Exodus 20–23

20TH CHAPTER

The Ten Commandments—Deuteronomy 5:6–21

¹Then God spoke all these words: 

²“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery in Egypt. 

³“Never have any other god. ⁴Never make your own carved idols or statues that represent any creature in the sky, on the earth, or in the water. ⁵Never 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. ⁶But I show mercy to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my commandments. 

⁷“Never use the name of the Lord your God carelessly. The Lord will make sure that anyone who carelessly uses his name will be punished. 

⁸“Remember the day of rest by observing it as a holy day. ⁹You have six days to do all your work. ¹⁰The 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 cattle, and the foreigners living in your city must never do any work ⸤on that day⸥. ¹¹In six days the Lord made heaven, earth, and the sea, along with everything in them. He didn’t work on the seventh day. That’s why the Lord blessed the day he stopped his work and set this day apart as holy. 

¹²“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live for a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 

¹³“Never murder. 

¹⁴“Never commit adultery. 

¹⁵“Never steal. 

¹⁶“Never lie when you testify about your neighbor. 

¹⁷“Never desire to take your neighbor’s household away from him. 

“Never desire to take your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox, his donkey, or anything else that belongs to him.” 

The People’s Reaction

¹⁸All the people heard the thunder and saw the lightning. They heard the blast of the ram’s horn and saw the mountain covered with smoke. So they shook with fear and stood at a distance. ¹⁹Then they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we’ll listen. But don’t let God speak to us, or we’ll die!” 

²⁰Moses answered the people, “Don’t be afraid! God has come only to test you, so that you will be in awe of him and won’t sin.” 

²¹The people kept their distance while Moses went closer to the dark cloud where God was. 

General Rules for Worship

²²The Lord said to Moses, “This is what you must say to the Israelites: You’ve seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven. ²³Never make any gods of silver or gold for yourselves. Never worship them. 

²⁴“You must build an altar for me made out of dirt. Sacrifice your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings, your sheep, goats, and cattle on it. Wherever I choose to have my name remembered, I will come to you and bless you. ²⁵If you build an altar for me made out of stones, never make it with cut stone blocks. If you use a chisel on it, you will make it unacceptable to me. ²⁶Never use stairs to go up to my altar. Otherwise, people will be able to see under your clothes.” 

21ST CHAPTER

Laws Concerning the Treatment of Slaves

¹⸤The Lord continued,⸥ “Here are the legal decisions to be used by the Israelites: 

²“Whenever you buy a Hebrew slave, he will be your slave for six years. In the seventh year he may leave as a free man, without paying for his freedom. ³If he comes to you by himself, he must leave by himself. If he comes as a married man, his wife may leave with him. ⁴If his master gives him a wife and she gives birth to sons or daughters, the wife and her children belong to the master, and the slave must leave by himself. ⁵But if he makes this statement: ‘I hereby declare my love for my master, my wife, and my children. I don’t want to leave as a free man,’ ⁶then his master must bring him to God. The master must bring him to the door or the doorframe and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his slave for life. 

⁷“Whenever a man sells his daughter into slavery, she will not go free the way male slaves do. ⁸If she doesn’t please the master who has chosen her as a wife,^ahe must let her be bought back by one of her close relatives. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, since he has treated her unfairly. ⁹But if he has chosen her for his son, he must treat her like a daughter. ¹⁰If that son marries another woman, he must not deprive the first wife of food, clothes, or sex. ¹¹If he doesn’t give her these three things, she can go free, without paying any money for her freedom. 

Laws Concerning Injury to People

¹²“Whoever strikes someone and kills him must be put to death. ¹³If it wasn’t done intentionally, but God let it happen, the killer should flee to a place I will set aside for you. ¹⁴But whenever someone becomes so angry that he plans to kill his neighbor, you must take him away from my altar and put him to death. 

¹⁵“Whoever hits his father or mother must be put to death. 

¹⁶“Whoever kidnaps another person must be put to death, whether he has sold the kidnapped person or still has him. 

¹⁷“Whoever curses his father or mother must be put to death. 

