Beginning
The Israelites arrive at Sinai mountain
19 1-2 After the Israelites left Rephidim, they went into the Sinai desert. The Israelites put up their tents in the desert, at the side of Sinai mountain. That happened on the first day of the third month since they came out of Egypt.
3 Moses went up the mountain to speak with God. The Lord spoke to him from the mountain. He said, ‘This is what you must say to the Israelites, Jacob's descendants: 4 “You yourselves have seen what I did against the Egyptians. You know how I took care of you. I carried you carefully, like an eagle carries her babies on her wings. I brought you here to come to me. 5 Now you must be careful to obey me and my covenant with you. Then you will belong to me as my special people. The whole earth belongs to me, and I have chosen you from among all the nations. 6 You will be my priests who serve in my kingdom. You will be a nation that is special to me.” These are the words that you must speak to the Israelites.’
7 So Moses came back down from the mountain. He brought together all the leaders of the Israelites. He told them all the words that the Lord had commanded him. 8 The people all replied together. They said, ‘We will do everything that the Lord has said.’ Then Moses repeated their answer to the Lord.
9 The Lord said to Moses, ‘I will come to you in a thick cloud. Then the people will hear me when I speak to you. Then they will always believe what you say.’ Moses told the Lord the words that the people had said.
10 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to the people. Make them ready to meet with me. Today and tomorrow they must wash their clothes. 11 They must be ready on the third day. On that day, I will come down on Sinai mountain, so that all the people see me. 12 Make a line round the edge of the mountain so that the people do not cross it. Say to them, “Be careful! Do not go up the mountain or even touch the edge of it. If any people or animals touch the mountain, they must die. 13 Nobody must go near them. You must throw stones at them to kill them. Or you must shoot arrows at them. You must not let them live, whether they are people or animals.” The people must wait until they hear the sound of a trumpet. When they hear a long noise, then they may go up on the mountain.’
14 Then Moses came down from the mountain to speak to the people. He told them to make themselves ready for God. So the people washed their clothes. 15 Then Moses said to them, ‘Prepare yourselves for the third day. While you wait, do not have sex with your wives, or anyone.’
16 On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning. A thick cloud was there over the mountain. The people heard the noise of a loud trumpet. They were so afraid that their bodies were shaking.
17 Then Moses led the people away from their tents to meet with God. They went and they stood at the edge of the mountain. 18 Smoke covered Sinai mountain because the Lord had come down on the mountain, like a fire. The smoke rose up from the mountain, like smoke from a great fire. The whole mountain shook very much. 19 The noise of the trumpet became louder and louder. Moses spoke to God and God answered him with a loud voice.
20 The Lord came down onto the top of Sinai mountain. Then the Lord told Moses that he must come up to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up the mountain. 21 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go down to the people. Warn them that they must stay away from the mountain. They must not cross the line to try to see me, the Lord. If they do that, many of them will die. 22 Even the priests must make themselves clean before they come near to me. If they do not obey this command, I will punish them. I am the Lord.’
23 Moses said to the Lord, ‘The people cannot come up Sinai mountain. You warned us that we must make a line round the edge of the mountain. You said that we must make the mountain a special place.’
24 The Lord replied, ‘Now go back down. Then bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must stay where they are. They must not try to come up here where I am. If they come across the line, I will punish them.’
25 So Moses went down to the people. He told them what the Lord had said.
God's 10 special commands
20 Then God spoke all these words:
2 ‘I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt, the country where you were slaves.
3 You must not have any other gods except me.
4 You must not make any idol for yourself. Do not make a false god in the shape of anything that is in the sky above. Do not make one in the shape of anything on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bend down your head to any idol or worship it. I am the Lord your God and I want you to belong to me alone. I will punish children because of the bad things that their fathers have done. I will also punish their children and their grandchildren too. That is how I will punish everyone who turns against me. 6 But I will truly love all those who love me. They are the people who obey my laws. I will continue to love them and their families for ever.
7 You must not speak the name of the Lord your God in a wrong way. The Lord will punish anyone who speaks his name in a wrong way.
8 Remember the Sabbath day. Keep it as a special day for me. 9 You have six days every week to do all your work. 10 But the seventh day is a Sabbath day. It is special for the Lord your God. You must not do any work on that day. Your son and your daughter must not work on that day. Your servants, male or female, must not work on that day. The foreign person who lives among you and even your animals must not work on that day. 11 In six days, the Lord made the heavens, the earth and the sea. He made everything that is in them. But on the seventh day, the Lord rested. So he blessed the Sabbath day and he made it special.
12 Always respect your father and your mother. Then you will live for many years in the land that the Lord your God will give to you.
13 You must not murder anyone.
14 You must not have sex with another person's husband or wife.
15 You must not take another person's things for yourself.
16 You must not say false things against your neighbour.
17 You must not want to take your neighbour's house for yourself. You must not want to take his wife, or his servants, male or female. You must not want to take his ox, or his donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbour.’
The people are very afraid
18 The people heard the loud thunder and they saw the bright lightning. They heard the noise of the trumpet. They saw the smoke on the mountain. They were so afraid that their bodies were shaking. They would not come near. 19 They said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself. We will listen to you. But do not let God speak to us. If he does, we will die.’
20 Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. God has come to test you. He wants you to respect him and to obey him. Then you will not do things that are wrong.’
