which put them upon making a request that Moses might be a mediator between God and them, and hear what the Lord had to say, and report it to them; to which they promised obedience, De 5:24-27 and which being agreeable to the Lord was granted, De 5:28-31, and this laid them under a greater obligation to observe the commands of God, and keep them, De 5:32,33.

Footnotes

• [a]. by this day.