Covenant Obligations

¹⁰ And the Lord responded: “Look, I am making a covenant. I will perform wonders in the presence of all your people^[a] that have never been done^[b] in all the earth or in any nation. All the people you live among will see the Lord’s work, for what I am doing with you is awe-inspiring.^{(A) 11} Observe what I command you today. I am going to drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites,^[c] and Jebusites. ¹² Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land that you are going to enter; otherwise, they will become a snare among you.^{(B) 13} Instead, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and chop down their Asherah poles.^{(C) 14} You are never to bow down to another god because Yahweh, being jealous^(D) by nature,^[d] is a jealous God.

¹⁵ “Do not make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land, or else when they prostitute themselves with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices.^{(E) 16} Then you will take some of their daughters as brides for your sons. Their daughters will prostitute themselves with their gods and cause your sons to prostitute themselves with their gods.^(F)

¹⁷ “Do not make cast images^(G) of gods for yourselves.

¹⁸ “Observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. You are to eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib^[e] as I commanded you. For you came out of Egypt in the month of Abib.^(H)

¹⁹ “The firstborn^(I) male from every womb belongs to Me, including all your male^[f][g] livestock, the firstborn of cattle or sheep. ²⁰ You must redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a sheep, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck.^(J) You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one is to appear before Me empty-handed.

²¹ “You are to labor six days but you must rest^(K) on the seventh day; you must even rest during plowing and harvesting times.

²² “Observe the Festival of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering^[h] at the turn of the agricultural year. ²³ Three times a year^(L) all your males are to appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. ²⁴ For I will drive out nations^(M) before you and enlarge your territory.^(N) No one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.

²⁵ “Do not present^[i] the blood for My sacrifice with anything leavened. The sacrifice of the Passover Festival must not remain until morning.^(O)

²⁶ “Bring the best firstfruits^(P) of your land to the house of the Lord your God.

“You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷ The Lord also said to Moses, “Write^(Q) down these words, for I have made a covenant with you and with Israel based on these words.”

²⁸ Moses was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. He wrote the Ten Commandments,^(R) the words of the covenant, on the tablets.