Beginning
The Ten Commandments
5 Moses sent for all the Israelites. Here is what he said to them.
Israel, listen to me. Here are the rules and laws I’m announcing to you today. Learn them well. Be sure to obey them. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Mount Horeb. 3 He didn’t make it only with our people of long ago. He also made it with us. In fact, he made it with all of us who are alive here today. 4 The Lord spoke to you face to face. His voice came out of the fire on the mountain. 5 At that time I stood between the Lord and you. I announced to you the Lord’s message. I did it because you were afraid of the fire. You didn’t go up the mountain.
The Lord said,
6 “I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt. That is the land where you were slaves.
7 “Do not put any other gods in place of me.
8 “Do not make statues of gods that look like anything in the sky or on the earth or in the waters. 9 Do not bow down to them or worship them. I am the Lord your God. I want you to worship only me. I cause the sins of the parents to affect their children. I will cause the sins of those who hate me to affect even their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 10 But for all time to come I show love to all those who love me and keep my commandments.
11 “Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will find guilty anyone who misuses his name.
12 “Keep the Sabbath day holy. Do this just as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 Do all your work in six days. 14 But the seventh day is a sabbath to honor the Lord your God. Do not do any work on that day. The same command applies to your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen, your donkeys and your other animals. It also applies to any outsiders who live in your towns. I want your male and female servants to rest, just as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. The Lord your God reached out his mighty hand and powerful arm and brought you out of there. So the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day holy.
16 “Honor your father and mother, just as the Lord your God has commanded you. Then you will live a long time in the land he is giving you. And things will go well with you there.
17 “Do not murder.
18 “Do not commit adultery.
19 “Do not steal.
20 “Do not be a false witness against your neighbor.
21 “Do not want to have your neighbor’s wife. Do not desire anything your neighbor owns. Do not desire to have your neighbor’s house or land, male or female servant, ox or donkey.”
22 These are the commandments the Lord announced in a loud voice to your whole community. He gave them to you there on the mountain. He spoke out of the fire, cloud and deep darkness. He didn’t add anything else. Then he wrote the commandments on two stone tablets. And he gave them to me.
23 The mountain was blazing with fire. You heard the voice coming out of the darkness. So your elders and all the leaders of your tribes came to me. 24 You said, “The Lord our God has shown us his glory and majesty. We have heard his voice coming out of the fire. Today we have seen that a person can still stay alive even if God speaks with them. 25 But why should we die? This great fire will burn us up. We’ll die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God again. 26 We have heard the voice of the living God. We’ve heard him speaking out of the fire. Has any other human being ever heard him speak like that and stayed alive? 27 Go near and listen to everything the Lord our God says. Then tell us what he tells you. We will listen and obey.”
28 The Lord heard you when you spoke to me. He said to me, “I have heard what these people said to you. Everything they said was good. 29 But I wish they would always have respect for me in their hearts. I wish they would always obey all my commands. Then things would go well with them and their children forever.
30 “Go and tell them to return to their tents. 31 But you stay here with me. Then I will give you all my commands, rules and laws. You must teach the people to obey them in the land I am giving them as their very own.”
32 So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you. Don’t turn away from his commands to the right or the left. 33 Live exactly as the Lord your God has commanded you to live. Then you will enjoy life in the land you will soon own. Things will go well with you there. You will live there for a long time.
Love the Lord Your God
6 The Lord your God has directed me to teach you his commands, rules and laws. Obey them in the land you will take over when you go across the Jordan River. 2 Then you, your children and their children after them will honor the Lord your God as long as you live. Obey all his rules and commands I’m giving you. If you do, you will enjoy long life. 3 Israel, listen to me. Make sure you obey me. Then things will go well with you. The number of your people will increase greatly in a land that has plenty of milk and honey. That’s what the Lord, the God of your parents, promised you.
4 Israel, listen to me. The Lord is our God. The Lord is the one and only God. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your strength. 6 The commandments I give you today must be in your hearts. 7 Make sure your children learn them. Talk about them when you are at home. Talk about them when you walk along the road. Speak about them when you go to bed. And speak about them when you get up. 8 Write them down and tie them on your hands as a reminder. Also tie them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses. Also write them on your gates.
10 The Lord your God will bring you into the land of Canaan. He gave his word. He promised he would give the land to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The land has large, wealthy cities you didn’t build. 11 It has houses filled with all kinds of good things you didn’t provide. The land has wells you didn’t dig. And it has vineyards and groves of olive trees you didn’t plant. You will have plenty to eat. 12 But be careful that you don’t forget the Lord. Remember that he brought you out of Egypt. That’s the land where you were slaves.
