Exodus 20

¹ Then God spoke all these words. He said,

² ‘I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

³ ‘You shall have no gods except me.

⁴ ‘You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth;

⁵ you shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God and I punish the father’s fault in the sons, the grandsons, and the great-grandsons of those who hate me;

⁶ but I show kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ ‘You shall not utter the name of Yahweh your God to misuse it,[*b] for Yahweh will not leave unpunished the man who utters his name to misuse it.

⁸ Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy.

⁹ For six days you shall labour and do all your work,

¹⁰ but the seventh day is a sabbath for Yahweh your God. You shall do no work that day, neither you nor your son nor your daughter nor your servants, men or women, nor your animals nor the stranger who lives with you.

¹¹ For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that these hold, but on the seventh day he rested; that is why Yahweh has blessed the sabbath day and made it sacred.

¹² ‘Honour your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that Yahweh your God has given to 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 neighbour.

¹⁷ ‘You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his servant, man or woman, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is his.’

¹⁸ [*c] All the people shook with fear at the peals of thunder and the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the smoking mountain; and they kept their distance.

¹⁹ ‘Speak to us yourself’ they said to Moses ‘and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we shall die.’

²⁰ Moses answered the people, ‘Do not be afraid; God has come to test you, so that your fear of him, being always in your mind, may keep you from sinning’.

²¹ So the people kept their distance while Moses approached the dark cloud where God was.

²² Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Tell the sons of Israel this, “You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.

²³ You shall not make gods of silver or gods of gold to stand beside me; you shall not make things like this for yourselves.

²⁴ “You are to make me an altar of earth, and sacrifice on this the holocausts and communion sacrifices from your flocks or herds. In every place in which I have my name remembered I shall come to you and bless you.

²⁵ If you make me an altar of stone, do not build it of dressed stones; for if you use a tool on it, you profane it.

²⁶ You shall not go up to my altar by steps for fear you expose your nakedness.”