Deuteronomy 5:5

5 I was standing {between Yahweh and you} at that time to report to you the word of Yahweh, for you were afraid because of {the presence of} the fire, and [so] you [did] not go up the mountain. {He said},

Deuteronomy 5:5 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 5:5

I stood between the Lord and you at that time
Between the Word of the Lord and you, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan; that is, about that time, not at the exact precise time the ten commandments were delivered, for these were spoken immediately to the people; but when the ceremonial law was given, which was ordained by angels, in the hand of a mediator, ( Galatians 3:19 ) , and which was at the request of the people as follows, terrified by the appearance of the fire out of which the moral law was delivered:

to show you the word of the Lord;
not the decalogue, that they heard with their own ears, but the other laws which were afterwards given, that were of the ceremonial and judicial kind:

for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the
mount;
lest they should be consumed by it: and indeed bounds were set about the mount, and they were charged not to break through:

saying;
this word is in connection with the preceding verse, the Lord's talking out of the midst of the fire, when he said what follows.

Deuteronomy 5:5 In-Context

3 [It was] not with our ancestors [that] Yahweh made this covenant, [but with] these [of] us [who are] here alive today.
4 {Face to face} Yahweh spoke with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire.
5 I was standing {between Yahweh and you} at that time to report to you the word of Yahweh, for you were afraid because of {the presence of} the fire, and [so] you [did] not go up the mountain. {He said},
6 'I [am] Yahweh your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.
7 [There] shall not be for you other gods {besides me}.

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. Literally "between Yahweh and between you"
  • [b]. Or "declare"
  • [c]. Literally "the faces of"
  • [d]. Literally "To say"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.