Deuteronomy 5:11

Context
5:11 You must not make use of the name of the Lord your God for worthless purposes,¹ for the Lord will not exonerate anyone who abuses his name that way.²

Deuteronomy 5:17-21

Context
5:17 You must not murder.³ 5:18 You must not commit adultery. 5:19 You must not steal. 5:20 You must not offer false testimony against another.⁴ 5:21 You must not desire⁵ another man’s⁶ wife, nor should you crave his⁷ house, his field, his male and female servants, his ox, his donkey, or anything else he owns.”⁸

[5:11] ¹tn Heb “take up the name of the Lord your God to emptiness”; KJV “take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” The idea here is not cursing or profanity in the modern sense of these terms but rather the use of the divine Name for unholy, mundane purposes, that is, for meaningless (the Hebrew term is שָׁוְא) and empty ends. In ancient Israel this would include using the Lord’s name as a witness in vows one did not intend to keep.

[5:11] ²tn Heb “who takes up his name to emptiness.”

[5:17] ³tn Traditionally “kill” (so KJV, ASV, RSV, NAB). The verb here (רָצַח, ratsakh) is generic for homicide but in the OT both killing in war and capital punishment were permitted and even commanded (Deut 13:5, 9; 20:13, 16-17), so the technical meaning here is “murder.”

[5:20] ⁴tn Heb “your neighbor.” Clearly this is intended generically, however, and not to be limited only to those persons who live nearby (frequently the way “neighbor” is understood in contemporary contexts). So also in v. 20.

[5:21] ⁵tn The Hebrew verb used here (חָמַד, khamad) is different from the one translated “crave” (אָוַה, ’avah) in the next line. The former has sexual overtones (“lust” or the like; cf. Song of Sol 2:3) whereas the latter has more the idea of a desire or craving for material things.

[5:21] ⁶tn Heb “your neighbor’s.” See note on the term “fellow man” in v. 19.

[5:21] ⁷tn Heb “your neighbor’s.” The pronoun is used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[5:21] ⁸tn Heb “or anything that is your neighbor’s.”