Shared Word Translation
Exodus 20
The Words of the Covenant
And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above or on the earth beneath or in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of fathers upon children, upon the third generation and upon the fourth, of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not lift up the name of the LORD your God for emptiness, for the LORD will not hold guiltless the one who lifts up his name for emptiness.
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You shall not do any work—you, or your son, or your daughter, your servant or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the 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. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not desire your neighbor’s house; you shall not desire your neighbor’s wife, or his servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
And all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, and the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood at a distance. And they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will listen; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.”
And the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
And the LORD said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: You yourselves have seen that I have spoken with you from heaven.
You shall not make alongside me gods of silver, and gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.
An altar of earth you shall make for me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your well-being offerings, your flock and your herd. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.
And if you make for me an altar of stones, you shall not build it of cut stones; for you have wielded your sword upon it and profaned it.
And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not uncovered upon it.