Yahweh our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Yahweh didn’t make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive today. Yahweh spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the middle of the fire,
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Deuteronomy 5:2-4 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, “Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears today, that you may learn them, and observe to do them.” Yahweh our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Yahweh didn’t make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive today. Yahweh spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the middle of the fire,
Parallel Translations
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Yahweh our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
Yahweh didn’t make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive today.
Yahweh spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the middle of the fire,
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The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.
The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,
Show all 3 translations
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The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day.
The LORD spoke with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire —
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (23)
- Deuteronomy 4:23 (v2) Be careful, lest you forget the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he made with you, and make yourselves a carved image in the form of…
- Exodus 19:5-8 (v2) Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all…
- Exodus 19:18-19 (v4) All of Mount Sinai smoked, because Yahweh descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole…
- Exodus 24:8 (v2) Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Look, this is the blood of the covenant, which Yahweh has made with you…
- Deuteronomy 34:10 (v4) Since then, there has not arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face,
Show all 23 cross-references
- Exodus 19:9 (v4) Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you…
- Deuteronomy 4:33 (v4) Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as you have heard, and live?
- Deuteronomy 4:36 (v4) Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, that he might instruct you. On earth he made you to see his great fire; and you heard his…
- Exodus 20:18-22 (v4) All the people perceived the thunderings, the lightnings, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they…
- Exodus 33:11 (v4) Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. He turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a…
- Numbers 12:8 (v4) With him, I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles; and he shall see Yahweh’s form. Why then were you not afraid to…
- Numbers 14:14 (v4) They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you Yahweh are among this people; for you Yahweh are seen face to…
- Deuteronomy 5:24-26 (v4) and you said, “Behold, Yahweh our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the middle of the fire.…
- Deuteronomy 29:10-15 (v3) All of you stand today in the presence of Yahweh your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of…
- Hebrews 8:6-13 (v2) But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, by so much as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which on better promises has…
- Hebrews 9:19-23 (v2) For when every commandment had been spoken by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of the calves and the goats,…
- Genesis 17:7 (v3) I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to…
- Genesis 17:21 (v3) But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.”
- Psalms 105:8-10 (v3) He has remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations, the covenant which he made with Abraham, his…
- Jeremiah 32:38-40 (v3) Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their…
- Matthew 13:17 (v3) For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to…
- Galatians 3:17-21 (v3) Now I say this: A covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ, the law, which came four hundred thirty years after, does not annul, so…
- Hebrews 8:8-9 (v3) For finding fault with them, he said, “Behold, the days come”, says the Lord, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv3–4 Some read, God made not this covenant, that is,…
Some read, God made not this covenant, that is, in such ample forth and with such signs and wonders.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–4 Deu 5:2 The LORD our God made a covenant…
Deu 5:2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
Ver. 2. God made a covenant with us.] We also have the covenant, the seals, minister, &c. But, alas, are not these blessings amongst us, as the ark was among the Philistines, rather as prisoners than as privileges, rather in testimonium et ruinam quam salutem?
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv3–4 With our fathers; either,
With our fathers; either,
1. Not only with them, the word only being here understood, as it is Gen 32:28; 35:10; 1Sa 8:7; Jer 7:19; 31:34; Mat 9:13. Or,
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2. Not at all with them. But then the word covenant is not here to be taken for the covenant of grace in general, for so it was made with their fathers, Exo 2:24, but for this particular and mixed dispensation of the covenant at Sinai, as appears both by the foregoing and following words.
All of us here alive this day: he saith not, that all who made that covenant at Sinai are now alive, for many of them were dead, but that this covenant was made with all that are now alive, which is most true, for it was made with the elder sort of them in their own persons, and with the rest in their parents, who did covenant for them; for this phrase,
with us, is put exclusively as to their fathers, but not as to their posterity, as is evident from the nature of the covenant, Act 2:39, and course of the story.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–4 The Lord our God made a covenant with us…
The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Which is Sinai, as Aben Ezra observes; it being the same mountain, only it had two tops, which bore these different names; for certain it is that the decalogue after repeated was given at Sinai, and had the nature and form of a covenant; see Exo 24:7.