¹⁸“This is what you must do whenever men quarrel and one hits the other with a rock or with his fist and injures him so that he has to stay in bed. ¹⁹If the injured man can get up again and walk around outside with a cane, the one who hit him must not be punished. He must pay the injured man for the loss of his time and for all his medical expenses. 

²⁰“Whenever an owner hits his male or female slave with a stick so that the slave dies from the beating, the owner must be punished. ²¹But if the slave gets up in a day or two, the owner must not be punished. The slave is his property. 

²²“This is what you must do whenever men fight and injure a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely. If there are no other injuries, the offender must pay whatever fine the court allows the woman’s husband to demand. ²³If anyone is injured, the offender must pay a life for a life, ²⁴an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, ²⁵a burn for a burn, a bruise for a bruise, a wound for a wound. 

²⁶“Whenever an owner hits his male or female slave in the eye and the slave is blinded, he must let the slave go free to make up for the loss of the eye. ²⁷If the owner knocks out the tooth of his male or female slave, he must let the slave go free to make up for the loss of the tooth. 

²⁸“Whenever a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull must be stoned to death, and its meat may not be eaten. The bull’s owner is free from any liability. ²⁹But if the bull has had the habit of goring, and the owner has been warned but has not kept it confined, and it kills a man or a woman, then the bull must be stoned and its owner must be put to death, too. ³⁰However, if only a cash settlement is demanded from the owner, the bull’s owner may save his life by paying whatever price is demanded of him. ³¹If the bull gores someone’s son or daughter, this same ruling applies. ³²If the bull gores a male or female slave, its owner must pay 12 ounces of silver to the slave’s master, and the bull must be stoned. 

Laws Concerning Property

³³“Whenever someone opens up a cistern or digs a new one and doesn’t cover it and a bull or a donkey falls into it, ³⁴the owner of the cistern must make up for the loss. He must pay money to the animal’s owner, and then the dead animal will be his. 

³⁵“Whenever one person’s bull kills another person’s bull, they must sell the live bull and divide the money between them. They must divide the dead bull, too. ³⁶However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, and its owner didn’t keep it confined, the owner must make up for the loss—bull for bull—and then the dead bull will be his.” 

22ND CHAPTER^a

¹⸤The Lord continued,⸥ “Whenever someone steals a bull or a sheep and butchers it or sells it, he must make up for the loss with five head of cattle to replace the bull or four sheep to replace the sheep. 

²“If anyone catches a thief breaking in and hits him so that he dies, he is not guilty of murder. ³But if it happens after sunrise, he is guilty of murder. 

“A thief must make up for what he has stolen. If he is unable to do so, he must be sold ⸤as a slave⸥ to pay for what he stole. ⁴But if the stolen animal is found alive in his possession, whether it’s a bull, donkey, or a sheep, he must make up for the loss with double the amount. 

⁵“Whenever someone lets his livestock graze in a field or a vineyard, and they stray and graze in another person’s field, he must make up for what the damaged field was expected to produce. But if he lets them ruin the whole field with their grazing,^bhe must make up from his own field for the loss with the best from his field and vineyard. 

⁶“Whenever a fire starts and spreads into the underbrush so that it burns up stacked or standing grain or ruins a field, the person who started the fire must make up for the loss. 

⁷“This is what you must do whenever someone gives his neighbor silver or ⸤other⸥ valuables to keep for him, and they are stolen from that person’s house: If the thief is caught, he must make up for the loss with double the amount. ⁸If the thief is not caught, the owner of the house must be brought to God to find out whether or not he took his neighbor’s valuables. ⁹If there is a dispute over the ownership of a bull, a donkey, a sheep, an article of clothing, or any ⸤other⸥ lost property which two people claim as their own, both people must bring their case to God. The one whom God declares guilty must make up for his neighbor’s loss with double the amount. 

¹⁰“This is what you must do whenever someone gives his neighbor a donkey, a bull, a sheep, or any other kind of animal to keep for him, and it dies, is injured, or is captured in war, and there are no witnesses. ¹¹The case between them must be settled by swearing an oath to the Lord that the neighbor did not take the other person’s animal. The owner must accept the oath. The neighbor doesn’t have to make up for the loss. ¹²But if the animal was…