Exodus 20:1–26

¹And God proceeded to speak all these words, saying:

²“I am Jehovah your God, who have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves.³You must not have any other gods against my face.

⁴“You must not make for yourself a carved image or a form like anything that is in the heavens above or that is on the earth underneath or that is in the waters under the earth.⁵You must not bow down to them nor be induced to serve them, because I Jehovah your God am a God exacting exclusive devotion, bringing punishment for the error of fathers upon sons, upon the third generation and upon the fourth generation, in the case of those who hate me;⁶but exercising loving‐kindness toward the thousandth generation in the case of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷“You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way, for Jehovah will not leave the one unpunished who takes up his name in a worthless way.

⁸“Remembering the sabbath day to hold it sacred,⁹you are to render service and you must do all your work six days.¹⁰But the seventh day is a sabbath to Jehovah your God. You must not do any work, you nor your son nor your daughter, your slave man nor your slave girl nor your domestic animal nor your alien resident who is inside your gates.¹¹For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and he proceeded to rest on the seventh day. That is why Jehovah blessed the sabbath day and proceeded to make it sacred.

¹²“Honor your father and your mother in order that your days may prove long upon the ground that Jehovah your God is giving you.

¹³“You must not murder.

¹⁴“You must not commit adultery.

¹⁵“You must not steal.

¹⁶“You must not testify falsely as a witness against your fellowman.

¹⁷“You must not desire your fellowman’s house. You must not desire your fellowman’s wife, nor his slave man nor his slave girl nor his bull nor his ass nor anything that belongs to your fellowman.”

¹⁸Now all the people were seeing the thunders and the lightning flashes and the sound of the horn and the mountain smoking. When the people got to see it, then they quivered and stood at a distance.¹⁹And they began to say to Moses: “You speak with us, and let us listen; but let not God speak with us for fear we may die.”²⁰So Moses said to the people: “Do not be afraid, because for the sake of putting ​YOU​ to the test the [true] God has come, and in order that the fear of him may continue before ​YOUR​ faces that ​YOU​ may not sin.”²¹And the people kept standing at a distance, but Moses went near to the dark cloud mass where the [true] God was.

²²And Jehovah went on to say to Moses: “This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel, ‘YOU​ yourselves have seen that it was from the heavens I spoke with ​YOU.²³YOU​ must not make along with me gods of silver, and ​YOU​ must not make gods of gold for yourselves.²⁴An altar of ground you are to make for me, and you must sacrifice upon it your burnt offerings and your communion sacrifices, your flock and your herd. In every place where I shall cause my name to be remembered I shall come to you and shall certainly bless you.²⁵And if you should make an altar of stones for me, you must not build them as hewn stones. In the event that you do wield your chisel upon it, then you will profane it.²⁶And you must not go up by steps to my altar, that your private parts may not be exposed upon it.’