The Ten Commandments

20 ^(A)And ^(B)God spoke all these words, saying,

^2 (C)“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

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

^4 (E)“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ^5 (F)You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am ^(G)a jealous God, ^(H)visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing steadfast love to thousands^[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

^7 (I)“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

^8 (J)“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ^9 (K)Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the ^(L)seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the ^(M)sojourner who is within your gates. ¹¹ For ^(N)in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

^12 (O)“Honor your father and your mother, ^(P)that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

^13 (Q)“You shall not murder.^[c]

^14 (R)“You shall not commit adultery.

^15 (S)“You shall not steal.

^16 (T)“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

^17 (U)“You shall not covet ^(V)your neighbor's house; ^(W)you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”

¹⁸ Now when all the people saw ^(X)the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid^[d] and trembled, and they stood far off ¹⁹ and said to Moses, ^(Y)“You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” ^20 (Z)Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to ^(AA)test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” ²¹ The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the ^(AB)thick darkness where God was.

Laws About Altars

²² And the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have ^(AC)talked with you from heaven. ^23 (AD)You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. ²⁴ An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. ^(AE)In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and ^(AF)bless you. ^25 (AG)If you make me an altar of stone, ^(AH)you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. ²⁶ And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’

The Priests' Garments

28 “Then bring near to you ^(A)Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the people of Israel, to serve me as priests—Aaron and Aaron's sons, ^(B)Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ^2 (C)And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. ³ You shall speak to all the ^(D)skillful, whom I have filled with a spirit of skill, that they make Aaron's garments to consecrate him for my priesthood. ⁴ These are the garments that they shall make: a ^(E)breastpiece, an ^(F)ephod, ^(G)a robe, ^(H)a coat of checker work, ^(I)a turban, and ^(J)a sash. They shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons to serve me as priests. ⁵ They shall receive ^(K)gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen.

^6 (L)“And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and of fine twined linen, skillfully worked. ⁷ It shall have two shoulder pieces attached to its two edges, so that it may be joined together. ⁸ And the ^(M)skillfully woven band on it shall be made like it and be of one piece with it, of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen. ⁹ You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, ¹⁰ six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth. ¹¹ As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree. ¹² And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And ^(N)Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders ^(O)for remembrance. ¹³ You shall make settings of gold filigree, ¹⁴ and two chains of pure gold, twisted like cords; and you shall attach the corded chains to the settings.

^15 (P)“You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, in skilled work. In the style of the ephod you shall make it—of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen shall you make it. ¹⁶ It shall be square and doubled, a span^[a] its length and a span its breadth. ^17 (Q)You shall set in it four rows of stones. A row of sardius,^[b] topaz, and carbuncle shall be the first row; ¹⁸ and the second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; ¹⁹ and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; ²⁰ and the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold filigree. ²¹ There shall be twelve stones with their names according to the names of the sons of Israel. They shall be like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes. ²² You shall make for the breastpiece twisted chains like cords, of pure gold. ²³ And you shall make for the breastpiece two rings of gold, and put the two rings on the two edges of the breastpiece. ²⁴ And you shall put the two cords of gold in the two rings at the edges of the breastpiece. ²⁵ The two ends of the two cords you shall attach to the two settings of filigree, and so attach it in front to the shoulder pieces of the ephod. ²⁶ You shall make two rings of gold, and put them at the two ends of the breastpiece, on its inside edge next to the ephod. ²⁷ And you shall make two rings of gold, and attach them in front to the lower part of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, at its seam above the ^(R)skillfully woven band of the ephod. ²⁸ And they shall bind the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, so that it may lie on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, so that the breastpiece shall not come loose from the ephod. ^29 (S)So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart, when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular ^(T)remembrance before the Lord. ³⁰ And in the breastpiece of judgment ^(U)you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron's heart, when he goes in before the Lord. Thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the people of Israel on his heart before the Lord regularly.

^31 (V)“You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. ³² It shall have an opening for the head in the middle of it, with a woven binding around the opening, like the opening in a garment,^[c] so that it may not tear. ³³ On its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet yarns, around its hem, with bells of gold between them, ³⁴ a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, around the hem of the robe. ³⁵ And it shall be on Aaron when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he goes into the Holy Place before the Lord, and when he comes out, so that he does not die.

³⁶ “You shall make ^(W)a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet, ^(X)‘Holy to the Lord.’ ³⁷ And you shall fasten it on the turban by a cord of blue. It shall be on the front of the turban. ³⁸ It shall be on Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall ^(Y)bear any guilt from the holy things that the people of Israel consecrate as their holy gifts. It shall regularly be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord.

³⁹ “You shall weave the coat in checker work of fine linen, and you shall make a turban of fine linen, and you shall make a sash embroidered with needlework.

^40 (Z)“For Aaron's sons you shall make coats and sashes and caps. You shall make them ^(AA)for glory and beauty. ⁴¹ And you shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall ^(AB)anoint them and ordain them and ^(AC)consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests. ⁴² You shall make for them ^(AD)linen undergarments to cover their naked flesh. They shall reach from the hips to the thighs; ⁴³ and they shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they go into the tent of meeting or when they come near the altar to minister in the Holy Place, lest they ^(AE)bear guilt and die. ^(AF)This shall be a statute forever for him and for his offspring after him.