The Ten Commandments(A)
20 Now God spoke all these words, saying:
2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 You shall not make for yourself any graven idol, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water below the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of them who hate Me, 6 and showing lovingkindness to thousands of them who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes His name in vain.
8 Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or your sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
13 You shall not murder.
14 You shall not commit adultery.
15 You shall not steal.
16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
18 All the people witnessed the thunder and the lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. 19 They said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”
20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, so that the fear of Him may be before you so that you do not sin.”
21 The people stood a distance away as Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
The Law About the Altar
22 Then the Lord said to Moses: Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, “You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. 23 You shall not make gods of silver alongside Me or make gods of gold for yourselves.
24 “You shall make an altar of earth for Me and on it you shall sacrifice your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep, and your oxen. In every place where I cause My name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. 25 If you will make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you use your tool on it, you will have polluted it. 26 And you shall not go up by steps to My altar, so that your nakedness will not be exposed on it.”
Cross references
- Exodus 20:1 : Dt 5:6–21
