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Deuteronomy 5:21 Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

21 `Thou dost not desire thy neighbour's wife; nor dost thou covet thy neighbour's house, his field, and his man-servant, and his handmaid, his ox, and his ass, and anything which `is' thy neighbour's.

Cross Reference

Romans 13:9 YLT

for, `Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false testimony, Thou shalt not covet;' and if there is any other command, in this word it is summed up, in this: `Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself;'

Exodus 20:17 YLT

`Thou dost not desire the house of thy neighbour, thou dost not desire the wife of thy neighbour, or his man-servant, or his handmaid, or his ox, or his ass, or anything which `is' thy neighbour's.'

1 Kings 21:1-4 YLT

And it cometh to pass, after these things, a vineyard hath been to Naboth the Jezreelite, that `is' in Jezreel, near the palace of Ahab king of Samaria, and Ahab speaketh unto Naboth, saying, `Give to me thy vineyard, and it is to me for a garden of green herbs, for it `is' near by my house, and I give to thee in its stead a better vineyard than it; if good in thine eyes, I give to thee silver -- its price.' And Naboth saith unto Ahab, `Far be it from me, by Jehovah, my giving the inheritance of my fathers to thee;' and Ahab cometh in unto his house, sulky and wroth, because of the word that Naboth the Jezreelite hath spoken unto him when he saith, `I do not give to thee the inheritance of my fathers,' and he lieth down on his bed, and turneth round his face, and hath not eaten bread.

Micah 2:2 YLT

And they have desired fields, And they have taken violently, And houses, and they have taken away, And have oppressed a man and his house, Even a man and his inheritance.

Habakkuk 2:9 YLT

Wo `to' him who is gaining evil gain for his house, To set on high his nest, To be delivered from the hand of evil,

Luke 12:15 YLT

And he said unto them, `Observe, and beware of the covetousness, because not in the abundance of one's goods is his life.'

Romans 7:7-8 YLT

What, then, shall we say? the law `is' sin? let it not be! but the sin I did not know except through law, for also the covetousness I had not known if the law had not said: `Thou shalt not covet;' and the sin having received an opportunity, through the command, did work in me all covetousness -- for apart from law sin is dead.

1 Timothy 6:9-10 YLT

and those wishing to be rich, do fall into temptation and a snare, and many desires, foolish and hurtful, that sink men into ruin and destruction, for a root of all the evils is the love of money, which certain longing for did go astray from the faith, and themselves did pierce through with many sorrows;

Hebrews 13:5 YLT

Without covetousness the behaviour, being content with the things present, for He hath said, `No, I will not leave, no, nor forsake thee,'

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Deuteronomy 5

Commentary on Deuteronomy 5 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary


Introduction

A. The True Essence of the Law and Its Fulfilment

The exposition of the law commences with a repetition of the ten words of the covenant, which were spoken to all Israel directly by the Lord Himself.


Verses 1-5

Deuteronomy 5:1-5 form the introduction, and point out the importance and great significance of the exposition which follows. Hence, instead of the simple sentence “ And Moses said ,” we have the more formal statement “ And Moses called all Israel, and said to them .” The great significance of the laws and rights about to be set before them, consisted in the fact that they contained the covenant of Jehovah with Israel.

Deuteronomy 5:2-3

Jehovah our God made a covenant with us in Horeb; not with our fathers, but with ourselves, who are all of us here alive this day .” The “ fathers” are neither those who died in the wilderness, as Augustine supposed, nor the forefathers in Egypt, as Calvin imagined; but the patriarchs, as in Deuteronomy 4:37. Moses refers to the conclusion of the covenant at Sinai, which was essentially distinct from the covenant at Sinai, which was essentially distinct from the covenant made with Abraham ( Genesis 15:18), though the latter laid the foundation for the Sinaitic covenant. But Moses passed over this, as it was not his intention to trace the historical development of the covenant relation, but simply to impress upon the hearts of the existing generation the significance of its entrance into covenant with the Lord. The generation, it is true, with which God made the covenant at Horeb, had all died out by that time, with the exception of Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, and only lived in the children, who, though in part born in Egypt, were all under twenty years of age at the conclusion of the covenant at Sinai, and therefore were not among the persons with whom the Lord concluded the covenant. But the covenant was made not with the particular individuals who were then alive, but rather with the nation as an organic whole. Hence Moses could with perfect justice identify those who constituted the nation at that time, with those who had entered into covenant with the Lord at Sinai. The separate pronoun ( we ) is added to the pronominal suffix for the sake of emphasis, just as in Genesis 4:26, etc.; and אלּה again is so connected with אנחנוּ , as to include the relative in itself.

