Deuteronomy 5:21-23

5:21 You must not desire ¹  another man’s ²  wife, nor should you crave his ³  house, his field, his male and female servants, his ox, his donkey, or anything else he owns.” ⁴ 

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. ⁵  Then he inscribed the words ⁶  on two stone tablets and gave them to me. 5:23 Then, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness while the mountain was ablaze, all your tribal leaders and elders approached me.

[5:21]  ¹ tn 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]  ² tn Heb “your neighbor’s.” See note on the term “fellow man” in v. 19.

[5:21]  ³ tn Heb “your neighbor’s.” The pronoun is used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[5:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

[5:22]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he added no more” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NLT “This was all he said at that time.”

[5:22]  ⁶ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the words spoken by the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.