Deuteronomy 4:13
And he shewed you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, and the ten words that he wrote in two tables of stone.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et ostendit vobis pactum suum, quod præcepit ut faceretis, et decem verba, quæ scripsit in duabus tabulis lapideis.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ἀνήγγειλεν ὑμῖν τὴν διαθήκην αὐτοῦ ἣν ἐνετείλατο ὑμῖν ποιεῖν, τὰ δέκα ῥήματα, καὶ ἔγραψεν αὐτὰ ἐπὶ δύο πλάκας λιθίνας.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיַּגֵּ֨ד לָכֶ֜ם אֶת בְּרִית֗וֹ אֲשֶׁ֨ר צִוָּ֤ה אֶתְכֶם֙ לַעֲשׂ֔וֹת עֲשֶׂ֖רֶת הַדְּבָרִ֑ים וַֽיִּכְתְּבֵ֔ם עַל שְׁנֵ֖י לֻח֥וֹת אֲבָנִֽים
Haydock's commentary
Stone. Josephus (Antiquities iii. 4, 6,) says, that each table contained five precepts, two and a half being inscribed on one side. The Jews now suppose that four appeared on one table, and six on the other. But each table probably contained an entire copy of the law. (Calmet)
It hence appears, that there are just ten precepts. (Worthington)
But the manner of dividing them is rather uncertain. St. Augustine and Catholics in general, place the three commandments, which regard God, by themselves. See Exodus xx. 1. Their greater importance and length would require as much space as the other seven, which ascertain the mutual duties of people to each other. (Haydock)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine Expositions on the Book of Psalms, Psalm L
9. But what the Lord did after His resurrection, signified what is to be to us after our resurrection, in that number of the kingdom of heaven, where shall be no bad man.…Lastly, those seven thousand of whom reply was made to Elias, “I have left me seven thousand men that have not bowed knees before Baal,” far exceed that number of fishes. Therefore the hundred and fifty-three fishes doth not alone express just such a number of saints, but Scripture doth express the whole number of saints and righteous men by so great a number for a particular reason; to wit, in order that in those hundred and fifty-three all may be understood that pertain to the resurrection to eternal life. For the Law hath ten commandments: but the Spirit of Grace, through which alone the Law is fulfilled, is called sevenfold. …