Deuteronomy 5:4-5

Jehovah talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire ,” i.e., He came as near to you as one person to another. בּפנים פּנים is not perfectly synonymous with פּנים אל פּנים , which is used in Exodus 33:11 with reference to God's speaking to Moses (cf. Deuteronomy 34:10, and Genesis 32:31), and expresses the very confidential relation in which the Lord spoke to Moses as one friend to another; whereas the former simply denotes the directness with which Jehovah spoke to the people. - Before repeating the ten words which the Lord addressed directly to the people, Moses introduces the following remark in Deuteronomy 5:5 - “ I stood between Jehovah and you at that time, to announce to you the word of Jehovah; because ye were afraid of the fire, and went not up into the mount ” - for the purpose of showing the mediatorial position which he occupied between the Lord and the people, not so much at the proclamation of the ten words of the covenant, as in connection with the conclusion of the covenant generally, which alone in fact rendered the conclusion of the covenant possible at all, on account of the alarm of the people at the awful manifestation of the majesty of the Lord. The word of Jehovah, which Moses as mediator had to announce to the people, had reference not to the instructions which preceded the promulgation of the decalogue (Exodus 19:11.), but, as is evident from Deuteronomy 5:22-31, primarily to the further communications which the Lord was about to address to the nation in connection with the conclusion of the covenant, besides the ten words (viz., Exodus 20:18; 22:1-23:33), to which in fact the whole of the Sinaitic legislation really belongs, as being the further development of the covenant laws. The alarm of the people at the fire is more fully described in Deuteronomy 5:25. The word “ saying ” at the end of Deuteronomy 5:5 is dependent upon the word “ talked ” in Deuteronomy 5:4; Deuteronomy 5:5 simply containing a parenthetical remark.


Verses 6-23

In vv. 6-21, the ten covenant words are repeated from Ex 20, with only a few variations, which have already been discussed in connection with the exposition of the decalogue at Exodus 20:1-14. - In Deuteronomy 5:22-33, Moses expounds still further the short account in Exodus 20:18-21, viz., that after the people had heard the ten covenant words, in their alarm at the awful phenomena in which the Lord revealed His glory, they entreated him to stand between as mediator, that God Himself might not speak to them any further, and that they might not die, and then promised that they would hearken to all that the Lord should speak to him (Exodus 20:23 -31). His purpose in doing so was to link on the exhortation in vv. 32, 33, to keep all the commandments of the Lord and do them, which paves the way for passing to the exposition of the law which follows. “A great voice” (Exodus 20:22) is an adverbial accusative, signifying “ with a great voice” (cf. Ges.


Verses 24-33

Deuteronomy 5:24-27 contain a rhetorical, and at the same time really a more exact, account of the events described in Exodus 20:18-20 (15-17). ואתּ (Deuteronomy 5:24), a contraction of ואתּה , as in Numbers 11:15 (cf. Ewald , §184, a .). Jehovah's reply to the words of the people (Deuteronomy 5:28-31) is passed over in Ex 20. God approved of what the people said, because it sprang from a consciousness of the unworthiness of any sinner to come into the presence of the holy God; and He added, “ Would that there were always this heart in them to fear Me,” i.e., would that they were always of the same mind to fear Me and keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and their children for ever. He then directed the people to return to their tents, and appointed Moses as the mediator, to whom He would address all the law, that he might teach it to the people (cf. Deuteronomy 4:5). Having been thus entreated by the people to take the office of mediator, and appointed to that office by the Lord, Moses could very well bring his account of these events to a close (Deuteronomy 5:32, Deuteronomy 5:33), by exhorting them to observe carefully all the commandments of the Lord, and not to turn aside to the right hand or to the left, i.e., not to depart in any way from the mode of life pointed out in the commandments (cf. Deuteronomy 17:11, Deuteronomy 17:20; Deuteronomy 28:14; Joshua 1:7, etc.), that it might be well with them, etc. (cf. Deuteronomy 4:40). וטוב , perfect with ו rel. instead of the imperfect.