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Deuteronomy 10

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1 At that time Jehovah said to me, Carve·​·out for thee two tablets of stone like the first, and come·​·up to Me in the mountain, and make thee an ark of wood.

2 And I will write on the tablets the Words that were on the first tablets which thou didst break, and thou shalt set them in the ark.

3 And I made an ark of shittim* wood, and carved·​·out two tablets of stone like the first, and went·​·up to the mountain, and the two tablets were in my hand.

4 And He wrote on the tablets, according·​·to the first writing, the Ten Words*, which Jehovah spoke to you in the mountain out·​·of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly; and Jehovah gave them to me.

5 And I turned and came·​·down from the mountain, and set the tablets in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as Jehovah commanded me.

6 And the sons of Israel journeyed from Beeroth of the sons of Jaakan to Moserah; there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son was·​·a·​·priest in his stead.

7 From thence they journeyed to Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of brooks of waters.

8 At that time Jehovah distinguished the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, to stand before Jehovah to minister to Him, and to bless in His name, even·​·to this day.

9 Therefore Levi has no part nor inheritance with his brothers; Jehovah is his inheritance, according as Jehovah thy God spoke to him.

10 And I stood in the mountain, as in the first days, forty days and forty nights; and Jehovah hearkened to me at that time also, and Jehovah was· not ·willing to destroy thee.

11 And Jehovah said to me, Arise, go to journey before the people, that they may go·​·in and possess the land, which I promised to their fathers to give to them.

12 And now, Israel, what does Jehovah thy God ask from thee, but to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

13 to keep the commandments of Jehovah, and His statutes, which I command thee today for thy good?

14 Behold, the heavens and the heavens of heavens are Jehovah’s thy God, the earth also, with all that is in it.

15 Only Jehovah delighted in thy fathers to love them, and He chose their seed after them, even you above all the peoples, as it is this day.

16 And circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and let your neck be hardened no more.

17 For Jehovah your God, He is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the great God, the Hero, and the Fearsome, who accepts not faces*, nor takes a bribe;

18 He makes judgment for the orphan and widow, and loves the sojourner, to give him bread and raiment.

19 And love ye the sojourner; for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

20 Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God; Him thou shalt serve, and to Him thou shalt stick, and promise by His name.

21 He is thy praise, and He is thy God, who has done for thee these great and fearsome things, which thine eyes have seen.

22 Thy fathers went·​·down into Egypt with seventy souls; and now Jehovah thy God has set thee as the stars of the heavens for multitude.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Ten

  

In most places in the Word, "ten" represents "all," or in some cases "many" or "much." The Ten Commandments represent all the guidance we get from the Lord in life; the ten horns on the beast of Revelation represent all power of falsity; the ten virgins with lamps in Matthew 25 represent all people of the church.

Yet in other places, ten, or especially a "tenth," signifies representing remnants, or tiny scraps of goodness preserved for the future. These can be the remnants of a church -- a few good people that can be built up into a new church. Or they can be tiny subconscious memories of love and joy which the Lord stores in each of us in early childhood, feelings He can use later to draw us toward a life of goodness and affection.

These two meanings seem nearly opposite, but they're actually not. Love is whole and indivisible, so that the tiniest feeling buried inside someone contains all the elements of the love it can become. In a similar way, a remnant of a church that has preserved that church's knowledge has everything it needs to grow into a new church. In a sense, then, those remnants are indeed "all," they're just a version of "all" that is still in a state of potential.