.
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Deuteronomy 5:3
deu 5:3
deu 5:3
deu 5:3The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers,.... That is, not with them only, as Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Abendana remark; for certain it is that this covenant was made, or law was given, to the immediate fathers of this present generation of Israelites, whose carcasses had fallen in the wilderness; unless this is to be understood of their more remote ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with whom the covenant of grace was made, or afresh made manifest, especially with the former; when the law, the covenant here spoken of, was not delivered until four hundred and thirty years after, Gal 3:16,
but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day; many of them were then present at the giving of the law, and though under twenty years of age, could remember it, and the circumstances of it; and besides, they were the same people to whom it was given, though not consisting wholly of the same individuals.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv3–4 Not with our fathers - Only: but with us,…
Not with our fathers - Only: but with us, who are all alive - He saith not, that all who made the covenant at Sinai are now alive, but this covenant was made with all that are now alive; which is most true, for it was made with the elders in their persons, and with the rest in their parents, who covenanted for them.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v3 Verse 3. The Lord made not this covenant with…
Verse 3. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers (only) but with us (also.)
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv3–4 Deu 5:3. The Lord made not this covenant with…
Deu 5:3. The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers — That is, with our remote progenitors, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but with us, their descendants: or if it be understood as spoken of their immediate parents, it means, according to the Hebrew idiom, Not with our fathers only, but with us also, as Gen 32:28, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel; that is, not only Jacob, but Israel, or Israel preferably to Jacob. Moses might truly say, God made this covenant with them then present before him; for a great part of them, even all who were under twenty years of age, when God gave the law on mount Sinai, were at Horeb; and, as God foreknew that their parents would die in the wilderness for their unbelief and murmuring, and would have comparatively little profit from that covenant, he especially intended it for those who should enter Canaan, and who, with their posterity, should be governed and benefited by it from generation to generation.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v3 The “fathers” are, as in Deu 4:37, the patriarchs,…
The “fathers” are, as in Deu 4:37, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. With them God did indeed make a covenant, but not the particular covenant now in question. The responsibilites of this later covenant, made at Sinai by the nation as a nation, attached in their day and generation to those whom Moses was addressing.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv3–4 Fathers, the ancient patriarchs, who were not favoured in…
Fathers, the ancient patriarchs, who were not favoured in such a signal manner. (Menochius) --- Though many of those who had heard the words of God at Horeb, were dead, and had not enjoyed the full benefit of the covenant, some still remained, and the children of the deceased were about to enter the land which had been there promised. (Haydock) --- God did not make a covenant with the Patriarchs only, but also with their posterity at Horeb. (Du Hamel)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3–4 The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers,…
The Lord made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us--The meaning is, "not with our fathers" only, "but with us" also, assuming it to be "a covenant" of grace. It may mean "not with our fathers" at all, if the reference is to the peculiar establishment of the covenant of Sinai; a law was not given to them as to us, nor was the covenant ratified in the same public manner and by the same solemn sanctions. Or, finally, the meaning may be "not with our fathers" who died in the wilderness, in consequence of their rebellion, and to whom God did not give the rewards promised only to the faithful; but "with us," who alone, strictly speaking, shall enjoy the benefits of this covenant by entering on the possession of the promised land.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv2–4 2. The Lord… made a covenant with us —…
2. The Lord… made a covenant with us — It was to be impressed upon the Israelites that Jehovah their God had made a covenant with them. And here, just on the boundary line of the land promised to the seed of Abraham, they are to go back in thought to Sinai, with its awful splendour.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–4 2. covenant] See Deu_4:13.
2. covenant] See Deu_4:13.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–4 (2) The Lord our God made a covenant with…
(2) The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.—It must never be forgotten that the Law is a covenant in its very form. (See Note on Deu_5:6.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv2, 4 Vers. 2, 3. Not with our fathers, the patriarchs…
Vers. 2, 3. Not with our fathers, the patriarchs (cf. Deu_4:37) The covenant to which Moses refers is not that made with Abraham, but that made at Sinai, with Israel as a people; and though the individuals who were then present had all perished with the exception of Moses, Joshua, and Caleb, the nation survived, and as it was with the nation as an organic whole that the covenant had been made. it might be with propriety said that it was made with those whom Moses addressed at this time, inasmuch as they constituted the nation.
