²The Lord our God made a promise^ato us at Mount Horeb. ³He didn’t make this promise to our ancestors, but to all of us who are alive here today. ⁴The Lord spoke to you face to face from the fire on the mountain. ⁵I stood between the Lord and you to tell you the Lord’s word, because you were afraid of the fire and didn’t go up on the mountain. The Lord said:

⁶“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery in Egypt.

⁷“Never have any other gods. ⁸Never make your own carved idols or statues that represent any creature in the sky, on the earth, or in the water. ⁹Never worship them or serve them, because I, the Lord your God, am a God who does not tolerate rivals. I punish children for their parents’ sins to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. ¹⁰But I show mercy to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my commandments.

¹¹“Never use the name of the Lord your God carelessly. The Lord will make sure that anyone who uses his name carelessly will be punished.

¹²“Observe the day of rest as a holy day. This is what the Lord your God has commanded you. ¹³You have six days to do all your work. ¹⁴The seventh day is the day of rest—a holy day dedicated to the Lord your God. You, your sons, your daughters, your male and female slaves, your oxen, your donkeys—all of your animals—even the foreigners living in your city must never do any work ⸤on that day⸥. In this way your male and female slaves can rest as you do. ¹⁵Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God used his mighty hand and powerful arm to bring you out of there. This is why the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the day of rest as a holy day.

¹⁶“Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded you. Then you will live for a long time, and things will go well for you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

¹⁷“Never murder.

¹⁸“Never commit adultery.

¹⁹“Never steal.

²⁰“Never avoid the truth when you testify about your neighbor.^b

²¹“Never desire to take your neighbor’s wife away from him.

“Never long for your neighbor’s household, his field, his male or female slave, his ox, his donkey, or anything else that belongs to him.”

²²These are the commandments the Lord spoke to your whole assembly on the mountain. He spoke in a loud voice from the fire, the cloud, and the gloomy darkness. Then he stopped speaking. He wrote the commandments on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

²³But when you heard the voice coming from the darkness and saw the mountain blazing with fire, all the leaders and heads of your tribes came to me. ²⁴You said, “The Lord our God has let us see how great and glorious he is. We’ve heard his voice come from the fire. Today we’ve seen that people can live even if God speaks to them. ²⁵Why should we die? This great fire will consume us! If we continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God, we’ll die! ²⁶Who has ever heard the voice of the living God speak from a fire, as we did, and lived? ²⁷⸤Moses,⸥ go and listen to everything that the Lord our God says. Then tell us whatever the Lord our God tells you. We’ll listen and obey.”

²⁸When the Lord heard the words that you spoke to me, he said, “I have heard what these people said to you. Everything they said was good. ²⁹If only they would fear me and obey all my commandments as long as they live! Then things would go well for them and their children forever.

³⁰“Tell the people to go back to their tents. ³¹But you stay here with me. I will give you all the commands, laws, and rules that you must teach them to obey in the land which I’m giving them to possess.”

³²So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you. Never stop living this way. ³³Follow all the directions the Lord your God has given you. Then you will continue to live, life will go well for you, and you will live for a long time in the land that you are going to possess.

6TH CHAPTER

Love the Lord

¹These are the commands, laws, and rules the Lord your God commanded me to teach you. Obey them after you enter the land and take possession of it. ²As long as you live, you, your children, and your grandchildren must fear the Lord your God. All of you must obey all his laws and commands that I’m giving you, and you will live a long time. ³Listen, Israel, and be careful to obey these laws. Then things will go well for you and your population will increase in a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord God of your ancestors promised you.

⁴Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God. The Lord is the only God. ⁵Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. ⁶Take to heart these words that I give you today. ⁷Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you’re at home or away, when you lie down or get up. ⁸⸤Write them down, and⸥ tie them around your wrist, and wear them as headbands as a reminder. ⁹Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

¹⁰The Lord your God will bring you into the land and give it to you, as he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This land will have large, prosperous cities that you didn’t build. ¹¹Your houses will be filled with all kinds of things that you didn’t put there. You will have cisterns that you didn’t dig and vineyards and olive trees that you didn’t plant. After you have eaten all that you want, ¹²be careful that you don’t forget the Lord, who brought you out of slavery in Egypt. ¹³You must fear the Lord your God, serve him, and take your oaths only in his name. ¹⁴Never worship any of the gods worshiped by the people around you. ¹⁵If you do, the Lord your God will become very angry with you and will wipe you off the face of the earth, because the Lord your God, who is with you, is a God who does not tolerate rivals.

¹⁶Never test the Lord your God as you did at Massah. ¹⁷Be sure to obey the commands of the Lord your God and the regulations and laws he has given you. ¹⁸Do what the Lord considers right and good. Then things will go well for you, and you will enter and take possession of that good land which the Lord promised to your ancestors with an oath. ¹⁹You will see the Lord expel your enemies as he said he would.

²⁰In the future your children will ask you, “What do these regulations, laws, and rules which the Lord our God commanded you mean to you?” ²¹Tell them, “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord used his mighty hand to bring us out of there. ²²Right before our eyes the Lord did miraculous signs and amazing things that were spectacular but terrible for Egypt, Pharaoh, and his whole family. ²³The Lord led us out of there to bring us here and give us this land he promised to our ancestors with an oath. ²⁴The Lord our God commanded us to obey all these laws and to fear him. These laws are for our own good as long as we live so that he will preserve our lives. It’s still true today. ²⁵This is how we’ll have the Lord’s approval: If we faithfully obey all these laws in the presence of the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.”

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Footnotes

a 5:2 Or “covenant.”
b 5:20 Deuteronomy 5:21–33 in English Bibles is Deuteronomy 5:17–30 in some Hebrew Bibles.