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I will give thee the two tables of * ואתנה לך את לחת האבן והתורה והמצוה אשר כתבתי להורתם •

stone, the law, and the precepts,

which I have written, and which thou shalt teach them."

"The tables of stone"-say our wise men-" mean the decalogue; the law-the pentateuch; the commandments— the Mishna; which I have written the prophets and hagiography; which thou shalt teach them—through an oral tradition. All this was taught and delivered to Moses on the Mount Sinai."

CHAPTER VI.

OF THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.

63. Recite the ten commandments, which we heard proclaimed from Mount Sinai.

,I am the Eternal thy God אנכי ה' אלהיך אשר הוצאתיך

מארץ מצרים מבית עבדים •

who have conducted thee

out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.

before me. Thou shalt

Thou shalt have no other gods לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים על פני לא תעשה לך פסל וכל תמונה אשר בשמים ממעל ואשר בארץ מתחת ואשר במים מתחת לארץ לא תשתחוה להם ולא תעבדם כי אנכי ה' אלהיך אל קנא פקד עון אבת על בנים על שלשים ועל רבעים לשנאי ועשה חסד לאלפים

לאהבי ולשמרי מצותי:

make thyself no image, nor
any likeness of aught in
heaven above, or on earth
below, or in the waters be-
neath the earth. Thou
shalt not bow down to

them, nor worship them ; for I, the Eternal thy God, am a watchful* God, who am visiting the sins of the fathers on the children, on the third generation and fourth generation, of those who hate me ; but am doing mercy unto the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Thou shalt not bear the לא תשא את שם ה' אלהיך לשוא כי לא את אשר ישא את שמו לשוא •

ינקה ה'

name of the Eternal thy God in vain, (not use it without necessity, nor at an untruth) for the Eternal will not suffer him to remain unpunished, who beareth his name in vain.

* The word

originally from the word) קנא קן

to hatch or brood) signifies

properly speaking, a determined will and purpose, to do and execute something with zeal, diligence, and activity.

day to keep it holy.

-Remember the Sabbath זכור את יום השבת לקדשו ששת ימים תעבר

ועשית כל מלאכתך ויום השביעי שבת לה' אלהיך לא תעשה כל מלאכה אתה ובנך ובתך עבדך ואמתך ובהמתך וגרך אשר בשעריך כי ששת ימים עשה ה' את השמים ואת הארץ את הים ואת כל אשר בם וינח ביום השביעי על כן ברך ה' את יום השבת ויקדשהו •

Six days thou mayst
labour and do all thy
work; but the seventh

is a day of rest in
honour of the Eternal
of work, neither thy-

thy God; then thou shalt not do any manner
self, nor thy son, thy daughter, thy man and thy maid-servant, not
even thy cattle, and the stranger who is within thy gates. For in
six days did the Eternal make heaven and earth, the sea and all that
is in them, and refrained from work on the seventh day; therefore
did the Eternal bless the Sabbath-day, and declare it holy.

Honour thy father and thy כבד את אביך ואת אמך למען יארכון ימיך mother, that thy days may על האדמה אשר ה' אלהיך נתן לך:

be long upon the land, which the Eternal thy God giveth thee.

.Thou shalt not commit murder לא תרצח •
.Thou shalt not commit adultery לא תנאף •
.Thou shalt not steal לא תגנב •

Thou shalt not answer as a false witness against לא תענה ברעך עד

שקרי

.Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house לא תחמד בית רעך לא

תחמד אשת רעך ועבדו

ואמתו ושורו וחמרו וכל אשר לרעך.

which belongs to thy

thy neighbour.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing else, neighbour.

64. How are the ten commandments usually divided?

They are commonly divided in two principal classes; namely, the five first treat of such duties, as we owe to God; and the five last of those, we have to observe towards our fellow

men.

65. What authorises us to make such a division?

Both the intent and the form of these commandments: as in the five last the name of God is not mentioned, and then again they were thus written upon the two tables of the covenant.

66. But why is the fifth commandment," honour thy parents," also reckon ed among the duties of the first class?

Because the man, who has no respect for his parents-and loves not sincerely his father and mother, the visible authors of his being on earth, and is ungrateful enough, to forget all the benefits which they confer upon their child, with so many sacrifices and so much trouble-such a one can also to a certainty neither honour nor love his heavenly Father and invisible Creator.

We therefore find (Deut. 27 ch.) the curse against the disobedient child recorded after the one denounced against the idolater.

Cursed be he, who despises his father and * ארור מקלה אביו ואמו

mother."

67. But why says the first commandment," who have brought thee out from the land of Egypt," and not rather, "who have created the whole world, and all that is therein;" since the creation is certainly a much more wonderful event, than the redemption from Egypt?

Because the miracle of the creation would not have made so deep an impression upon many, as those wonders which they themselves had experienced but so recently. It was also intended to indicate, by this expression of the Deity, that we Israelites alone are bound to observe the revealed laws; and this, from peculiar motives of gratitude for the redemption

from Egyptian slavery, which happened to us only. Even that part of the Decalogue, which speaks of the Sabbath-and in which we are here reminded of the history of the creationsays in another place: (Deut. 5 ch. 15. v.)

וזכרת כי עבד היית בארץ מצרים ה' אלהיך לעשות את יום השבת •

- על כן צוך

"And thou must re

member, that thou wert a slave in the land of Egypt-therefore commands thee the Eternal, thy God, to observe the Sabbath-day."

68. What lesson ought we to draw from this?

Never to undertake to persuade persons, belonging to any other people whatsoever, to accept of our faith. Much less dare we hate or despise others, because they live not according to those laws, which were never prescribed to them. For all other nations are only obliged to observe the laws of nature and the seven precepts of the children of Noah; but

The law, which Moses » תורה צוה לנו משה מורשה קהלת יעקב

commanded us, is the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.” (Deut. 33 ch. 4 v.)

69. Which are the Noachite precepts, through the observance of which men of all nations can attain felicity?

The following, and they are those, which were entrusted to Noah immediately after the flood, to be observed by him and all his descendants.

1 To abstain from idolatry.

2. Not to utter any blasphemy.

3. Not to wound nor to kill his fellow-man.

4. Not to steal nor commit fraud.

5. To exercise justice.

6. Not to commit adultery, nor be guilty of incest; and

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