Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 1 Complete John Calvin
HARMONY OF THE LAW · VOLUME 1
11. When all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
11. Quum venerit universus Israel ut appareat coram Jehova Deo, in loco quem elegerit, leges Legem istam coram universo Israele in auribus eorum.
12. Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and observe to do all the words of this law;
12. Congregando populum, viros, et mulieres, parvulos et peregrinos qui sunt intra portas tuas, ut audiant, et discant, timeantque Jehovam Deum vestrum, et custodiant faciendo omnia verba legis hujus.
13. And that their children, which have not known any thing, may hear, and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as ye live in the land whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.
13. Et filii eorum qui non noverunt audiant, et discant timere Jehovam Deum vestrum, omnibus diebus quibus victuri estis super terram, ad quam transmisso Jordane pergitis ut possideatis.
10. And Moses commanded them. The object of this precept is the same as that of the foregoing. He would have (the Law238 ) represented, and constantly kept before their eyes; now He commands that it should also be recited every seventh year, lest the knowledge of it should ever depart. But let us follow the order of the words. First of all, Moses says that "he wrote" the Law. Before this, the doctrines of religion had only been expressed by word of mouth, for their fathers had handed down traditionally to their children whatever had been declared to them from heaven. Thus the religion and faith of the people in Egypt was only founded on ancient revelations (oraculis) and the traditions of their fathers. But, forasmuch as nothing is more easy than for men's minds, in their vanity, speedily to forget true doctrine, and to involve themselves in manifold errors, God, willing to provide against this evil, consigned the rule of piety to public records,239 so that there might be no pretense of ignorance if their posterity should decline
Added from the French.
En chartes authentiques. — Fr.