Deuteronomy 10:12-22

What the LORD requires

12 Now in light of all that, Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you? Only this: to revere the LORD your God by walking in all his ways, by loving him, by serving the LORD your God with all your heart and being,

13 and by keeping the LORD's commandments and his regulations that I'm commanding you right now. It's for your own good!

14 Clearly, the LORD owns the sky, the highest heavens, the earth, and everything in it.

15 But the LORD adored your ancestors, loving them and choosing the descendants that followed them—you!—from all other people. That's how things still stand now.

16 So circumcise your hearts and stop being so stubborn,

17 because the LORD your God is the God of all gods and Lord of all lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who doesn't play favorites and doesn't take bribes.

18 He enacts justice for orphans and widows, and he loves immigrants, giving them food and clothing.

19 That means you must also love immigrants because you were immigrants in Egypt.

20 Revere the LORD your God, serve him, cling to him, swear by his name alone!

21 He is your praise, and he is your God—the one who performed these great and awesome acts that you witnessed with your very own eyes.

22 Your ancestors went down to Egypt with a total of seventy people, but now look! The LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the nighttime sky!

Deuteronomy 10:12-22 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or the foreskin of your hearts; cf 30:6