13 Worship the Lord your God. He is the only one you should serve. When you make promises, do so in his name. 14 Don’t serve the gods of the nations around you. 15 The Lord your God is among you. He wants you to worship only him. If you worship other gods, God will be very angry with you. And he will destroy you from the face of the land. 16 Don’t test the Lord your God as you did at Massah. 17 Be sure to obey the Lord’s commands. Obey the terms and rules he has given you. 18 Do what is right and good in the Lord’s eyes. Then things will go well with you. You will go in and take over the land. It’s the good land the Lord promised to your people of long ago. 19 You will drive out all your enemies to make room for you. That’s what the Lord said would happen.
20 Later on, your child might ask you, “What is the meaning of the terms, rules and laws the Lord our God has commanded you to obey?” 21 If they do ask you, tell them, “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. But the Lord used his mighty hand to bring us out of Egypt. 22 With our own eyes we saw the Lord send amazing signs. They were great and terrible. He sent them on Egypt and Pharaoh and everyone in his house. 23 But the Lord brought us out of Egypt. He planned to bring us into the land of Canaan and give it to us. It’s the land he promised to our people of long ago. 24 The Lord our God commanded us to obey all his rules. He commanded us to honor him. If we do, we will always succeed and be kept alive. That’s what is happening today. 25 We must make sure we obey the whole law in the sight of the Lord our God. That’s what he has commanded us to do. If we obey his law, we’ll be doing what he requires of us.”
The Lord Will Drive Out Many Nations
7 The Lord your God will bring you into the land. You are going to enter it and take it as your own. He’ll drive out many nations to make room for you. He’ll drive out the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Those seven nations are larger and stronger than you are. 2 The Lord your God will hand them over to you. You will win the battle over them. You must completely destroy them. Don’t make a peace treaty with them. Don’t show them any mercy. 3 Don’t marry any of their people. Don’t give your daughters to their sons. And don’t take their daughters for your sons. 4 If you do, those people will turn your children away from serving the Lord. Then your children will serve other gods. The Lord will be very angry with you. He will quickly destroy you. 5 So here is what you must do to those people. Break down their altars. Smash their sacred stones. Cut down the poles they use to worship the female god named Asherah. Burn the statues of their gods in the fire. 6 You are a holy nation. The Lord your God has set you apart for himself. He has chosen you to be his special treasure. He chose you out of all the nations on the face of the earth to be his people.
7 The Lord chose you because he loved you very much. He didn’t choose you because you had more people than other nations. In fact, you had the smallest number of all. 8 The Lord chose you because he loved you. He wanted to keep the promise he had made to your people of long ago. That’s why he used his mighty hand to bring you out of Egypt. He bought you back from the land where you were slaves. He set you free from the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. 9 So I want you to realize that the Lord your God is God. He is the faithful God. He keeps his covenant for all time to come. He keeps it with those who love him and obey his commandments. He shows them his love. 10 But he will pay back those who hate him. He’ll destroy them. He’ll quickly pay back those who hate him. 11 So be careful to obey the commands, rules and laws I’m giving you today.
12 Pay attention to the laws of the Lord your God. Be careful to obey them. Then he will keep his covenant of love with you. That’s what he promised to your people of long ago. 13 The Lord will love you and bless you. He’ll cause there to be many of you. He’ll give you many children. He’ll bless the crops of your land. He’ll give you plenty of grain, olive oil and fresh wine. He’ll bless your herds with many calves. He’ll give your flocks many lambs. He’ll do all these things for you in the land of Canaan. It’s the land he promised your people of long ago that he would give you. 14 He will bless you more than any other nation. All your men and women will have children. All your livestock will have little ones. 15 The Lord will keep you from getting sick. He won’t send on you any of the horrible sicknesses you saw all around you in Egypt. But he’ll send them on everyone who hates you. 16 You must destroy all the nations the Lord your God hands over to you. Don’t feel sorry for them. Don’t serve their gods. If you do, they will be a trap for you.
17 You might say to yourselves, “These nations are stronger than we are. How can we drive them out?” 18 But don’t be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all the Egyptians. 19 With your own eyes you saw what the Lord did to them. You saw the signs and amazing things he did. He reached out his mighty hand and powerful arm. The Lord your God used all those things to bring you out. You are now afraid of the nations that are in the land the Lord promised you. But the Lord your God will do to them the same things he did to Egypt. 20 The Lord your God will also send hornets among those nations. Some of the people left alive will hide from you. But even they will die. 21 So don’t be terrified by them. The Lord your God is with you. He is a great and wonderful God. 22 The Lord your God will drive out those nations to make room for you. But he will do it little by little. You won’t be allowed to get rid of them all at once. If you did, wild animals would multiply all around you. 23 But the Lord your God will hand those nations over to you. He will throw them into a panic until they are destroyed. 24 He will hand their kings over to you. You will wipe out their names from the earth. No one will be able to stand up against you. You will destroy them. 25 Burn the statues of their gods in the fire. Don’t wish for the silver and gold on those statues. Don’t take it for yourselves. If you do, it will be a trap for you. The Lord your God hates it. 26 Don’t bring anything he hates into your house. If you do, you will be completely destroyed along with it. So hate it with all your heart. It is set apart to be destroyed.
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