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The Four Biblical Decalogues
The Ten Commandments version in Exodus Chapter 34 is thought by many Biblical scholars to be closest to what may have existed in Solomon's time. They identify the author as the "J" author who lived in Judah. He is called "J" because he consistently uses YHWH (pronounced Yahweh) as the name of God. (The scholarly analysis first was worked out by Germans, and "J" in German sounds like the English "Y.")
From Exodus Chapter 34. Note: Most English language Bible versions--like the New Revised Standard Version--substitue ""the LORD" for the Hebrew text's YHWH.
The LORD said to Moses, "Cut two tablets of
stone.... 2) Be ready in the morning, and come
up in the morning to Mount Sinai and present
yourself there to me, on the top of the
mountain.... 5) The LORD descended in the cloud
and stood with him there, and proclaimed the
name, "The LORD." 6) The LORD passed before
him, and proclaimed,
"The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and
gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in
steadfast love and faithfulness, 7) keeping
steadfast love for the thousandth generation,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
yet by no means clearing the guilty, but
visiting the iniquity of the parents upon the
children and the children's children to the
third and the fourth generation. [The NRSV
spaces this paragraph differently, as if lines
in a poem.]
8) And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the
earth, and worshiped. 9) He said "If now I have
found favor in your sight, O Lord, I pray, let
the Lord go with us. Although this is a
stiff-necked people, pardon our iniquity and
our sin, and take us for your inheritance."
10) He said: I hereby make a covenant, Before
all your people I will perform marvels, such as
have not been performed in all the earth or in
any nation; and all the people among whom you
live shall see the work of the LORD; for it is
an awesome thing that I will do with you.
11) Observe what I command you today. See, I
will drive out before you the Amorites, the
Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the
Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12) Take care not
to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the
land to which you are going, or it will become
a snare among you. 13) You shall tear down
their altars, break their pillars, and cut down
their sacred poles 14) for you shall worship no
other god, because the LORD whose name is
Jealous, is a jealous God). 15) You shall not
make a covenant with the inhabitants of the
land, for when they prostitute themselves to
their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone
among them will invite you, and you will eat of
the sacrifice. 16) And you will take wives from
among their daughters for your sons, and their
daughters who prostitute themselves to their
gods will make your sons also prostitute
themselves to their gods.
17) You shall not make cast idols.
18) You shall keep the festival of unleavened
bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened
bread, as I commanded you, at the time
appointed in the month of Abib; for in the
month of Abib you came out from Egypt.
19) All that first opens the womb is mine, all
your male livestock, the first-born of cow and
sheep. 20) The firstborn of a donkey you shall
redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem
it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn
of your sons you shall redeem.
No one shall appear before me empty-handed.
21) Six days you shall work, but on the seventh
day you shall rest; even in plowing time and in
harvest time you shall rest. 22) You shall
observe the festival of weeks, the first fruits
of wheat harvest, and the festival of
ingathering at the turn of the year. 23) Three
times in the year all your males shall appear
before the LORD God, the God of Israel. 24) For
I will cast out nations before you, and enlarge
your borders; no one shall covet your land when
you go up to appear before the LORD your God
three times in the year.
25) You shall not offer the blood of my
sacrifice with leaven, and the sacrifice of the
festival of the passover shall not be left
until the morning.
26) The best of the first fruits of your ground
you shall bring to the house of the LORD your
God.
You shall not boil a kid in its mother's
milk.
27) The LORD said to Moses: Write these words;
in accordance with these words I have made a
covenant with you and with Israel. 28) He was
there with the LORD forty days and forty
nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water.
And he wrote on the tablets the words of the
covenant, the ten commandments.
This second listing of the Commandments comes from Exodus Chapter 20. It's author is known as "E" who reflects the northern kingdom's emphasis. He's known as "E" because he used the Hebrew word "Elohim" (which is translated as God) until his narrative says that Moses was told by God that his name was YHWH.
From Exodus Chapter 20.
Then God spoke all these words: 2) I am the
LORD your God, who brought you out of the land
of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3) You
shall have no other gods before me.
4) You shall not make for yourself an
idol, whether in the form of anything that is
in heaven above, or that is on the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the
earth. 5) You shall not bow down to them or
worship them; for I the LORD your God am a
jealous God, punishing children for the
iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth
generation of those who reject me, 6) but
showing steadfast love to the thousandth
generation of those who love me and keep my
commandments.
7) You shall not make wrongful use of
the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD
will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
8) Remember the sabbath day, and
keep it holy. 9) Six days you shall labor and
do all your work. 10) But the seventh day is a
sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do
any work--you, your son or your daughter, your
male or female slave, your livestock, or the
alien resident in your towns.
11) For in six days the LORD made heaven and
earth, the sea and all that is in them, but
rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD
blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
12) Honor your father and your mother,
so that your days may be long in the land that
the LORD your God is giving you.
13) You shall not murder.
14) You shall not commit adultery.
15) You shall not steal.
16) You shall not bear false witness
against your neighbor.
17) You shall not covet your neighbor's
house; you shall not covet your neighbor's
wife, or male or female slave,or ox, or donkey
or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
18) When all the people witnessed the
thunder and lightening, the sound of the
trumpet, and the mountain smoking they were
afraid and trembled and stood at a distance,
19) and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we
will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or
we will die. 20) Moses said to the people. "Do
not be afraid; for God has come only to test
you and to put the fear of him upon you so that
you do not sin." 21) Then the people stood at
a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick
darkness where God was. [More commandments
follow relating to altar construction,
directions for sacrifices, instructions on the
treatment of slaves, etcetera.]
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