21 So the people stayed away from the mountain. But Moses walked towards the thick, dark cloud, where God was.
Rules about certain things
22 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell this to the Israelites: “You yourselves have heard me speak to you from heaven. 23 Do not make any idols to take my place. Do not use silver or gold to make an idol that you will worship.
24 Instead, use earth to make an altar for me. You must offer sacrifices to me on the altar. You may take your sheep, your goats or your cows to make burnt offerings or friendship offerings or other sacrifices to me. Make an altar like this in any place that I choose for you to worship me. In those places, I will come to you and I will bless you. 25 You may also use stones from the ground to make an altar for me. But do not use any tools to cut the stones. If you use a tool on the stones, the altar will not be right for you to worship me there.
26 Do not make an altar which has stairs going up to it. If you do that, someone may see under your clothes when you climb up the stairs. Then you would be ashamed.”
Israelite slaves
21 These are the laws that you must put in front of the Israelites:
2 If you buy an Israelite slave, he must work for you for six years. But in the seventh year he will become a free man. He can leave you. He does not have to pay you any money. 3 If he came to you alone, he is free to leave alone. If he came with a wife, she can also leave with him. 4 But if the master has given a wife to the slave, she belongs to her master. If she has children, they also belong to her master. The slave must then leave by himself, without his wife and children.
5 But perhaps the slave may say, “I love my master, my wife and my children. I will not go away as a free man!” 6 Then his master must take the slave to stand in front of the judges.[a] He must lead the slave to stand beside the door, or the wood that holds the door. Then the master must push the sharp point of a tool through the slave's ear. After that, he will serve his master for all his life.
7 Perhaps a man may sell his daughter to someone as a slave. She is not free to leave her master after six years, as the male slaves are. 8 Her master has chosen her for himself. If she does not make her master happy, he must let her family buy her back from him. He cannot sell her to a foreign person. He has not done what he promised to her.[b] 9 If the master had chosen the girl to marry his son, he must take care of her like his own daughter. 10 If the master marries another woman as well, he must still take care of the first woman. He must continue to give her food and clothes. He must not refuse to sleep with her. 11 If he does not do these three things, she may leave him. She does not have to pay him any money.
When people attack other people
12 Perhaps a person may hit another person so that he dies. You must punish the murderer with death. 13 But perhaps he had not decided to kill the other person. Perhaps God let it happen. Then the man should run away to a safe place that I will choose for you. 14 But if he already decided to kill the other person, he is a murderer. You must punish him with death. Even if he runs to my altar as a safe place, take him away from there and kill him.
15 If someone attacks his father or his mother, you must punish him with death.
16 If someone catches another person to sell him, you must punish him with death. Kill him even if you find him when he has not yet sold the man that he caught.
17 If someone curses his father or his mother, you must punish him with death.
18 Perhaps two men argue and they fight one another. One man might hit the other man with a stone or with his fist. The man that he hit might not die but he might have to stay in bed for some time. 19 After that, he may get up. He may be able to walk about outside, if he uses a stick. Then the man who hit him is not guilty. But he must pay the man that he has hurt. He must pay him for the time that he has not been able to work. He must also make sure that the man becomes completely well again.
20 Perhaps a master may hit his male slave or his female slave with a stick. If the slave dies because of this, you must punish the master. 21 But if the slave is still alive after one or two days, do not punish his master. The master has already lost the slave's work for that time.
22 When two men fight together, perhaps one of them may hit a pregnant woman. As a result of the fight, she may give birth to her child before the right time. If the man has not hurt the woman very much, he must pay money to her husband. He must pay the amount of money that the husband demands. A judge must agree that the money for his punishment is fair. 23 But if the man has hurt the woman a lot, you must punish him as he deserves. Take a life for a life, 24 an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot. 25 You must give him a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.[c]
26 If a master hits the eye of his male slave or his female slave, he might destroy it. Then he must let the slave go away as a free person to pay for the loss of their eye. 27 If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, he must also let the slave go away to pay for the loss of the tooth.
Rules about animals
28 Perhaps a bull may attack someone so that the person dies. Then you must throw stones at the bull to kill it. You must not eat the meat from that bull. But do not punish the owner of the bull. 29 But perhaps that bull has attacked people before. Perhaps someone warned the owner about this, but the man did not keep the bull in a safe place. If that happens, and the bull kills someone, you must kill the bull. You must also punish the bull's owner with death. 30 But if the dead person's family demands money, the man can give them money instead of his life. He must pay them what they ask for. 31 This law is the same if the bull attacks someone's son or their daughter. 32 If it attacks a male slave or a female slave, the man must pay 30 silver coins to the slave's master. You must also throw stones at the bull to kill it.
33 If a man digs a hole in the ground, he must cover it. If he leaves a hole open, a cow or a donkey might fall into it. 34 Then the man who dug the hole must pay for the loss of the animal. He must pay money to the animal's owner, but he may keep the dead animal for himself.
35 If one man's bull attacks another man's bull, it may die. Then they must sell the bull that is still alive. Each man can take half of the money and half of the dead bull as well. 36 But perhaps that bull has attacked other animals before. If its owner knows that and he did not do anything, he must pay for the dead bull. He should have kept his bull in a safe place. So he must pay the owner of the dead bull, but he can keep the dead animal for himself.
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