Deuteronomy 5:22

The Narrative of the Sinai Revelation and Israel’s Response

5:22 The Lord said these things to your entire assembly at the mountain from the middle of the fire, the cloud, and the darkness with a loud voice, and that was all he said. ¹  Then he inscribed the words ²  on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

Deuteronomy 5:24

5:24 You said, “The Lord our God has shown us his great glory ³  and we have heard him speak from the middle of the fire. It is now clear to us ⁴  that God can speak to human beings and they can keep on living.

Deuteronomy 9:10

9:10 The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, written by the very finger ⁵  of God, and on them was everything ⁶  he ⁷  said to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire at the time of that assembly.

Deuteronomy 10:4

10:4 The Lord ⁸  then wrote on the tablets the same words, ⁹  the ten commandments, ¹⁰  which he ¹¹  had spoken to you at the mountain from the middle of the fire at the time of that assembly, and he ¹²  gave them to me.

¹ tn Heb “and he added no more” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NLT “This was all he said at that time.”

² tn Heb “them”; the referent (the words spoken by the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Heb “his glory and his greatness.”

⁴ tn Heb “this day we have seen.”

⁵ sn The very finger of God. This is a double figure of speech (1) in which God is ascribed human features (anthropomorphism) and (2) in which a part stands for the whole (synecdoche). That is, God, as Spirit, has no literal finger nor, if he had, would he write with his finger. Rather, the sense is that God himself – not Moses in any way – was responsible for the composition of the Ten Commandments (cf. Exod 31:18; 32:16; 34:1).

⁶ tn Heb “according to all the words.”

⁷ tn Heb “the Lord” (likewise at the beginning of vv. 12, 13). See note on “he” in 9:3.

⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn Heb “according to the former writing.” See note on the phrase “the same words” in v. 2.

⁹ tn Heb “ten words.” The “Ten Commandments” are known in Hebrew as the “Ten Words,” which in Greek became the “Decalogue.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

¹¹ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” earlier in this verse.