Ramban, on Exod 20:13

“Thou shalt not kill.”

“THOU SHALT NOT MURDER. THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY. THOU SHALT NOT STEAL. He is stating: “Now I have commanded you to acknowledge in thought and in deed that I am the Creator of all, and to honor parents because they joined [Me] in your formation. If so, guard against destroying the work of My hands and spilling the blood of man, whom I have created to honor Me and acknowledge Me in all these matters.. And do not commit adultery with your fellow-man’s wife, because you will thereby destroy the principle of honoring parents, [causing the children] to deny the truth and acknowledge falsehood. They will not know their fathers and will thus give their honor to another, just as the idol-worshippers do, who say to a block of wood, ‘thou art my father,’ and they do not know their Father who created them out of nothing.” After that, He warned against stealing a human being, for that too brings about a similar [disintegration of values]. With respect to their stringency and penalties, the order of the commandments is as follows: after idolatry comes bloodshed, and after that adultery, and then stealing of a human being and false testimony and robbery; and he who does not covet, will never harm his neighbor. Thus, He completed all obligations that a person owes towards his neighbor. After that, [in the Seder of Mishpatim which follows], He will explain the ordinances in detail, for he who has been found guilty in any suit to pay his neighbor will pay the amount he is so obligated if he does not covet or desire that which is not his. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra wrote [of the commandment, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house… thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, etc.], that Scripture adopted a normal course of life. First, it mentioned the neighbor’s house, for an enlightened person will first acquire a house, and then marry a woman to bring her to his house, and only afterwards will he acquire a manservant or a maidservant. But in the Book of Deuteronomy, it mentions the wife first, because young men desire to marry first [before they acquire a house]. It may be that because the coveting of a neighbor’s wife is the greatest sin of all things mentioned in that verse, [it is listed first]. Thus, of the Ten Commandments, there are five which refer to the glory of the Creator and five are for the welfare of man, for [the fifth commandment], Honor thy father, is for the glory of G-d, since it is for the glory of the Creator that He commanded that one honor one’s father who is a partner in the formation of the child. Five commandments thus remain for the needs and welfare of man. In some commandments, He mentioned their recompense, and in others He did not. Thus, in the second commandment, He mentioned a jealous G-d; in the third, for the Eternal will not hold him guiltless; in the fifth, that thy days may be long. But in the others, He mentioned neither punishment [for transgression], nor reward [for fulfillment]. The reason for this is that the last five commandments deal with the welfare of man, and behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him. But in the case of idolatry, a warning of punishment is needed because of its great stringency, involving as it does the glory of the Creator. It appears to me that His saying a jealous G-d refers to the commandment, Thou shalt have no other gods, and that His saying, And He showeth mercy refers to I am the Eternal, for punishment comes for [transgressing] the negative commandments, and reward for [fulfillment of] the positive commandments. [He did not mention the reward immediately in the first commandment because] the acceptance of the Kingdom of G-d, [as mentioned in the first commandment], and the admonition against the worship of anything besides Him, constitute one subject. Therefore, He first finished that entire matter and then warned the idol-worshipper of punishment, and then He assured reward for he who fulfills the commandments. He warned of punishment in case of a vain oath, the Eternal will not hold him guiltless, but He mentioned no reward [for observing it]. For profaning the Sabbath, He mentioned neither excision nor any other punishment, neither did He mention a reward for him that keepeth the Sabbath from profaning it. This is because it is included in the first two commandments. He who observes the Sabbath testifies to the Creation and acknowledges his belief in the commandment, I am the Eternal, while he who profanes the Sabbath denies the Creation and admits the eternity of the universe, thereby denying the commandment, I am the Eternal. Thus, [the punishment for profaning the Sabbath] is included in: a jealous G-d, visiting the iniquity, while [the reward for he who keeps the Sabbath] is included in the verse, And He showeth mercy unto the thousandth generation. In the fifth commandment, which concerns the honor due to parents, He mentioned the reward because it is a positive commandment, [and as mentioned above, reward is for fulfillment of the positive commandments]. With reference to the writing on the Tablets of law, it would appear that the first five commandments were on one Tablet, for they are for the glory of the Creator, as I have mentioned, and the second five commandments were on another Tablet. Thus there were five opposite five, something like the Rabbis mentioned in the Book of Creation: “With ten emanations, intangible, as is the number of ten fingers, five opposite five, and the Covenant of the Unity placed directly in the middle.” From this it will be made clear to you why there were two Tablets, for up to Honor thy father, it corresponds to the Written Torah, and from there on it corresponds to the Oral Torah. It would appear that it is this that our Rabbis, of blessed memory, have alluded to in saying that the two Tablets correspond to heaven and earth,) to a groom and bride, to the two friends [of the groom and bride], and to the two worlds [this world and the World to Come]. All these constitute one allusion, and the person learned in the mystic lore of the Cabala will understand the secret.”

Hebrew and Aramaic words are the commentator’s citations of the sacred text; the English translation that follows each is the translator’s.

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.