Deuteronomy 5:7-15

Well hello there. Getting back to our Hebrew translating. I have been a little slow with this since we have midterms gong on right now but I will try to get better at making regular posts. So looking over it, there isn't much different in the next few verses of the English translation. Hey, those translators did pretty great in my opinion, the things I am learning aren't complaints against their translating abilities. So if we could I'm going to jump ahead a little to vs. 10. The word used in the KJV here is mercy. But the Hebrew word חסד means any attribute of the Lord. It means mercy, kindness, loyalty, everything benevolent, gentleness, meekness, well you get the idea. So its saying that He is showing all of these things to us as we guard and protect, and love His commandments.
Verse 11 talks about taking the name of the Lord in vain. We discussed this a little bit in class. there is a great talk by Elder Oaks about the sacrament. Here's a link for it http://www.lds.org/general-conference/1985/04/taking-upon-us-the-name-of-jesus-christ?lang=eng&query=sacrament+(name%3a%22Dallin+H.+Oaks%22) . It talks about how when we take the sacrament we aren't then, nor did we at baptism take the name of the Lord upon ourselves. The prayer itself says that we "will" take His name upon ourselves. This means its a future event. An event that comes later as we go through the temple. (Keep in mind again this is the Latter Day Saint view.)
On that note when we enter into any covenant with the Lord we are moving to a higher grace in the Gospel and we are not only blessed with something but we are obligated to seek something. With this first step of baptism we are taught that we receive the Holy Ghost, right? Well we still have to work for that, entering into the covenant of baptism is just the first step of this. We need to seek it, we need to seek the revelation that we are given. And yes, we need to seek the baptism by fire. This is the learning that we get through the Holy Ghost and does come through our trials. That's how we learn and grow. Its how we progress. If we aren't actively seeking after what we have the right to, dependent upon what covenants we have entered into, then we are living far below our privileges. we can do so much more with the Holy Ghost in our lives. (I will get off my soapbox and back to our Hebrew now though. But when you get some time to think about this, please do, there is so much more out there that we can attain if we will live up to what we are.)
So what does it mean to take His name upon ourselves anyways? The word used for take, actually means to lift off of or to carry. It is the same word used to describe that Christ took away our sins. He carries them, He lifted them off of us. What this verse is saying is don't carry His name without results. That isn't typically what we think of when we hear we aren't supposed to take His name in vain. Its not talking about cussing. Its saying don't take upon you the name of the Lord and then live an empty life, a life that is not worthy of His name. Verse 11 says, He won't forgive this sin. Wow. That sounds like reason enough to get off the couch and get out there and further the work doesn't it?
The next few verses are talking about keeping the Sabbath day holy. Something that stood out to me on the Sabbath discussion we had were the things we should contemplate on the Sabbath. remember the creation, remember the parting of the Red Sea, the deliverance from Egypt, remember the Resurrection. All three of these is an example of deliverance and each one is a miracle in and of itself. The Sabbath is meant for this reflection. As we reflect on these things we can see the miracles in our own lives a little more and we see just what the saving power of the Atonement can mean in our lives.