Deuteronomy 10:5

and I went back down the mountain and placed the tablets in the ark I had made, as the LORD had commanded me; and there they have remained.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Moses speaks to the assembled Israelites on the plains of Moab, recounting his immediate descent from Mount Sinai after receiving the renewed stone tablets. He narrates the moment following God's writing of the Ten Commandments, before the narrative shifts to the tribe's subsequent journey.

The words — The verbs אֵפֶן ('Efen, "I turned") and אֵרֵד ('ered, "I came down") mark the physical descent, while אָשִׂם ('asim, "I put") describes the placement of the לֻחֹת (luchoth, "tablets") into the אָרוֹן ('aron, "ark"). These terms highlight the deliberate, obedient transfer of the covenant text into its designated container.

The thread — This action fulfills the initial command to place the tablets in the ark (Deuteronomy 10:2) and parallels Moses' later installation of the Testimony into the constructed ark (Exodus 40:20). The textual continuity ties Sinai's renewal directly to the tabernacle's assembly and the ark's enduring function.

Why it lands — The verse records a completed act of obedience where the tablets are secured in the ark as commanded, noting only that they remained there. It requires the reader to acknowledge the tangible preservation of the covenant through straightforward execution of divine instruction.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וָאֵ֗פֶןva./'E.fenand/ I turned וָֽאֵרֵד֙va./'e.Redand/ I came down מִן־min-from הָהָ֔רha./Harthe/ mountain וָֽאָשִׂם֙va./'a.Simand/ I put אֶת־'et-<obj.>הַלֻּחֹ֔תha./lu.Chotthe/ tablets בָּאָר֖וֹןba./'a.Ronin the/ ark אֲשֶׁ֣ר'a.Sherwhich עָשִׂ֑יתִי'a.Si.tiI had made וַיִּ֣הְיוּva/i.Yih.yuand/ they have been שָׁ֔םShamthere כַּאֲשֶׁ֥רka./'a.Sherjust/ as צִוַּ֖נִיtzi.Va./nihe commanded/ me יְהוָֽה׃Yah.wehYahweh

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

Exodus 34:29 And when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was unaware that his face had become radiant from speaking with the LORD.
Exodus 40:20 Moses took the Testimony and placed it in the ark, attaching the poles to the ark; and he set the mercy seat atop the ark.
Deuteronomy 10:2 And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke; and you are to place them in the ark.”
Exodus 25:16 And place inside the ark the Testimony, which I will give you.
Exodus 32:15 Then Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.
Deuteronomy 9:15 So I went back down the mountain while it was blazing with fire, with the two tablets of the covenant in my hands.
Joshua 4:9 Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant stood. And the stones are there to this day.
1 Kings 8:8 The poles extended far enough that their ends were visible from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are there to this day.