Deuteronomy 5 — Dead Sea Scrolls
5 attestation entries • 2 variants • 4QDeut family
Manuscript Overview
Summary
Deuteronomy 5 contains the Decalogue. 4QDeutⁿ ('All Souls Deut'), a phylactery- or mezuzah-like manuscript copied c. 50 BCE, presents an extraordinary harmonized text combining Deuteronomy 5 with Exodus 20 and other passages. 4QDeutʲ also harmonizes the Sabbath commandment, blending the Deuteronomic socio-historical rationale (Egypt deliverance) with the Exodus creation rationale (six days). The harmonization is one of the most theologically significant DSS-vs-MT divergences in the Pentateuch.
Notable Variants
MAJOR VARIANT: 4QDeutⁿ harmonizes the Sabbath commandment by combining Deuteronomy's exodus-deliverance rationale (Deut 5:14–15) with Exodus 20:11's creation-week rationale, producing a longer text not found in MT or in the LXX of Deuteronomy. 4QDeutⁿ also presents a different ordering of certain passages (placing Deut 5 before Deut 6:4–9, then transitioning into other Decalogue-adjacent material). This testifies to scribal harmonization activity in late Second Temple Judaism but is generally regarded as a liturgical/devotional anthology rather than a manuscript witness to an alternative Hebrew Vorlage.
Manuscripts
4QDeutⁿ (4Q41, 'All Souls Deut'), 4QDeutʲ (4Q37), 4QDeutᵏ¹ (4Q38), 4QDeutᵒ (4Q42), 8QPhylactery (8Q3), various phylactery texts
Scroll Condition
4QDeutⁿ is well preserved as a small papyrus-like sheet. Multiple readings have been published in DJD XIV.
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
The opening identification ('I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt') is preserved in multiple manuscripts; tracks MT.
4QDeutⁿ; 4QDeutʲ
Guard the Sabbath day and keep it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you.
Masoretic (WLC)
שָׁמוֹר אֶת־יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת לְקַדְּשׁוֹ כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוְּךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ
Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you
Dead Sea Scroll
שמור [וזכור] את יום השבת לקדשו
Observe [and remember] the Sabbath day, to keep it holy
Some Qumran witnesses harmonize Deuteronomy's שָׁמוֹר ('observe') with Exodus 20:8's זָכוֹר ('remember') by attesting both verbs. This harmonization later appears in rabbinic tradition (b. Shevu'ot 20b: 'Remember and observe were spoken in a single utterance'). The MT preserves the Deuteronomic form alone.
4QDeutⁿ frag. 1; 4QDeutʲ
Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
Masoretic (WLC)
וְזָכַרְתָּ כִּי־עֶבֶד הָיִיתָ בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם וַיֹּצִאֲךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ מִשָּׁם בְּיָד חֲזָקָה וּבִזְרֹעַ נְטוּיָה עַל־כֵּן צִוְּךָ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת־יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת
Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt … therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day
Dead Sea Scroll
[+ כי ששת ימים עשה יהוה את השמים ואת הארץ ...] על כן ברך יהוה את יום השבת ויקדשהו
[harmonized to add the Exodus 20:11 creation rationale]: …for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth … therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy
MAJOR HARMONIZATION. 4QDeutⁿ supplements Deuteronomy's exodus-deliverance Sabbath rationale with Exodus 20:11's creation rationale, producing a hybrid text not preserved in any other tradition (MT or LXX of Deuteronomy). This reflects late-Second-Temple scribal harmonization activity, likely for liturgical/devotional use, and is the most theologically significant DSS variant in Deuteronomy 5. The combined rationale anticipates rabbinic tradition that both motifs were spoken simultaneously (Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael; b. Shevu'ot 20b).
4QDeutⁿ frag. 1
and you said, 'Look — the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. Today we have seen that God speaks with a human being, and that person lives!
The tenth commandment ('You shall not covet your neighbor's wife') is preserved verbatim; tracks MT.
4QDeutⁿ; 4QDeutʲ
But you — stand here beside Me, and I will speak to you the entire commandment, the statutes and the ordinances that you shall teach them, so that they may carry them out in the land I am giving them to possess.
The people's plea ('Go near and hear all that the LORD our God will say') is preserved; tracks MT.
4QDeutʲ frag.