5Moses called all the people of Israel together and said: Listen, Israel, to the commands and laws I am giving you today. Learn them and obey them carefully. ²The Lord our God made an Agreement with us at Mount Sinai. ³He did not make this Agreement with our ancestors, but he made it with us, with all of us who are alive here today. ⁴The Lord spoke to you face to face from the fire on the mountain. ⁵(At that time I stood between you and the Lord in order to tell you what the Lord said; you were afraid of the fire, so you would not go up on the mountain.) The Lord said:

⁶“I am the Lord your God; I brought you out of the land of Egypt where you were slaves.

⁷“You must not have any other gods except me.

⁸“You must not make for yourselves any idols or anything to worship that looks like something in the sky above or on the earth below or in the water below the land. ⁹You must not worship or serve any idol, because I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. If people sin against me and hate me, I will punish their children, even their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. ¹⁰But I will be very kind for a thousand lifetimes to those who love me and obey my commands.

¹¹“You must not use the name of the Lord your God thoughtlessly, because the Lord will punish anyone who uses his name in this way.

¹²“Keep the Sabbath as a holy day, as the Lord your God has commanded you. ¹³You may work and get everything done during six days each week, ¹⁴but the seventh day is a day of rest to honor the Lord your God. On that day no one may do any work: not you, your son or daughter, your male or female slaves, your ox, your donkey, or any of your animals, or the foreigners living in your cities. That way your servants may rest as you do. ¹⁵Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there by his great power and strength. So the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day.

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

¹⁷“You must not murder anyone.

¹⁸“You must not be guilty of adultery.

¹⁹“You must not steal.

²⁰“You must not tell lies about your neighbor.

²¹“You must not want to take your neighbor’s wife. You must not want to take your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female slaves, his ox or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

²²The Lord spoke these commands to all of you on the mountain in a loud voice out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness; he did not say anything else. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets, and he gave them to me.

²³When you heard the voice from the darkness, as the mountain was blazing with fire, all the leaders of your tribes and your elders came to me. ²⁴And you said, “The Lord our God has shown us his glory and majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks to him. ²⁵But now, we will die! This great fire will burn us up, and we will die if we hear the Lord our God speak anymore. ²⁶No human being has ever heard the living God speaking from a fire and still lived, but we have. ²⁷Moses, you go near and listen to everything the Lord our God says. Then you tell us what the Lord our God tells you, and we will listen and obey.”

²⁸The Lord heard what you said to me, and he said to me, “I have heard what the people said to you. Everything they said was good. ²⁹I wish their hearts would always respect me and that they would always obey my commands so that things would go well for them and their children forever!

³⁰“Go and tell the people to return to their tents, ³¹but you stay here with me so that I may give you all the commands, rules, and laws that you must teach the people to obey in the land I am giving them as their own.”

³²So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you, and follow the commands exactly. ³³Live the way the Lord your God has commanded you so that you may live and have what is good and have a long life in the land you will take.

The Command to Love God

6These are the commands, rules, and laws that the Lord your God told me to teach you to obey in the land you are crossing the Jordan River to take. ²You, your children, and your grandchildren must respect the Lord your God as long as you live. Obey all his rules and commands I give you so that you will live a long time. ³Listen, Israel, and carefully obey these laws. Then all will go well for you, and you will become a great nation in a fertile land, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you.

⁴Listen, people of Israel! The Lord our God is the only Lord. ⁵Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. ⁶Always remember these commands I give you today. ⁷Teach them to your children, and talk about them when you sit at home and walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸Write them down and tie them to your hands as a sign. Tie them on your forehead to remind you, ⁹and write them on your doors and gates.

¹⁰The Lord your God will bring you into the land he promised to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he will give it to you. The land has large, growing cities you did not build, ¹¹houses full of good things you did not buy, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees you did not plant. You will eat as much as you want. ¹²But be careful! Do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt where you were slaves.

¹³Respect the Lord your God. You must worship him and make your promises only in his name. ¹⁴Do not worship other gods as the people around you do, ¹⁵because the Lord your God is a jealous God. He is present with you, and if you worship other gods, he will become angry with you and destroy you from the earth. ¹⁶Do not test the Lord your God as you did at Massah. ¹⁷Be sure to obey the commands of the Lord your God and the rules and laws he has given you. ¹⁸Do what the Lord says is good and right so that things will go well for you. Then you may go in and take the good land the Lord promised to your ancestors. ¹⁹He will force all your enemies out as you go in, as the Lord has said.

²⁰In the future when your children ask you, “What is the meaning of the laws, commands, and rules the Lord our God gave us?” ²¹tell them, “We were slaves to the king of Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt by his great power. ²²The Lord showed us great and terrible signs and miracles, which he did to Egypt, the king, and his whole family. ²³The Lord brought us out of Egypt to lead us here and to give us the land he promised our ancestors. ²⁴The Lord ordered us to obey all these commands and to respect the Lord our God so that we will always do well and stay alive, as we are today. ²⁵The right thing for us to do is this: Obey all these rules in the presence of the Lord our God, as he has commanded.”

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