Beginning
Israel at Sinai
19 In the third month after the Israelites had left the land of Egypt, on that same day of the month, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. 2 After they set out from Rephidim and came to the Wilderness of Sinai, they camped in the wilderness. Israel camped there in front of the mountain.
3 Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, “This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and to tell the people of Israel: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5 Now if you will carefully listen to my voice and keep my covenant, then you will be my special treasure out of all the nations, although the entire earth is mine. 6 You will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites.”
7 Moses went and summoned the elders of the people, and he set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together, “Everything that the Lord has said, we will do.”
Moses brought back the people’s words to the Lord. 9 The Lord said to Moses, “Look, I will come to you in a dense cloud so that the people will hear when I speak with you, and then they will always believe you.” Moses told the people’s words to the Lord.
10 The Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people. Consecrate them today and tomorrow, and have them wash their clothes. 11 Be ready by the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 You shall set boundaries for the people all around the mountain. Tell them: ‘Be careful that you do not go up onto the mountain or touch the edge of it.’ Whoever touches the mountain must certainly be put to death. 13 No one’s hand is to touch such a person, but that person is to be stoned to death or shot with arrows. No such animal or person shall be allowed to live. But when the special ram’s horn sounds a long blast, the people may come up to the mountain.”
14 Moses went down from the mountain to the people. He consecrated the people, and they washed their clothes. 15 He said to the people, “Be ready by the third day. Do not come near a woman.”[a]
16 On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning. A thick cloud was over the mountain, and there was a very loud blast of a ram’s horn. All the people in the camp trembled. 17 Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. Its smoke went up like the smoke from a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled violently. 19 When the sound of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in the thunder. 20 The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, at the top of the mountain. The Lord then called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
21 The Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to see the Lord. If they do, many of them will fall. 22 Even the priests, who approach the Lord, must consecrate themselves so that the Lord does not break out against them.”
23 Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, because you warned, ‘Set boundaries around the mountain and treat it as holy.’”
24 The Lord said to him, “Go down and bring Aaron up with you, but the priests and the people must not break through to come up to the Lord, so that the Lord will not break out against them.”
25 So Moses went down to the people and told them these things.
The Ten Commandments
20 Then God spoke all these words:
2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, where you were slaves.[b]
3 You shall have no other gods beside me.[c] 4 You shall not make any carved image for yourself or a likeness of anything in heaven above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. 5 Do not bow down to them or be subservient to them,[d] for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.[e] I follow up on[f] the guilt of the fathers with their children, their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren, if they also hate me. 6 But I show mercy to thousands who love me and keep my commandments.
7 You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not permit anyone who misuses his name to escape unpunished.
8 Remember the Sabbath day[g] by setting it apart as holy. 9 Six days you are to serve and do all your regular work, 10 but the seventh day shall be a sabbath rest to the Lord your God. Do not do any regular work, neither you, nor your sons or daughters, nor your male or female servants, nor your cattle, nor the alien who is residing inside your gates, 11 for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. In this way the Lord blessed the seventh day and made it holy.
12 Honor your father and your mother so that you may spend many days on the land that the Lord your God is giving to you.
13 You shall not commit murder.
14 You shall not commit adultery.
15 You shall not steal.
16 You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor.[h]
18 All the people saw and heard the thunder and the lightning and the sound of the ram’s horn and the mountain smoking. The people saw,[i] and they trembled and stood far away. 19 Then they said to Moses, “Speak with us yourself, and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, or we will die.”
20 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that you may always fear him, so that you do not sin.”
21 The people stayed at a distance, but Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
22 Then the Lord told Moses to tell the people of Israel the following things:
You yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 You shall not make gods of silver or gods of gold and place them beside me. You shall not make them for yourselves.
24 You are to make an altar of earth for me and to sacrifice your whole burnt offerings on it, as well as your fellowship offerings, your sheep, and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and I will bless you.
25 If you make a stone altar for me, you are not to build it out of cut stones, because by applying a tool to it you would pollute it.
26 You are not to go up to my altar by steps, so that your nakedness will not be uncovered upon it.
Civil Laws
21 Now these are the ordinances which you are to set before them:
Laws About Servants
2 If you purchase a Hebrew servant, he is to serve for six years, but in the seventh he may go free without paying anything. 3 If he comes in by himself, he will go out by himself. If he is married when he comes in, then his wife will go out with him. 4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children will belong to her master, and the servant will go out by himself. 5 But if the servant formally declares, “I love my master, my wife, and my children. I do not want to go out free,” 6 then his master shall bring him to the judges.[j] His master shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and he shall bore through his ear with an awl. Then he shall serve him for the rest of his life.
7 If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she may not be sent out of the household as the male servants may be. 8 If she does not please her master who has married her, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has not kept his commitment to her. 9 If he marries her to his son, he must deal with her as he would deal with a daughter. 10 If he takes a second wife for himself, he must not diminish the food, the clothing, or the marital rights[k] of the first wife. 11 If he does not do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money.
Laws About Injuries
12 Anyone who strikes a man so that he dies must certainly be put to death. 13 However, if this was not done intentionally but rather was an act of God, for that kind of case I will appoint a place among you to which that man can flee. 14 But if a man plots and kills his neighbor deliberately, you shall take him from my altar, so that he may be put to death.
15 Anyone who strikes his father or his mother must certainly be put to death.
16 If anyone kidnaps someone and sells him, or if the kidnapped person is found in his possession, the kidnapper must certainly be put to death.
17 Anyone who curses his father or his mother must certainly be put to death.
18 If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and the victim does not die but is confined to bed— 19 if the victim gets up and can walk around outside with his staff, then the one who struck him shall not be punished, but he must pay for the victim’s lost work time while he is recuperating, until he is completely healed.
20 If a man strikes his male or his female servant with a club,[l] and the servant dies at his hand, he must certainly be punished. 21 However, if the servant gets up after a day or two,[m] the man shall not be punished, for the servant was his property.
22 If men are fighting and they injure a pregnant woman so that the child comes out, yet no harm follows, they must certainly be fined as much as the woman’s husband demands and the judges approve. 23 But if any harm follows, then you are to take life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.
26 If a man strikes his male or female servant’s eye and destroys it, he must let the servant go free as payment for the eye. 27 If he knocks out his male or female servant’s tooth, he must let the servant go free as payment for the tooth.
28 If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox must be stoned to death, and its flesh must not be eaten, but the owner of the ox will not be held responsible. 29 If the ox, however, had a habit of goring in the past, and its owner had been warned, but he did not keep it confined, and it then kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death. 30 But if a redemption payment is imposed on the owner instead of the death penalty, he must pay whatever is imposed on him to save his life. 31 This is also the ruling that applies to him if the ox has gored someone’s son or daughter. 32 But if the ox gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to the servant’s owner, and the ox is to be stoned to death.
33 If a man uncovers a cistern,[n] or if a man digs a cistern and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the cistern shall pay for the loss in full. He shall give money to the owner of the animal, and the dead animal shall be his.
35 If one man’s ox injures his neighbor’s ox, so that it dies, they shall sell the live ox and divide the money they got for it, and they shall also divide the dead animal. 36 But if it was known that the ox was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it confined, he must pay ox for ox, and the dead animal will be his.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.