its habitation. However, God will release me[1] from the grasp of death, for he will receive me. So fear not when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases; for he will take nothing with him when he dies; his wealth will not follow him below. Though while he lives he flatters himself [saying]: “Men acclaim you when you do well for yourself,” he will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light. The man who lives in splendor and understands not is like the beasts that perish.
Mourners’ Kaddish.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS[2]
Exodus 20:1-17
God spoke all these words, saying:
1. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
2. You shall have no other gods beside me. You shall not make for yourself any idols in the shape of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth below, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing children for the sins of their fathers, down to the third or fourth generation of those who hate me,[3] but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
3. You shall not utter the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who utters his name in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work; but on the seventh day, which is a day of rest in honor of the Lord your God, you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your cattle, nor the stranger who is
- ↑ אך... יפדה נפשי The psalmist is confident that God will deliver him from the premature death of the wicked and will receive him under his divine protection.
- ↑ עשרת הדברות, the Ten Commandments, were recited in the Temple daily before the Shema. On account of the heretics, however, who asserted that only the Ten Commandments were divinely given, this custom was abolished outside Palestine (Berakhoth 12a).
- ↑ לשונאי... The penalty of man’s sins will be shared by his immediate descendants only if they too hate the ways of God; but the benefits of a man’s good deeds will extend indefinitely.
