Exodus 19:18-23:33
Contemporary English Version
18 Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had come down in a flaming fire. Smoke poured out of the mountain just like a furnace, and the whole mountain shook. 19 The trumpet blew louder and louder. Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder.
20 The Lord came down to the top of Mount Sinai and told Moses to meet him there. 21 Then he said, “Moses, go and warn the people not to cross the boundary that you set at the foot of the mountain. They must not cross it to come and look at me, because if they do, many of them will die. 22 Only the priests may come near me, and they must obey strict rules before I let them. If they don't, they will be punished.”
23 Moses replied, “The people cannot come up the mountain. You warned us to stay away because it is holy.”
24 Then the Lord told Moses, “Go down and bring Aaron back here with you. But the priests and people must not try to push their way through, or I will rush at them like a flood!”
25 After Moses had gone back down, he told the people what the Lord had said.
The Ten Commandments
(Deuteronomy 5.1-21)
20 God said to the people of Israel:
2 I am the Lord your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt where you were slaves.
3 Do 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. 6 But 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, 10 but 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 19 and 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.” 21 But when Moses went near the thick cloud where God was, the people stayed a long way off.
Idols and Altars
22 The Lord told Moses to say to the people of Israel:
With your own eyes you saw me speak to you from heaven. 23 So you must never make idols of silver or gold to worship in place of me.[b]
24 Build 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. 26 And don't build an altar that requires steps; you might expose yourself when you climb up.
Hebrew Slaves
(Deuteronomy 15.12-18)
21 The Lord gave Moses the following laws for his people:
2 (O) If you buy a Hebrew slave, he must remain your slave for six years. But in the seventh year you must set him free, without cost to him. 3 If he was single at the time you bought him, he alone must be set free. But if he was married at the time, both he and his wife must be given their freedom. 4 If you give him a wife, and they have children, only the man himself must be set free; his wife and children remain the property of his owner.
5 But suppose the slave loves his wife and children and his owner so much that he won't leave them. 6 Then he must stand beside either the door or the doorpost at the place of worship,[d] while his owner punches a small hole through one of his ears with a sharp metal rod. This makes him a slave for life.
7 A young woman who was sold by her father doesn't gain her freedom in the same way that a man does. 8 If she doesn't please the man who bought her to be his wife, he must let her be bought back.[e] He cannot sell her to foreigners; this would break the contract he made with her. 9 If he selects her as a wife for his son, he must treat her as his own daughter.
10 If the man later marries another woman, he must continue to provide food and clothing for the one he bought and to treat her as a wife. 11 If he fails to do any of these things, she must be given her freedom without paying for it.
Murder and Other Violent Crimes
The Lord said:
12 (P) Death is the punishment for murder. 13 (Q) But if you did not intend to kill someone, and I, the Lord, let it happen anyway, you may run for safety to a place that I have set aside. 14 If you plan in advance to murder someone, there's no escape, not even by holding on to my altar.[f] You will be dragged off and killed.
15 Death is the punishment for attacking your father or mother.
16 (R) Death is the punishment for kidnapping. If you sell the person you kidnapped, or if you are caught with that person, the penalty is death.
17 (S) Death is the punishment for cursing your father or mother.
18 Suppose two of you are arguing, and you hit the other with either a rock or your fist, without causing a fatal injury. If the victim has to stay in bed, 19 and later has to use a stick when walking outside, you must pay for the loss of time and do what you can to help until the injury is completely healed. That's your only responsibility.
20 Death is the punishment for beating to death any of your slaves. 21 However, if the slave lives a few days after the beating, you are not to be punished. After all, you have already lost the services of that slave who was your property.
22 Suppose a pregnant woman suffers a miscarriage[g] as the result of an injury caused by someone who is fighting. If she isn't badly hurt, the one who injured her must pay whatever fine her husband demands and the judges approve. 23 But if she is seriously injured, the payment will be life for life, 24 (T) eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, cut for cut, and bruise for bruise.
26 If you hit one of your slaves and cause the loss of an eye, the slave must be set free. 27 The same law applies if you knock out a slave's tooth—the slave goes free.
28 A bull that kills someone with its horns must be killed and its meat destroyed, but the owner of the bull isn't responsible for the death.
