The Original 10 Words

The First Find of the Dead Sea Scrolls – Proto-Deuteronomy – first widely Revealed by Moses Shapiro in 1883 1
The Scroll That Moshéh Wrote (this is a portion of it)
 The Ten Words or Commands;
Given in 1st person with the personal
refrain after each Word —
Anok Elohíym, Elohéyka.
(I am Elohíym, your Elohíym) (2)		Blessings   
Facing Mount Gerizim, the Levites will call out in a loud voice and the people will call out: Amein!		Curses   
Facing Mount Ebal,
the Levites will call out
in a loud voice and the
people will call out:
Amein!
1Anok Elohíym, Elohéyka,
who freed you from the land of Mitsraím, from the house of slaves. You will not have any other elohíym: You will not make a carving or any image that is in the heavens above or upon the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth—you will not prostrate yourselves before them, and you will not serve them.
Anok Elohíym, Elohéyka.		Blessed is the man who loves Elohíym, his Elohiym, and prostates himself to Him alone and serves Him alone.
Amein!		Cursed is the man who
makes a carved thing or
a molten thing, the work
of a sculptor’s hands.
Amein!
2Sanctify the seventh day and rest on it. For in six days, I made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and I rested on the seventh day. Therefore, you too will rest, along with your live-stock and all that you have.  
Anok Elohíym, Elohéyka.		Blessed is the man who sanctifies the seventh day and rests thereon.   Amein!Cursed is the man
who does work on the seventh day to profane it.   Amein!
3Honor your father and your mother.
Anok Elohíym, Elohéyka.		Blessed is the man who honors his father and his mother. Amein!Cursed is the one who
disgraces his father and
his mother.    Amein!
4You will not slay the soul
of your brother.
Anok Elohíym, Elohéyka.		Blessed is the man who does not avenge or exact retribution and does not hold a grudge against the soul of his brother.   Amein!Cursed is one who strikes
his neighbor in secret.   
Amein!
5You will not adulterize with
the woman of your fellow.   
Anok Elohíym, Elohéyka.		Blessed is the man who does not defile his neighbor’s woman.
Amein!		Cursed is the man who draws near to any of his kin, or who commits adultery with his neighbor’s woman, or who lies with any animal. Amein!
6You will not steal the wealth
of your brother.
Anok Elohíym, Elohéyka.		Blessed is the man who does not cheat his neighbor.   Amein!Cursed is one who moves his neighbor’s land marker.   Amein!
7You will not swear in my name
falsely (to deceive), for I will avenge the transgression of fathers against sons and grandsons, for those who bear my name falsely.
Anok Elohíym, Elohéyka.		Blessed is the man who does not swear in My Name falsely
(to deceive).   Amein!		Cursed is the man who
swears by My Name falsely
(to deceive).   Amein!
8You will not give a false judgment
against your fellow. 
Anok Elohíym, Elohéyka.		Blessed is the man who does not deceive or lie to his neighbor.  Amein!Cursed is one who takes a
bribe to give false judgment against his associate.  Amein!
9You will not covet the woman of
your fellow, his servant, his
servantess, or anything that is his.
Anok Elohíym, Elohéyka.		Blessed is the man who does not lust after anything belonging to his neighbor.  
Amein!		Cursed is the man who lifts desires and lusts after his neighbor’s woman, his daughter, his servantess, or anything that is his.   Amein!
10You will not hate your brother
in your heart.
Anok Elohíym, Elohéyka.		Blessed is the man who loves his neighbor.  
Amein!		Cursed is the man who hates his brother in his heart. 
Amein!
 (Mosheh said)
It is these ten words that Elohiym
spoke to you upon the mountain
from amid the fire…		Blessed is the man who establishes all the words of this Teaching to do them.   Amein!Cursed is the man who does not establish all the words of this Teaching to do them.   Amein!
  ConsequencesThe Blessings
are then listed.		The Curses
are then listed.

How Does This Fit

How does this fit into the Bible’s construction, specifically the Pentateuch or five books of Mosheh? See, my articles: The Scriptures and The Everlasting Covenant, and, The Documentary & Supplementary Hypothesis’.

  1. I first read The Valediction of Moses by Idan Dershowitz in March of 2021, embraced it as true, and incorporated its’ Ten Words into my prayer book. Shortly after, a month or two, I saw that Ross K. Nichols had written a book, The Moses Scroll, but didn’t investigate his excellent work until recently, February of 2024, as I was immersed in other research. This rendering is adapted from those two works.
    Here is my note in my prayer book after embracing this proto-Deuteronomy:

    “This version of the decalogue is a portion of a proto-Deuteronomy document that was obtained in approximately 1868 by Shapira—once accused of fraud but now seriously re-considered as an early Qumran discovery. It is possible that this is a copy of the proto-Deuteronomy that Mosheh gave to Israel. But that proto-Deuteronomy was augmented and redacted during Hezekiah’s and Josiah’s reign. The resultant redacted-Deuteronomy is part of the redaction and reorganization into a Pentateuch (5-Book Torah) as we have known it since then. Obviously, this was copied in a time of avoiding the public use of the name of Yahwéh.” “I am Elohíym Elohéyḳa…”

    In the Moses Scroll it reads,
    “And Elohim commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and DC4 judgments to do them in the land that
    you are crossing there to possess it. • Guard yourselves.” (translation by, Ross K. Nichols, The Moses Scroll)

    This may refer to other original statutes and judgments given by Moses beyond the “10 Words” during the 40-year wilderness journeys that are now contained in the Deuteronomic Code of Chapters 12 – 26 and other places in the Pentateuch. This Deuteronomic Code is not present in the Moses Scroll. “The Deuteronomic Code, found in Deuteronomy, chapters 12–26, is a reinterpretation or revision of Israelite law, based on historical conditions as interpreted by the 7th-century-bc historians known as the Deuteronomists.” https://www.britannica.com/topic/Deuteronomic-Code ; accessed 5/17/2024.
    One of its edited-inserted themes is the centralization of Israelite worship and priesthood into one place (Jerusalem). ↩︎
  2. The name YHWH (Yahwéh) is not used by this scribe. Rather than being an “Elohist” document, the text was likely copied in the time when they had begun to take measures to protect the name YHWH from defilement by writing a substitute name, in this case, Elohíym. Orthodox Jews to this day, substitute Adonai and Elohiym for Yahweh. Originally, it would have been spoken: “I am Yahwéh, your Elohíym”. Written in Hebrew, the default gender is masculine but is understood that it can include the feminine gender within it. As in, “Beney-Israel”, meaning, “the sons of Israel”. Translators translate it as “the children of Israel” because it is understood to include the daughters. The term Father is interdependent and assumes a Mother, Sons and Daughters. You cannot have one without the other. Thus it is with Elohiym: He-She is the All in One Parent, The Father-Mother {Father-El + Mother-Elah = Eloah & Elohiym = 1 not 2 and yet 2 in 1]. ↩︎
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