8859. Exodus 20

1. And God spoke all these words, saying,

2. I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves.

3. You shall not have other gods before My face.

4. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness [of things] which are in the heavens above, and which are on the earth beneath, and which are in the waters under the earth.

5. You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them; for I am Jehovah your God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, ¹ on the third and on the fourth [generations] of those who hate Me,

6. And showing mercy to thousands who love Me and keep My commandments.

7. You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain; for Jehovah will not render him innocent who takes His name in vain.

8. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9. Six days you shall labour and do all your work;

10. And the seventh day is a sabbath to Jehovah your God. You shall not do any work - you, nor your son, nor your daughter; your male slave, nor your female slave, nor your beast, nor your sojourner who is within your gates.

11. For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and sanctified it.

12. Honour your father and your mother, in order that your days may be prolonged on the land which Jehovah your God gives you.

13. ² You shall not kill.

14. You shall not commit adultery.

15. You shall not steal.

16. You shall not answer as witness of a lie against your neighbour.

17. You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, nor his male slave nor his female slave, nor his ox nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbour's.

18. And all the people saw the voices and torches, ³ and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and the people saw and were violently shaken, and stood afar off.

19. And they said to Moses, Speak yourself to us, and we will hear; and do not let God speak to us, lest perhaps we die.

20. And Moses said to the people, Do not fear, for God has come in order to test you, and in order that His fear may be before your faces, so that you do not sin.

21. And the people stood afar off; and Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.

22. And Jehovah said to Moses, Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.

23. You shall not make [to be] with Me gods of silver and gods of gold; you shall not make [them] for yourselves.

24. An altar of soil ⁴ you shall make for Me, and shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your eucharistic offerings, your flocks and your herds; in every place where I shall put the memory of My name I will come to you and bless you.

25. And if you make for Me an altar of stones, you shall not build it with hewn ones; for if you move your chisel over it you will profane it.

26. And you shall not go up to My altar by steps, in order that your nakedness may not be revealed on it.

CONTENTS

This chapter deals in the internal sense with God's truths that are to be implanted in the good which governs those belonging to the Lord's spiritual Church. The Ten Commandments are those truths; and the commandments that follow them in this chapter, regarding sacrifices and the altar, are outward truths concerned with worship.

Footnotes:

8872. 'And which are in the waters under the earth' means which exist on the level of the bodily senses. This is clear from the meaning of 'a likeness of the things which are in the waters under the earth', as those which come below the ones that exist in natural light. The fact that they exist on the level of the bodily senses is evident from the consecutive degrees of the light that shines in a person's understanding. In the first degree with him there are the things which exist in spiritual light; these are meant by 'the things which are in the heavens above'. In the second degree there are the things which exist in natural light; these are meant by 'the things which are on the earth beneath'. And in the third degree there are the things which exist on the level of the bodily senses; these are meant by 'the things which are in the waters under the earth'. What the level of the bodily senses is and the nature of it, see 5084, 5089, 5094, 5125, 5128, 5580, 5767, 6183, 6201, 6310-6316, 6318, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624, 6844, 6845, 6948, 6949, 7442, 7693. The things which come to be known most directly from the experience of the outward senses, and the delights accompanying such knowledge, are connected with the level of the bodily senses. With those who are good that knowledge and associated delights are good because they are used in good deeds; but with those who are bad they are bad because they are used in bad deeds. Misleading by means of such knowledge and its delights, as pretenders, hypocrites, and deceivers are accustomed to do, is 'making a likeness of such things as are below the waters under the earth.'