Sunday 4 October27th Sunday in Ordinary TimeLiturgical colour: green

Bible / Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 5

Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision (1749–1752), the traditional Catholic English Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate. If you read a modern Bible, this is the same Scripture in older English; some names are spelled differently (Cesarea for Caesarea, Apocalypse for Revelation). About this translation

1 And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the ceremonies and judgments, which I speak in your ears this day: learn them, and fulfil them in work.

2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.

3 He made not the covenant with our fathers, but with us, who are now present and living.

4 He spoke to us face to face in the mount out of the midst of fire.

5 I was the mediator and stood between the Lord and you at that time, to shew you his words, for you feared the fire, and went not up into the mountain, and he said:

6 I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

7 Thou shalt not have strange gods in my sight.

8 Thou shalt not make to thy self a graven thing, nor the likeness of any things, that are in heaven above, or that are in the earth beneath, or that abide in the waters under the earth.

9 Thou shalt not adore them, and thou shalt not serve them. For I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon their children unto the third and fourth generation, to them that hate me,

10 And shewing mercy unto many thousands, to them that love me, and keep my commandments.

11 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for he shall not be unpunished that taketh his name upon a vain thing.

12 Observe the day of the sabbath, to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee.

13 Six days shalt thou labour, and shalt do all thy works.

14 The seventh is the day of the sabbath, that is, the rest of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not do any work therein, thou nor thy son nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy ox, nor thy ass, nor any of thy beasts, nor the stranger that is within thy gates: that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest, even as thyself.

15 Remember that thou also didst serve in Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out from thence with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm. Therefore hath he commanded thee that thou shouldst observe the sabbath day.

16 Honour thy father and mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that thou mayst live a long time, and it may be well with thee in the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee.

17 Thou shalt not kill.

18 Neither shalt thou commit adultery.

19 And thou shalt not steal.

20 Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.

21 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife: nor his house, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.

22 These words the Lord spoke to all the multitude of you in the mountain, out of the midst of the fire and the cloud, and the darkness, with a loud voice, adding nothing more: and he wrote them in two tables of stone, which he delivered unto me.

23 But you, after you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, and saw the mountain burn, came to me, all the princes of the tribes and the elders, and you said:

24 Behold the Lord our God hath shewn us his majesty and his greatness, we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire, and have proved this day that God speaking with man, man hath lived.

25 Why shall we die therefore, and why shall this exceeding great fire comsume us: for if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die.

26 What is all flesh, that it should hear the voice of the living God, who speaketh out of the midst of the fire, as we have heard, and be able to live?

27 Approach thou rather: and hear all things that the Lord our God shall say to thee, and thou shalt speak to us, and we will hear and will do them.

28 And when the Lord had heard this, he said to me: I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they spoke to thee: they have spoken all things well.

29 Who shall give them to have such a mind, to fear me, and to keep all my commandments at all times, that it may be well with them and with their children for ever?

30 Go and say to them: Return into your tents.

31 But stand thou here with me, and I will speak to thee all my commandments, and ceremonies and judgments: which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land, which I will give them for a possession.

32 Keep therefore and do the things which the Lord God hath commanded you: you shall not go aside neither to the right hand, nor to the left.

33 But you shall walk in the way that the Lord your God hath commanded, that you may live, and it may be well with you, and your days may be long in the land of your possession.

This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church

Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text. The Catechism uses modern verse numbers, so these are listed by chapter.

  1. Deuteronomy 5:2 in modern BiblesCCC 2060
    Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 2060 “The gift of the commandments and of the Law is part of the covenant God sealed with his own. In Exodus, the…”
    • “The Lord formed not this covenant with your fathers, but for you.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  2. Deuteronomy 5:4 in modern BiblesCCC 2059
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2059 “The "ten words" are pronounced by God in the midst of a theophany (“The LORD spoke with you face to face at…”
  3. Deuteronomy 5:6 in modern BiblesCCC 431 CCC 2056 CCC 2061
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 431 “In the history of salvation God was not content to deliver Israel "out of the house of bondage" by bringing them out…”
    • CCC 2056 “The word "Decalogue" means literally "ten words." God revealed these "ten words" to his people on the holy mountain. They were written…”
    • CCC 2061 “The Commandments take on their full meaning within the covenant. According to Scripture, man's moral life has all its meaning in and…”
  4. Deuteronomy 5:8 in modern Bibles
    Read the Fathers
    • “… expound it; but his meaning is similar to that of Moses, when it is said, "Thou shalt not make to thyself any image for God, of whatsoever things are in heaven above, whatsoever in the earth beneath, and whatsoever in the waters under the earth.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter VI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  5. Deuteronomy 5:12 in modern Bibles
    Read the Fathers
    • “Further, also, it is written concerning the Sabbath in the Decalogue which [the Lord] spoke, face to face, to Moses on Mount Sinai, "And sanctify ye the Sabbath of the Lord with clean hands and a pure heart.”

      Quoted in The Letter of Barnabas, Unknown author (early 2nd century), Chapter XV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  6. Deuteronomy 5:15 in modern BiblesCCC 2057 CCC 2170
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2057 “The Decalogue must first be understood in the context of the Exodus, God's great liberating event at the center of the Old…”
    • CCC 2170 “Scripture also reveals in the Lord's day a memorial of Israel's liberation from bondage in Egypt: "You shall remember that you were…”
  7. Deuteronomy 5:16 in modern BiblesCCC 2200
    Read the Catechism
    • CCC 2200 “Observing the fourth commandment brings its reward: "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land…”
  8. Deuteronomy 5:22 in modern BiblesCCC 2056 CCC 2058
    Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 2056 “The word "Decalogue" means literally "ten words." God revealed these "ten words" to his people on the holy mountain. They were written…”
    • CCC 2058 “The "ten words" sum up and proclaim God's law: "These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out…”
    • “As Moses says in Deuteronomy, "These are all the words which the Lord spake to the whole assembly of the sons of Israel on the mount, and He added no more; and He wrote them on two tables of stone, and gave them to me.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

    • “And therefore does the Scripture say, "These words the Lord spake to all the assembly of the children of Israel in the mount, and He added no more;”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  9. Deuteronomy 5:24 in modern Bibles
    Read the Fathers
    • “As also Moses says in Deuteronomy, "We shall see in that day that God will talk to man, and he shall live.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XX. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

A modern English Catholic translation will be added once its publisher grants permission.