Deuteronomy Chapter 5

At a Glance

  • DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 5.
  • Deuteronomy 5 is the renewed presentation of the Decalogue—the Ten Commandments—paired with Moses’ exhortation to listen and live.
  • Historical & Literary Context.
  • Chapter 5 sits squarely in Moses’ covenant-renewal discourse.
  • - Covenant renewal and personal encounter: The people hear directly from God and respond in obedience.

DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 5

Chapter Overview

Deuteronomy 5 is the renewed presentation of the Decalogue—the Ten Commandments—paired with Moses’ exhortation to listen and live. The chapter opens with Moses calling all Israel to hear the statutes and judgments and live them, reminding the people that the covenant was established at Horeb not with their ancestors alone, but with them—“us, who are alive this day.” The narrative frame emphasizes personal encounter with the Lord: God spoke to the people face to face on the mountain, and Moses served as mediator. The chapter unfolds core prohibitions and duties that now define Israel’s communal and religious life: no other gods, no carved images, reverence for the name of the Lord, sabbath rest, and remembering the deliverance from Egypt. The repeated harm of idolatry and social disruption underscores the sacred order: loyalty to God shapes worship, time, speech, and social conduct. The heart of the command is covenant loyalty, anchored in God’s identity as Deliverer and Lord. The chapter’s structure—hearing, remembering, and obeying—frames obedience as love for the Lord and a way to honor the memory of bondage turned into freedom. This chapter reaffirms the moral architecture that will guide Israel through the land and into a distinct way of life.

Historical & Literary Context

Chapter 5 sits squarely in Moses’ covenant-renewal discourse. It recaps and personalizes the Ten Words, connecting them to Israel’s immediate experience: the Exodus, the Sinai theophany, and the present call to fidelity. The genre is legal-pedagogical, but with a strong liturgical and communal memory component. The narrative emphasizes immediacy and the real, tangible encounter with God to cultivate fear, love, and obedience. In the broader book, this chapter is part of a larger insistence that Yahweh’s people must live out the covenant in every aspect of life—worship, family life, labor, and social ethics—in anticipation of national life within the land.

Key Themes

- Covenant renewal and personal encounter: The people hear directly from God and respond in obedience.

- Idolatry’s warning: Clear boundaries against other gods safeguard community integrity.

- Sabbath and memory: Time and remembrance shape religious identity.

- Ethical discipline as love: Obedience is the love response to God’s acts of deliverance.

- The role of mediation: Moses as mediator emphasizes the human role in covenant life.

Modern Application

- Jesus’ synthesis of the law: See how New Testament guidance reframes the Decalogue in terms of love of God and neighbor.

- Sabbath as holistic rest: The ethic of rest informs modern work-life balance and societal justice.

- Worship shaping daily life: What we do with our time, speech, and possessions reveals who we worship.

- Social ethics built on fidelity: Honesty, respect for authority, family integrity, and honoring parents reflect divine order.

- Memory as moral formation: Remembering deliverance informs grateful perseverance and ethical resilience.

- Exodus 20 (Decalogue)

- Deuteronomy 6 (Shema and family instruction)

- Deuteronomy 32 (warnings and blessings tied to fidelity)

- Matthew 22 (greatest commandments, Jesus’ teaching on law and love)

Recommended Personas

- Moses (lawgiver and covenant mediator)

- Jesus (fulfillment and deepening of the law’s meaning)

- Ruth or Deborah (models of faithful covenant living in daily life)

Chapter Text

1

And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them.

2

The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.

3

The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.

4

The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,

5

(I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,

6

I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

7

Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

8

Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth:

9

Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,

10

And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

11

Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

12

Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.

13

Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:

14

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

15

And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.

16

Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

17

Thou shalt not kill.

18

Neither shalt thou commit adultery.

19

Neither shalt thou steal.

20

Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.

21

Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

22

These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.

23

And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, (for the mountain did burn with fire,) that ye came near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;

24

And ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.

25

Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die.

26

For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

27

Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it.

28

And the LORD heard the voice of your words, when ye spake unto me; and the LORD said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee: they have well said all that they have spoken.

29

O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever!

30

Go say to them, Get you into your tents again.

31

But as for thee, stand thou here by me, and I will speak unto thee all the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess it.

32

Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

33

Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.

Discuss This Chapter with Biblical Personas

Explore Deuteronomy Chapter 5 with Biblical figures who can provide unique perspectives grounded in Scripture.

Ask Apostle PaulAsk MosesAsk King DavidAsk Jesus Christ
← Deuteronomy 4Deuteronomy 6 →