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Deuteronomy 10

1“At that time Yahweh said to me, ‘Hew two stone tablets like the first ones and come up to me on the mountain. Make yourself a wooden ark. 2I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you shattered, and you are to put them in the ark.’ 3So I made an ark of acacia wood, hewed two stone tablets like the first ones, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. 4He wrote on the tablets the same writing as before, the ten words Yahweh spoke to you on the mountain, from within the fire, on the day of the assembly. Yahweh gave them to me. 5I turned and came down the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made. They are there, as Yahweh commanded me.

6“The sons of Israel journeyed from Beeroth-bene-jaakan to Moserah. Aaron died there and was buried there, and his son Eleazar served as priest in his place. 7From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of streams of water. 8At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, to stand before Yahweh to minister to him and bless in his name, as they do to this day. 9That is why Levi has no share or inheritance with his brothers. Yahweh is his inheritance, as Yahweh your God promised him.

10“I remained on the mountain, as on the first occasion, forty days and forty nights. Yahweh listened to me that time too; Yahweh was unwilling to destroy you. 11Yahweh said to me, ‘Get up and go on the journey ahead of the people, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to their fathers to give them.’

12“Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God ask of you except to fear Yahweh your God, walk in all his ways, love him, and serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and all your life, 13keeping Yahweh’s commandments and statutes, which I command you today for your good? 14Look, to Yahweh your God belong the heavens and the heavens of the heavens, the earth and everything in it. 15Yet Yahweh set his affection on your fathers to love them, and chose their seed after them—you—from all the peoples, as it is today. 16So circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and do not stiffen your neck any longer. 17For Yahweh your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and fearsome God, who shows no partiality and takes no bribe. 18He carries out justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the resident foreigner, giving him bread and clothing. 19So love the resident foreigner, because you were resident foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20Fear Yahweh your God, serve him, hold fast to him, and swear by his name. 21He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and fearsome things your eyes have seen. 22Your fathers went down to Egypt as seventy persons, and now Yahweh your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the heavens.

Translation notes 4

10:1–9 — Ark, itinerary, and Levi. The ark is a chest; the same Hebrew noun is used in verses 1–5 and 8. The place sequence and Aaron’s death at Moserah are preserved here without substituting Numbers’ wording or rearranging this account. “His brothers” relates Levi to the other tribes; no ordinary territorial allotment is assigned to Levi.

10:12–16 — Life and circumcision of the heart. “All your life” again represents the whole living person. “Heavens of the heavens” is an expansive expression, not a map of separately numbered realms. Circumcising the heart’s foreskin preserves the startling bodily metaphor for removing resistance; “be receptive” alone would hide it. Here Israel is commanded to do this; 30:6 will speak of Yahweh doing it.

10:17–19 — Impartial justice and the foreigner. “Shows no partiality” translates “does not lift faces.” The resident foreigner is a person living among another people without the ordinary security of native kin and land. This category is distinct from every occurrence of “foreigner” elsewhere. Bread, clothing, justice for the fatherless and widow, and love for the resident foreigner remain concrete obligations.

10:22 — Seventy persons. Nephesh counts persons here rather than invisible souls. Seventy is the number in the Hebrew base and has not been changed to agree with a different biblical tally.