Vers. 2, 3. The covenant at Horeb.
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Here spoken of as distinct from the older covenant made with the patriarchs. (Gen_15:17)
I ITS RELATIONS TO THE COVENANT MADE WITH THE FATHERS, It was not a new thing absolutely. It rested on that older covenant, and on the series of revelations which sprang out of it. It could not disannul that older covenant. (Gal_3:17) It could not run counter to it. (Gal_3:21) It must, though "superadded," be in subserviency to it. (Gal_3:15-26) But that covenant made with the fathers was:
1. Of promise. (Gal_3:18)
2. Couched in absolute terms. God pledged his perfections that the promise conveyed in it would be ultimately realized. (Rom_3:3)
3. In which an interest was obtained by faith (Gen_15:6; Rom_4:3-23)
4. While yet it bound the person received into covenant to a holy life. (Gen_17:1) The new covenant could "make void" the older one in none of these particulars.
II ITS DISTINCTION FROM THE COVENANT MADE WITH THE FATHERS.
1. It was a national covenant, having reference primarily to national existence and prosperity.
2. It was a covenant of Law. It was
1. connected with a promulgation of Law, and
2. required obedience to the prescribed Law as the condition of acceptance.
Does this look like a retrograde step in the Divine procedure, a contradiction of the covenant with Abraham? Seemingly it was so, but the backward step was really a forward one, bringing to light demands of the Divine holiness which it was absolutely essential man should become acquainted with. Two points have to be noticed:
(a) that obedience was not made the ground of admission to the covenant, or aught else than the condition of continuance in privileges freely conferred; and
(b) that the requirement of obedience did not stand alone, but was connected with provisions for the removal of the guilt contracted by transgression and shortcoming. This brings into view the peculiar feature in the covenant of Horeb the hidden grace of it. In form and letter it was a strictly legal covenant. Obedience to the Law in all its parts, and without failure, was the technical condition of the fulfillment of promise, and of continuance in covenant privilege. (cf. Mat_19:17; Gal_3:10) The fact that atonements were provided to remove the guilt which otherwise would have broken up the covenant, is proof that such was its constitution. The same fact shows that in the structure of the covenant it was recognized that sin and shortcoming would mark the history of Israel; that, on the strictly legal basis, standing in the state of acceptance was impossible. A theoretically perfect obedience no Jew ever rendered. His standing in no case was in virtue of a perfectly fulfilled Law, but was due to forgiving mercy, which daily pardoned his shortcomings, and gave him an acceptance which these shortcomings were as constantly forfeiting. It was faith, not works, which justified him; while yet, in harmony with the unalterable law of moral life, it was his duty to aim at the realization of the ideal of righteousness which the Law presented. Just as with Abraham, the faith which justified him, and did so before a single work had issued from it (Gen_15:6; Jam_2:23) was a faith which "wrought with works," and "by works was faith made perfect". (Jam_2:22) It follows from these peculiarities, and from thestatements of Scripture, that it was:
3. A preparatory and temporary covenant. Its leading design was to develop the consciousness of sin, to awaken a feeling of the need of redemption, to evince the powerlessness of mere Law as a source of moral strength, to drive men back from legal efforts to faith, and so, finally, to prepare the way for Christ (Rom_3:20; Gal_3:23, Gal_3:24, etc.) In this we discern the reason of the severe and threatening form in which it was couched, and of the terrors which attended its promulgation. It was a covenant which could not of itself save or do aught but kill. J.O. (2Co_3:6-12)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v4 General Information:
General Information:
Moses continues speaking to the people of Israel.
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face to face
Use your language's idiom for two people who are close to each other and looking at each other when they are speaking to each other. (See: Idiom)
on the mount
"on the mountain"
at that time
Moses is referring to an event that happened about 40 years earlier.
out of the house of slavery
Here the metonym "house of slavery" refers to Egypt where the people of Israel had been slaves. AT: "out of the place where you were slaves" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
Yahweh
face
fire
reveal
word
fear
Egypt
house
servant
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.