58. In the second tablet, the one for man, we are not told that a person must do this or that good. Instead we are told that he must not do this or that evil. So we are commanded, “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet.” That is because no person can do any good of himself. But when he does not do evil, he then does good, not of himself, but from the Lord.

A person can, by the Lord’s power, refrain from evils as though of himself, if he implores that power, as we shall later see.