Exodus 20

Contemporary English Version

The Ten Commandments

(Deuteronomy 5.1-21)

20 God said to the people of Israel:

²I am the Lord your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt where you were slaves.

³Do not worship any god except me.

⁴^(A) Do not make idols that look like anything in the sky or on earth or in the ocean under the earth. ⁵^(B) Don't bow down and worship idols. I am the Lord your God, and I demand all your love. If you reject me, I will punish your families for three or four generations. ⁶But if you love me and obey my laws, I will be kind to your families for thousands of generations.

⁷^(C) Do not misuse my name.^[a] I am the Lord your God, and I will punish anyone who misuses my name.

⁸^(D) Remember that the Sabbath Day belongs to me. ⁹^(E) You have six days when you can do your work, ¹⁰but the seventh day of each week belongs to me, your God. No one is to work on that day—not you, your children, your slaves, your animals, or the foreigners who live in your towns. ¹¹^(F) In six days I made the sky, the earth, the oceans, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That's why I made the Sabbath a special day that belongs to me.

¹²^(G) Respect your father and your mother, and you will live a long time in the land I am giving you.

¹³^(H) Do not murder.

¹⁴^(I) Be faithful in marriage.

¹⁵^(J) Do not steal.

¹⁶^(K) Do not tell lies about others.

¹⁷^(L) Do not desire to possess anything that belongs to another person—not a house, a wife, a husband, a slave, an ox, a donkey, or anything else.

The People Are Afraid

(Deuteronomy 5.23-33)

¹⁸^(M) The people trembled with fear when they heard the thunder and the trumpet and saw the lightning and the smoke coming from the mountain. They stood a long way off ¹⁹and said to Moses, “If you speak to us, we will listen. But don't let God speak to us, or we will die!”

²⁰“Don't be afraid!” Moses replied. “God has come only to test you, so that by obeying him you won't sin.” ²¹But when Moses went near the thick cloud where God was, the people stayed a long way off.

Idols and Altars

²²The Lord told Moses to say to the people of Israel:

With your own eyes you saw me speak to you from heaven. ²³So you must never make idols of silver or gold to worship in place of me.^[b]

²⁴Build an altar out of earth, and offer on it your sacrifices^[c] of sheep, goats, and cattle. Wherever I choose to be worshiped, I will come down to bless you. ²⁵^(N) If you ever build an altar for me out of stones, do not use any tools to chisel the stones, because that would make the altar unfit for use in worship. ²⁶And don't build an altar that requires steps; you might expose yourself when you climb up.

Footnotes

20.7 misuse my name: Probably includes breaking promises, telling lies after swearing to tell the truth, using the Lord's name as a curse word or a magic formula, and trying to control the Lord by using his name.
20.23 in place of me: Or “together with me.”
20.24 sacrifices: The Hebrew text mentions two types of sacrifices: Sacrifices to please the Lord (traditionally called “whole burnt offerings”) and sacrifices to ask the Lord's blessing (traditionally called “peace offerings”).

Deuteronomy 5

Contemporary English Version

The Ten Commandments

(Exodus 20.1-17)

5 Moses called together the people of Israel and said:

Today I am telling you the laws and teachings that you must follow, so listen carefully. ²The Lord our God made an agreement with our nation at Mount Sinai.^[a] ³That agreement wasn't only with^[b] our ancestors but with us, who are here today. ⁴The Lord himself spoke to you out of the fire, ⁵but you were afraid of the fire and refused to go up the mountain. So I spoke with the Lord for you, then I told you that he had said:

⁶I am the Lord your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt where you were slaves.

⁷Do not worship any god except me.

⁸^(A) Do not make idols that look like anything in the sky or on earth or in the ocean under the earth. ⁹^(B) Don't bow down and worship idols. I am the Lord your God, and I demand all your love. If you reject me and worship idols, I will punish your families for three or four generations. ¹⁰But if you love me and obey my laws, I will be kind to your families for thousands of generations.

¹¹^(C) Do not misuse my name.^[c] I am the Lord your God, and I will punish anyone who misuses my name.

¹²^(D) Show respect for the Sabbath Day—it belongs to me. ¹³^(E) You have six days when you can do your work, ¹⁴but the seventh day of the week belongs to me, your God. No one is to work on that day—not you, your children, your oxen or donkeys or any other animal, not even those foreigners who live in your towns. And don't make your slaves do any work. ¹⁵This special day of rest will remind you that I reached out my mighty arm and rescued you from slavery in Egypt.

¹⁶^(F) Respect your father and mother, and you will live a long and successful life in the land I am giving you.

¹⁷^(G) Do not murder.

¹⁸^(H) Be faithful in marriage.

¹⁹^(I) Do not steal.

²⁰^(J) Do not tell lies about others.

²¹^(K) Do not desire to possess anything that belongs to another person—not a house, a wife, a husband, a slave, an ox, a donkey, or anything else.

²²^(L) When we were gathered at the mountain, the Lord spoke to us in a loud voice from the dark fiery cloud. The Lord gave us these commands, and only these. Then he wrote them on two flat stones and gave them to me.

The People Were Afraid

(Exodus 20.18-21)

Moses said to Israel:

²³When fire blazed from the mountain, and you heard the voice coming from the darkness, your tribal leaders came to me ²⁴and said:

Today the Lord our God has shown us how powerful and glorious he is. He spoke to us from the fire, and we learned that people can live, even though God speaks to them. ²⁵But we don't want to take a chance on being killed by that terrible fire, and if we keep on hearing the Lord's voice, we will die. ²⁶Has anyone else ever heard the only true God speaking from fire, as we have? And even if they have, would they live to tell about it? ²⁷Moses, go up close and listen to the Lord. Then come back and tell us, and we will do everything he says.

²⁸The Lord heard you and said:

Moses, I heard what the people said to you, and I approve. ²⁹I wish they would always worship me with fear and trembling and be this willing to obey me! Then they and their children would always enjoy a successful life.

³⁰Now, tell them to return to their tents, ³¹but you come back here to me. After I tell you my laws and teachings, you will repeat them to the people, so they can obey these laws in the land I am giving them.

Moses said:

³²Israel, you must carefully obey the Lord's commands. ³³Follow them, because they make a path that will lead to a long successful life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Footnotes

5.2 Mount Sinai: See the note at 1.1-5.
5.3 wasn't only with: Hebrew “wasn't with.”
5.11 misuse my name: Probably includes breaking promises, telling lies after swearing to tell the truth, using the Lord's name as a curse word or a magic formula, and trying to control the Lord by using his name.