¹⁰The Lord said, “I’m making my promise^aagain. In front of all your people I will perform miracles that have never been done in any other nation in all the world. All the people around you will see how awesome these miracles are that I will perform for you. ¹¹Do everything that I command today. Then I will force the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites out of your way. ¹²Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you’re going. This will prove to be a trap to you. ¹³But tear down their altars, crush their sacred stones, and cut down their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah. ¹⁴(Never worship any other god, because the Lord is a God who does not tolerate rivals. In fact, he is known for not tolerating rivals.) ¹⁵Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in that land. When they chase after their gods as though they were prostitutes and sacrifice to them, they may invite you to eat the meat from their sacrifices with them. ¹⁶Then your sons will end up marrying their daughters. When their daughters chase after their gods as though they were prostitutes, they’ll lead your sons to do the same thing.

¹⁷“Never make an idol.

¹⁸“You must celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you must eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, because in that month you came out of Egypt.

¹⁹“Every first male offspring is mine, even the firstborn malesof all your livestock, whether cattle, sheep, or goats. ²⁰It will cost you a sheep or a goat to buy back the firstborn donkey. If you don’t buy it back, then you must break the donkey’s neck. You must buy back every firstborn of your sons.

“No one may come into my presence without an offering.

²¹“You may work six days, but on the seventh day you must not work. Even during the time of plowing or harvesting you must not work ⸤on this day⸥.

²²“You must celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the first grain from your wheat harvest, and the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the season.

²³“Three times a year all your men must come into the presence of the Master, the Lord God of Israel. ²⁴I will force nations out of your way and will expand ⸤your country’s⸥ borders. No one will want to take away your land while you’re gone three times a year to the Lord’s festivals.

²⁵“Never offer the blood of a sacrifice to me at the same time you offer anything containing yeast. No part of the sacrifice at the Passover Festival should be left over in the morning.

²⁶“You must bring the first and best of the produce harvested from your soil to the house of the Lord your God.

“Never cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, because on the basis of these words I’m making a promise to Israel and to you.”

²⁸Moses was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights without food or water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the promise, the ten commandments.

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Footnotes

a 34:10 Or “covenant.”