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Deuteronomy 10

Deuteronomy book home•Chapter 10 of 34•22 verses

Chapter overviewAt a glance + deeper study

REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Deuteronomy 10 Overview

Moses recounts receiving the second tables of stone and placing them in the ark, then notes the setting apart of Levi for priestly service. He turns from history to appeal: what does the LORD require of Israel? Fear him, walk in his ways, love him, serve him, and keep his commandments. Israel is also commanded to care for the stranger because the LORD executes judgment for the fatherless and widow and loves the stranger.

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Before you read Deuteronomy 10

Coming from

Chapter 9 recalled Israel’s golden-calf rebellion and Moses’ intercession, proving that the land is not a reward for Israel’s righteousness.

In this chapter

The broken tablets are replaced, covenant instruction continues, Levi’s role is remembered, and Israel is called to wholehearted covenant loyalty expressed in just conduct.

Leads into

Chapter 11 develops the call to love and obey by setting before Israel the land’s blessings, the danger of idolatry, and the choice between blessing and curse.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The second tablets show covenant renewal after severe failure; Israel is not simply abandoned at Horeb. 'Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart' uses physical covenant language to demand inward responsiveness rather than stubbornness. The appeal to treat strangers justly is rooted in both God’s character and Israel’s own history as strangers in Egypt.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

God’s covenant claims concern the heart as well as outward observance.

Truth 2

The LORD’s greatness is joined to impartial justice and care for the vulnerable.

Truth 3

Israel’s own experience as strangers should shape how it treats strangers.

Truth 4

Grace after the golden calf does not remove the call to fear, love, serve, and obey God.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Exodus 34 records the replacement tablets and renewal after the golden calf.

Connection 2

Leviticus and Numbers explain Levi’s priestly and tabernacle responsibilities in greater detail.

Connection 3

Romans 2:28–29 later uses circumcision language to distinguish merely outward identity from inward reality, though its argument is not identical to Deuteronomy 10’s covenant exhortation.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

The command to 'circumcise your heart' is figurative covenant language; do not turn it into a separate saving ritual.

Keep this clear 2

The chapter’s call to obedience follows God’s mercy and covenant renewal; it is not presented as a way to earn the exodus redemption already received.

Keep this clear 3

God’s special covenant with Israel does not imply that he is unjust to outsiders; the chapter explicitly stresses his impartiality and love for the stranger.

Read Deuteronomy 10 watching for…

The replacement of the tablets after Israel’s rebellion.

Why the ark and Levi are mentioned in the transition.

The sequence of fear, walk, love, serve, and obey.

The command to circumcise the heart.

How God’s treatment of the fatherless, widow, and stranger becomes Israel’s ethical model.

Chapter outline2 sections

1-11Moses recalls the second tables, the ark, and the Levites 12-22Israel is called to fear, love, and serve the LORD

At that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.

And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.

And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.

And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me.

And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me.

And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest's office in his stead.

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

At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.

Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance, according as the LORD thy God promised him.

And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also, and the LORD would not destroy thee.

And the LORD said unto me, Arise, take thy journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.

And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD's thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.

Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:

He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.

Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.

He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.

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Deuteronomy 10:11

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