Historical
The Ten Words
5 Moses called to all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances that I am speaking in your hearing today, learn them and make sure to do them. 2 Adonai our God cut a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 Not with our fathers has Adonai cut this covenant but with us—all of us alive here today. 4 Adonai spoke with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. 5 (I was standing between Adonai and you at that time, to tell you the word of Adonai, because you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain.)
‘He said:
6 ‘I am Adonai your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
7 ‘You shall not have other gods beside Me.
8 ‘Do not make for yourself a graven image—no image of what is in the heavens above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. 9 Do not bow down to them or worship them. For I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me, 10 but showing lovingkindness to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My mitzvot.
11 ‘You must not take the Name of Adonai your God in vain, for Adonai will not leave unpunished anyone who takes His Name in vain.
12 ‘Observe Yom Shabbat to keep it holy, as Adonai your God commanded you. 13 Six days you are to labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Shabbat to Adonai your God. In it you are not to do any work—not you or your son or your daughter, or your slave or your maid, or your ox, your donkey or any of your livestock or the outsider within your gates, so that your slave and your maid may rest as you do. 15 You must remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and Adonai your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore Adonai your God commanded you to keep Yom Shabbat.
16 ‘Honor your father and your mother just as Adonai your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and it may go well with you in the land Adonai your God is giving you.[a]
17 ‘Do not murder.
‘Do not commit adultery.
‘Do not steal.
‘Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.[b][c]
18 ‘Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’
19 “These words Adonai spoke to all your assembly on the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud and the fog, with a great voice. He added no more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
Live and Prolong Your Days
20 “As soon as you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was blazing with fire, you came near to me—all the heads of your tribes and your elders. 21 Then you said, ‘Adonai our God has just shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. This day we have seen that God speaks with man, and yet he keeps on living. 22 Now then, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us! If we hear the voice of Adonai our God any more, then we will die. 23 For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? 24 You go near and hear all that Adonai our God says. Then you tell us all what Adonai our God tells you, and we will hear it and do it.’
25 “Adonai heard the tone of your words when you spoke to me, and Adonai said to me, ‘I have heard the tone of the words that this people has spoken to you—they have done well in all they have spoken. 26 If only there were such a heart in them to fear Me and keep all My mitzvot always, so that it might go well with them and with their children forever! 27 Go say to them, “Return to your tents.” 28 But as for you, stand here by Me, and I will tell you the whole commandment—both the statutes and the ordinances that you are to teach them. And they will do them in the land I am giving them to possess.’
29 “So you must take care to do as Adonai your God has commanded you—do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 30 You are to walk in all the way that Adonai your God has commanded you, so that you may live and it may be well with you and you may prolong your days in the land that you will possess.
6 “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and ordinances that Adonai your God commanded to teach you to do in the land you are crossing over to possess— 2 so that you might fear Adonai your God, to keep all His statutes and mitzvot that I am commanding you and your son and your son’s son all the days of your life, and so that you may prolong your days. 3 Hear, therefore, O Israel, and take care to do this, so that it may go well with you and you may increase mightily, as Adonai the God of your fathers has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
Shema Israel, ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI Echad
4 “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one[d]. 5 Love Adonai your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. [e] 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, are to be on your heart. 7 You are to teach them diligently to your children, and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand, they are to be as frontlets[f] between your eyes, 9 and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
When You Prosper, Do Not Forget
10 “Now when Adonai your God brings you into the land that He swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—to give you great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns dug that you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and you eat and are full, 12 then watch yourself so that you do not forget Adonai, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 13 You must fear Adonai your God and serve Him,[g] and swear by His Name. 14 You must not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for Adonai your God in the midst of you is a jealous God. Otherwise the anger of Adonai your God will be kindled against you, and He will wipe you from the face of the earth.
16 “You are not to test Adonai your God, as you tested Him at Massah. [h] 17 Diligently keep the mitzvot of Adonai your God, and His testimonies and His statutes that He has commanded you. 18 You are to do what is right and good in the sight of Adonai, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and possess the good land that Adonai swore to your fathers— 19 to drive out all your enemies from before you, as Adonai has spoken.
When Your Son Asks
20 “When your son asks you in time to come, saying ‘What are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances that Adonai our God commanded you?’ 21 then you are to tell your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and Adonai brought us out from Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 Before our eyes Adonai showed signs and wonders, great and terrible—on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house. 23 Then He brought us out from there so that He might bring us in, to give us the land that He swore to our fathers. 24 Adonai commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear Adonai our God—for our good always, to keep us alive, as is the case this day. 25 It will be righteousness[i] to us, if we take care to do all this commandment before Adonai our God, just as He has commanded us.’
No Mixing With Idolaters
7 “When Adonai your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out many nations before you—the Hittite and the Girgashite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you— 2 and Adonai your God gives them over to you and you strike them down, then you are to utterly destroy them. You are to make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 You are not to intermarry with them—you are not to give your daughter to his son, or take his daughter for your son. 4 For he will turn your son away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of Adonai will be kindled against you, and He will swiftly destroy you. 5 Instead, you are to deal with them like this: tear down their altars, smash their pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their carved images with fire. 6 For you are a holy people to Adonai your God—from all the peoples on the face of the earth, Adonai your God has chosen you to be His treasured people.[j]
7 “It is not because you are more numerous than all the peoples that Adonai set His love on you and chose you—for you are the least of all peoples. 8 Rather, because of His love for you and His keeping the oath He swore to your fathers, Adonai brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
9 “Know therefore that Adonai your God, He is God—the faithful God who keeps covenant kindness for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His mitzvot, [k] 10 but repays those who hate Him to their face, to annihilate them. He will not hesitate with him who hates Him; He will repay him to his face. 11 Therefore you are to keep the commandment—both the statutes and the ordinances—that I am commanding you today, to do them.
Parashat Ekev
Adonai Desires to Bless
12 “Then it will happen, as a result of your listening to these ordinances, when you keep and do them, that Adonai your God will keep with you the covenant kindness that He swore to your fathers. 13 He will love you, bless you and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your soil, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that He swore to your fathers to give you. 14 From all peoples, you will be blessed—there will not be male or female barren among you or your livestock. 15 Adonai will remove all sickness from you, and He will not inflict on you any of the terrible diseases of Egypt that you knew, but will inflict them on all who hate you.
16 “You will devour all the peoples Adonai your God gives over to you. Your eye is not to pity them. You are not to serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you. 17 Suppose you say in your heart, ‘These nations are more numerous than I—how can I drive them out?’ 18 You are not to be afraid of them. You are to be sure to remember what Adonai your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: 19 the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs and wonders, and the mighty hand and outstretched arm[l] by which Adonai your God brought you out. So will Adonai your God do to all the peoples you fear.
20 “Moreover, Adonai your God will send the hornet against them, until the survivors and those in hiding perish before you. 21 You should not be terrified of them, since Adonai your God is in your midst—a great and awesome God. 22 Adonai your God will drive away those nations before you little by little—you will not be able to put an end to them all at once, or else the beasts of the field will multiply on you. 23 But Adonai your God will give them over to you, and He will throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. 24 He will hand over their kings to you, and you will blot out their name from under the heavens. No man will stand up to you, until you have destroyed them all.
25 “The carved images of their gods you are to burn with fire. You are not to covet the silver or gold on them or take it for yourself—or you could be snared by it, for it is an abomination to Adonai your God. 26 You are not to bring an abomination into your house—for you, like it, will be a banned thing. You must utterly detest and utterly abhor it, for it is set apart for destruction.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.