Exodus 20

The Words of the Covenant

1God 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 slavery.

3You will have no other gods before me. 4You will 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. 5You will 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 people who hate me, 6but showing steadfast love to thousands, to people who love me and keep my commandments. 7You will 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.

8Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9Six days you will labor and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You will 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. 11For 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. 12Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

13You will not murder. 14You will not commit adultery. 15You will not steal. 16You will not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17You will not desire your neighbor’s house; you will 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.”

18And 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. 19And they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will listen; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” 20Moses 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.”

21And the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

22And the LORD said to Moses, “Thus you will say to the children of Israel: You yourselves have seen that I have spoken with you from heaven.

23You will not make alongside me gods of silver, and gods of gold you will not make for yourselves.

24An altar of earth you will make for me, and you will 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.

25And if you make for me an altar of stones, you will not build it of cut stones; for you have wielded your sword upon it and profaned it.

26And you will not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not uncovered upon it.