Exodus 19:1–20:17

The Israelites at Mount Sinai

19The people of Israel left Rephidim, and on the first day of the third month after they had left Egypt they came to the desert of Sinai. There they set up camp at the foot of Mount Sinai, ³and Moses went up the mountain to meet with God.

The Lord called to him from the mountain and told him to say to the Israelites, Jacob’s descendants: ⁴“You saw what I, the Lord, did to the Egyptians and how I carried you as an eagle carries her young on her wings, and brought you here to me. ^5*Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own people. The whole earth is mine, but you will be my chosen people, ^6*a people dedicated to me alone, and you will serve me as priests.” ⁷So Moses went down and called the leaders of the people together and told them everything that the Lord had commanded him. ⁸Then all the people answered together, “We will do everything that the Lord has said,” and Moses reported this to the Lord.

⁹The Lord said to Moses, “I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will believe you from now on.”

Moses told the Lord what the people had answered, ¹⁰and the Lord said to him, “Go to the people and tell them to spend today and tomorrow purifying themselves for worship. They must wash their clothes ¹¹and be ready the day after tomorrow. On that day I will come down on Mount Sinai, where all the people can see me. ^12*Mark a boundary round the mountain that the people must not cross, and tell them not to go up the mountain or even get near it. If anyone sets foot on it, he is to be put to death; ^13*he must either be stoned or shot with arrows, without anyone touching him. This applies to both men and animals; they must be put to death. But when the trumpet is blown, then the people are to go up to the mountain.”

¹⁴Then Moses came down the mountain and told the people to get ready for worship. So they washed their clothes, ¹⁵and Moses said to them, “Be ready by the day after tomorrow and don’t have sexual intercourse in the meantime.”

^16*On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud appeared on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast was heard. All the people in the camp trembled with fear. ^17*Moses led them out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. ^18*The whole of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord had come down on it in fire. The smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and all the people trembled violently. ¹⁹The sound of the trumpet became louder and louder. Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder. ²⁰The Lord came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. Moses went up ²¹and the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people not to cross the boundary to come and look at me; if they do, many of them will die. ²²Even the priests who come near me must purify themselves, or I will punish them.”

²³Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up, because you commanded us to consider the mountain sacred and to mark a boundary round it.”

²⁴The Lord replied, “Go down and bring Aaron back with you. But the priests and the people must not cross the boundary to come up to me, or I will punish them.” ²⁵Moses then went down to the people and told them what the Lord had said.

The Ten Commandments

20God spoke, and these were his words: ²“I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves.

³“Worship no god but me.

^4*“Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth. ^5*Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the Lord your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation. ^6*But I show my love to thousands of generations^u of those who love me and obey my laws.

^7*“Do not use my name for evil purposes, for I, the Lord your God, will punish anyone who misuses my name.

^8*“Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. ^9*You have six days in which to do your work, ^10*but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me. On that day no one is to work—neither you, your children, your slaves, your animals, nor the foreigners who live in your country. ^11*In six days I, the Lord, made the earth, the sky, the sea, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That is why I, the Lord, blessed the Sabbath and made it holy.

^12*“Respect your father and your mother, so that you may live a long time in the land that I am giving you.

^13*“Do not commit murder.

^14*“Do not commit adultery.

^15*“Do not steal.

^16*“Do not accuse anyone falsely.

^17*“Do not desire another man’s house; do not desire his wife, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns.”