Exodus 20
1 Then God said this [to the Israeli people: ]
And the Lord spoke all these words:
2 “I am Yahweh God, the one you [worship]. I am the one who brought you out of Egypt. I am the one who freed you from being slaves [there].
“I am the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt, out of the house of servitude.
3 [So] you must worship [only] me; you must not worship any other god.
You shall not have strange gods before me.
4 You must not carve/make for yourselves any idol that represents anything in the sky or that is on the ground or that is in the water under the ground/earth.
You shall not make for yourself a graven image, nor a likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on earth below, nor of those things which are in the waters under the earth.
5 You must not bow down to any idol and worship it, because I am Yahweh God, and I (am very jealous/want you to worship me only). I will punish those who sin and hate me. I will punish not only them, but I will punish (their descendants, down to the third and fourth generation/their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren).
You shall not adore them, nor shall you worship them. I am the Lord your God: strong, zealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
6 But I will steadfastly love thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my commandments (OR, I will love for thousands of generations.)
and showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my precepts.
7 Do not use my name carelessly (OR, for wrong/evil purposes), because I am Yahweh God, the one whom you [should worship], and I will certainly punish those who use my name for wrong/evil purposes [LIT].
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. For the Lord will not hold harmless one who takes the name of the Lord his God falsely.
8 Do not forget that the seventh day [of every week] is mine, so dedicate those days to me.
Remember that you are to sanctify the day of the Sabbath.
9 There are six days each week for you to do all your work,
For six days, you will work and accomplish all your tasks.
10 but the seventh day is a day of rest, a day dedicated to me, Yahweh God, the one whom you [should worship]. On that day you must not do any work. You and your sons and daughters and your male and female slaves must not work. You must not even force your livestock to work, and you must not allow foreigners to work, those who are living in your country.
But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work in it: you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, your beast and the newcomer who is within your gates.
11 I, Yahweh, created the sky, the earth, the ocean, and everything that is in them, in six days. Then I stopped my work of creating everything, and rested on the seventh day. That is the reason that I, Yahweh, have blessed the rest day and set it apart [to be a sacred/special day].
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all the things that are in them, and so he rested on the seventh day. For this reason, the Lord has blessed the day of the Sabbath and sanctified it.
12 Honor/Respect your fathers and your mothers, in order that you may live a long time in the land that I, Yahweh God, will give you.
Honor your father and your mother, so that you may have a long life upon the land, which the Lord your God will give to you.
13 Do not murder anyone.
You shall not murder.
14 Do not (commit adultery/have sex with anyone other than your spouse).
You shall not commit adultery.
15 Do not steal anything.
You shall not steal.
16 Do not falsely accuse anyone [of committing a crime].
You shall not speak false testimony against your neighbor.
17 Do not (covet/desire to have) someone else’s house, someone else’s wife, someone else’s male or female slave, someone else’s livestock, someone else’s donkeys, or anything else that some other person owns.”
You shall not covet the house of your neighbor; neither shall you desire his wife, nor male servant, nor female servant, nor ox, nor donkey, nor anything that is his.”
18 When the people heard the thunder and saw the lightning, and when they heard the sound of the trumpet and saw the smoke on the mountain, they were afraid and trembled. They stood at a distance,
Then all the people considered the voices, and the lights, and the sound of the trumpet, and the smoking mountain. And being terrified and struck with fear, they stood at a distance,
19 and said to Moses/me, “If you speak to us, we will listen. But do not let God speak any more to us. [We are afraid that] if he speaks [any more] to us, we will die.”
saying to Moses: “Speak to us, and we will listen. Let not the Lord speak to us, lest perhaps we may die.”
20 Moses/I replied, “Do not be afraid! God has come to determine/test [how you will behave]. He wants you to revere him, and to not sin.”
And Moses said to the people: “Do not be afraid. For God came in order to test you, and so that the dread of him might be with you, and you would not sin.”
21 Then, as the people [watched from] a distance, Moses/I went close to the black cloud where God was.
And the people stood far away. But Moses approached toward the mist, in which was God.
22 Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Say this to the Israeli people: ‘You have heard how I, Yahweh, have spoken to you from heaven. I told you that you must not make any idols of silver or gold [that you will worship instead] of me.
Thereafter, the Lord said to Moses: “This you shall say to the sons of Israel: You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.
You shall not make gods of silver, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.
24 Make for me an altar from dirt. Sacrifice on it the animals that you will burn completely. Also sacrifice on it the animals that you will not burn completely, to maintain fellowship with me. Worship me [MTY] in any place that I choose for you to honor/worship me; and if you do that, I will come to you and bless you.
You shall make an altar from the earth for me, and you shall offer upon it your holocausts and peace-offerings, your sheep and oxen, in every place where the memory of my name shall be. I will come to you, and I will bless you.
25 If you make for me an altar from stones, do not make it from stones that you have cut [to make them look nice], because you will make the altar unsuitable for [worshiping] me if you use tools to cut the stones.
And if you make an altar of stone for me, you shall not build it from cut stones; for if you lift up a tool over it, it will be defiled.
26 Do not make an altar that has steps in front of it, because if you do that, [people] could see your naked [buttocks] as you go up the steps.’”
You shall not ascend by steps to my altar, lest your nakedness be revealed.”