29 Suppose you own a bull that has been in the habit of attacking people, but you have refused to keep it fenced in. If that bull kills someone, both you and the bull must be put to death by stoning. 30 However, you may save your own life by paying whatever fine is demanded. 31 This same law applies if the bull gores someone's son or daughter. 32 If the bull kills a slave, you must pay the slave owner 30 pieces of silver for the loss of the slave, and the bull must be killed by stoning.
33 Suppose someone's ox or donkey is killed by falling into an open pit that you dug or left uncovered on your property. 34 You must pay for the dead animal, and it becomes yours.
35 If your bull kills someone else's, yours must be sold. Then the money from your bull and the meat from the dead bull must be divided equally between you and the other owner.
36 If you refuse to fence in a bull that is known to attack others, you must replace any animal it kills, but the dead animal will belong to you.
Property Laws
The Lord said:
22 If you steal an ox and slaughter or sell it, you must replace it with five oxen; if you steal a sheep and slaughter it or sell it, you must replace it with four sheep. 2-4 But if you cannot afford to replace the animals, you must be sold as a slave to pay for what you have stolen. If you steal an ox, donkey, or sheep, and are caught with it still alive, you must pay the owner double.
If you happen to kill a burglar who breaks into your home after dark, you are not guilty. But if you kill someone who breaks in during the day, you are guilty of murder.
5 If you allow any of your animals to stray from your property and graze[h] in someone else's field or vineyard, you must repay the damage from the best part of your own harvest of grapes and grain.
6 If you carelessly let a fire spread from your property to someone else's, you must pay the owner for any crops or fields destroyed by the fire.
7 Suppose a neighbor asks you to keep some silver or other valuables, and they are stolen from your house. If the thief is caught, the thief must repay double. 8 But if the thief isn't caught, some judges[i] will decide if you are the guilty one.
9 Suppose two people claim to own the same ox or donkey or sheep or piece of clothing. Then the judges[j] must decide the case, and the guilty person will pay the owner double.
10 Suppose a neighbor who is going to be away asks you to keep a donkey or an ox or a sheep or some other animal, and it dies or gets injured or is stolen while no one is looking. 11 If you swear with me as your witness that you did not harm the animal, you do not have to replace it. Your word is enough. 12 But if the animal was stolen while in your care, you must replace it. 13 If the animal was attacked and killed by a wild animal, and you can show the remains of the dead animal to its owner, you do not have to replace it.
14 Suppose you borrow an animal from a neighbor, and it gets injured or dies while the neighbor isn't around. Then you must replace it. 15 But if something happens to the animal while the owner is present, you do not have to replace it. If you had leased the animal, the money you paid the owner will cover any harm done to it.
Laws for Everyday Life
The Lord said:
16 (U) Suppose a young woman has never had sex and isn't engaged. If a man talks her into having sex, he must pay the bride price[k] and marry her. 17 But if her father refuses to let her marry the man, the bride price must still be paid.
18 (V) Death is the punishment for witchcraft.
19 (W) Death is the punishment for having sex with an animal.
20 (X) Death is the punishment for offering sacrifices to any god except me.
21 (Y) Do not mistreat or abuse foreigners who live among you. Remember, you were foreigners in Egypt.
22 Do not mistreat widows or orphans. 23 If you do, they will beg for my help, and I will come to their rescue. 24 In fact, I will get so angry that I will kill your men and make widows of their wives and orphans of their children.
25 (Z) Don't charge interest when you lend money to any of my people who are in need. 26 (AA) Before sunset you must return any coat taken as security for a loan, 27 because that is the only cover the poor have when they sleep at night. I am a merciful God, and when they call out to me, I will come to help them.
28 (AB) Don't speak evil of me[l] or of the ruler of your people.
29 Don't fail to give me the offerings of grain and wine that belong to me.[m]
Dedicate to me your first-born sons 30 and the first-born of your cattle and sheep. Let the animals stay with their mothers for seven days, then on the eighth day give them to me, your God.
31 (AC) You are my chosen people, so don't eat the meat of any of your livestock that was killed by a wild animal. Instead, feed the meat to dogs.
Equal Justice for All
The Lord said:
23 (AD) Don't spread harmful rumors or help a criminal by giving false evidence.
2 Always tell the truth in court, even if everyone else is[n] dishonest and stands in the way of justice. 3 (AE) And don't favor the poor, simply because they are poor.
4 (AF) If you find an ox or a donkey that has wandered off, take it back where it belongs, even if the owner is your enemy.
