Exodus 20

New International Version

The Ten Commandments^(A)

20 And God spoke^(B) all these words:^(C)

²“I am the Lord your God,^(D) who brought you out^(E) of Egypt,^(F) out of the land of slavery.^(G)

³“You shall have no other gods before^[a] me.^(H)

⁴“You shall not make for yourself an image^(I) in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. ⁵You shall not bow down to them or worship^(J) them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God,^(K) punishing the children for the sin of the parents^(L) to the third and fourth generation^(M) of those who hate me, ⁶but showing love to a thousand^(N) generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.^(O)

⁸“Remember the Sabbath^(P) day by keeping it holy. ⁹Six days you shall labor and do all your work,^(Q) ¹⁰but the seventh day is a sabbath^(R) to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. ¹¹For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth,^(S) the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested^(T) on the seventh day.^(U) Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹²“Honor your father and your mother,^(V) so that you may live long^(W) in the land^(X) the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³“You shall not murder.^(Y)

¹⁴“You shall not commit adultery.^(Z)

¹⁵“You shall not steal.^(AA)

¹⁶“You shall not give false testimony^(AB) against your neighbor.^(AC)

¹⁷“You shall not covet^(AD) your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

¹⁸When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet^(AE) and saw the mountain in smoke,^(AF) they trembled with fear.^(AG) They stayed at a distance ¹⁹and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak^(AH) to us or we will die.”^(AI)

²⁰Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid.^(AJ) God has come to test^(AK) you, so that the fear^(AL) of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”^(AM)

²¹The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness^(AN) where God was.

Idols and Altars

²²Then the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites this: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven:^(AO) ²³Do not make any gods to be alongside me;^(AP) do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold.^(AQ)

²⁴“‘Make an altar^(AR) of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings^(AS) and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause my name^(AT) to be honored, I will come to you and bless^(AU) you. ²⁵If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool^(AV) on it. ²⁶And do not go up to my altar on steps, or your private parts^(AW) may be exposed.’

Footnotes

Exodus 20:3 Or besides

Exodus 5

New International Version

Bricks Without Straw

5 Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go,^(A) so that they may hold a festival^(B) to me in the wilderness.’”

²Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord,^(C) that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go.”^(D)

³Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey^(E) into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God, or he may strike us with plagues^(F) or with the sword.”

⁴But the king of Egypt said, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor?^(G) Get back to your work!” ⁵Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous,^(H) and you are stopping them from working.”

⁶That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers^(I) and overseers in charge of the people: ⁷“You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks;^(J) let them go and gather their own straw. ⁸But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota.^(K) They are lazy;^(L) that is why they are crying out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’^(M) ⁹Make the work harder for the people so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies.”

¹⁰Then the slave drivers^(N) and the overseers went out and said to the people, “This is what Pharaoh says: ‘I will not give you any more straw. ¹¹Go and get your own straw wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced^(O) at all.’” ¹²So the people scattered all over Egypt to gather stubble to use for straw. ¹³The slave drivers kept pressing them, saying, “Complete the work required of you for each day, just as when you had straw.” ¹⁴And Pharaoh’s slave drivers beat the Israelite overseers they had appointed,^(P) demanding, “Why haven’t you met your quota of bricks yesterday or today, as before?”

¹⁵Then the Israelite overseers went and appealed to Pharaoh: “Why have you treated your servants this way? ¹⁶Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”

¹⁷Pharaoh said, “Lazy, that’s what you are—lazy!^(Q) That is why you keep saying, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ ¹⁸Now get to work.^(R) You will not be given any straw, yet you must produce your full quota of bricks.”

¹⁹The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble when they were told, “You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.” ²⁰When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, ²¹and they said, “May the Lord look on you and judge^(S) you! You have made us obnoxious^(T) to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword^(U) in their hand to kill us.”^(V)

God Promises Deliverance

²²Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people?^(W) Is this why you sent me? ²³Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued^(X) your people at all.”