5 If a donkey is overloaded and falls down, you must do what you can to help, even if it belongs to someone who doesn't like you.[o]
6 (AG) Make sure that the poor are given equal justice in court. 7 Don't bring false charges against anyone or sentence an innocent person to death. I won't forgive you if you do.
8 Don't accept bribes. Judges are blinded and justice is twisted by bribes.
9 (AH) Don't mistreat foreigners. You were foreigners in Egypt, and you know what it is like.
Laws for the Sabbath
The Lord said:
10 (AI) Plant and harvest your crops for six years, 11 but let the land rest during the seventh year. The poor are to eat what they want from your fields, vineyards, and olive trees during that year, and when they have all they want from your fields, leave the rest for wild animals.
12 (AJ) Work the first six days of the week, but rest and relax on the seventh day. This law is not only for you, but for your oxen, donkeys, and slaves, as well as for any foreigners among you.
13 Make certain that you obey everything I have said. Don't pray to other gods or even mention their names.
Three Annual Festivals
(Exodus 34.18-26; Deuteronomy 16.1-17)
The Lord said:
14 Celebrate three festivals each year in my honor.
15 (AK) Celebrate the Festival of Thin Bread by eating bread made without yeast, just as I have commanded.[p] Do this at the proper time during the month of Abib,[q] because it is the month when you left Egypt. And make certain that everyone brings the proper offerings.
16 (AL) Celebrate the Harvest Festival[r] each spring when you start harvesting your wheat, and celebrate the Festival of Shelters[s] each autumn when you pick your fruit.
17 Your men must come to these three festivals each year to worship me.
18 Do not offer bread made with yeast when you sacrifice an animal to me. And make sure that the fat of the animal is burned that same day.
19 (AM) Each year bring the best part of your first harvest to the place of worship.
Don't boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
A Promise and a Warning
The Lord said:
20 I am sending an angel to protect you and to lead you into the land I have ready for you. 21 Carefully obey everything the angel says, because I am giving him complete authority, and he won't tolerate rebellion. 22 If you faithfully obey him, I will be a fierce enemy of your enemies. 23 My angel will lead you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out. 24 Don't worship their gods or follow their customs. Instead, destroy their idols and shatter their stone images.
25 Worship only me, the Lord your God! I will bless you with plenty of food and water and keep you strong. 26 Your women will give birth to healthy children, and everyone will live a long life.
27 I will terrify those nations and make your enemies so confused that they will run from you. 28 I will make the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites panic as you approach. 29 But I won't do all this in the first year, because the land would become poor, and wild animals would be everywhere. 30 Instead, I will force out your enemies little by little and give your nation time to grow strong enough to take over the land.
31 I will see that your borders reach from the Red Sea[t] to the Euphrates River and from the Mediterranean Sea to the desert. I will let you defeat the people who live there, and you will force them out of the land. 32 But you must not make any agreements with them or with their gods. 33 Don't let them stay in your land. They will trap you into sinning against me and worshiping their gods.
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”).
- 21.6 at the place of worship: The Hebrew text has “in the presence of God,” which probably refers to the place where God was worshiped.
- 21.8 bought back: Either by her family or by another Israelite who wanted to marry her.
- 21.14 altar: As a rule, anyone who ran to the altar was safe from the death penalty, until proven guilty.
- 21.22 suffers a miscarriage: Or “gives birth before her time.”
- 22.5 graze: Or “eat everything.”
- 22.8 some judges: Or “I.”
- 22.9 the judges: Or “I.”
- 22.16 bride price: It was the custom for a man to pay his wife's family a bride price before the actual wedding ceremony took place.
- 22.28 me: Or “your judges.”
- 22.29 Don't fail … me: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
- 23.2 everyone else is: Or “the authorities are.”
- 23.5 you: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 5.
- 23.15 as I have commanded: See 12.14-20.
- 23.15 Abib: See the note at 12.2.
- 23.16 Harvest Festival: Traditionally called the “Festival of Weeks” and known in New Testament times as “Pentecost.”
- 23.16 Festival of Shelters: The Hebrew text has “Festival of Ingathering” (so also in 34.22), which was the final harvesting of crops and fruits before the autumn rains began. But the usual name was “Festival of Shelters.”
- 23.31 Red Sea: Hebrew yam suph, here referring to the Gulf of Aqaba, since the term is extended to include the northeastern arm of the Red Sea (see also the note at 13.18).
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