Beginning
The Covenant at Mount Sinai
The Covenant and the Ten Commandments[a]
Chapter 19
God Proposes His Covenant.[b] 1 Three months to the day after the children of Israel left the land of Egypt, they arrived in the Sinai Desert. 2 They left the camp at Rephidim and arrived in the Desert of Sinai. There Israel camped in front of the mountain.
3 Moses climbed up to meet God, and the Lord called out to him from the mountain, saying, “You will say this to the house of Jacob and announce it to the children of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I lifted you up on eagles’ wings and brought you here to me. 5 Now, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession from among all the peoples, for the entire earth is mine. 6 You will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for me.’ These are the words you will speak to Israel.”[c]
7 Moses went and summoned the elders of the people and told them what the Lord had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, “We will do what the Lord has said.” Then Moses returned to the Lord and told him what the people had said.
9 The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to approach you in a thick cloud so that the people will hear when I speak to you and always believe in you.”
The Lord Descends on Sinai.10 The Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11 and have them ready for the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai to visit all the people.
12 “You shall establish a boundary around it, saying, ‘Take heed not to climb up the mountain or even touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain will be put to death.’
13 “No hand must touch that person, however, for he must be stoned or shot with an arrow. Whether it be a human or an animal, he is not to live. They can come up the mountain only when you blow the trumpet.”
14 Moses went down the mountain to the people. He consecrated the people and had them wash their clothes. 15 Then he said to the people, “Be ready in three days’ time. Abstain from sexual relations.”
16 The Great Theophany. On the third day, as morning dawned, there was thunder, lightning, a dense cloud on the mountain, and the sound of loud trumpets. All the people in the camp were filled with fear.
17 Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They stood on foot at the base of the mountain.
18 Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, for the Lord had descended upon it in fire and the smoke rose up like the smoke of a furnace. The entire mountain trembled. 19 The sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Moses spoke and God responded with the sound of a trumpet.
20 The Lord thus descended upon Mount Sinai, on the mountain peak, and he called out to Moses upon the mountain peak. Moses went up the mountain.
21 The Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to gaze upon the Lord; otherwise many will die.
22 “Let the priests consecrate themselves before they approach the Lord. Otherwise the Lord will burst forth upon them.”
23 Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot climb up Mount Sinai, for you yourself have warned us saying, ‘Establish a boundary around the mountain and declare it to be holy.’ ”
24 The Lord told him, “Go, descend, then come back up with Aaron. But the priests and the people are not to break through to climb up to the Lord. Otherwise, he will burst forth against them.”
25 Moses went down and spoke to the people.
Chapter 20
The Ten Commandments.[d] 1 God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of that place of slavery. 3 You shall not have other gods instead of me. 4 You shall not make idols or any image of things that are in the heavens above or that are upon the earth or that are in the waters under the earth. 5 You shall not bow before them nor shall you serve them. I, the Lord, am your God, a jealous God, who punishes the sins of fathers upon their sons until the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, 6 but I will show my favor for a thousand generations of those who love me and observe my commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain, for the Lord will not leave unpunished those who use his name in vain.
8 “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath in honor of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male slave, nor your female slave, nor your animals, nor the foreigner who dwells with you. 11 The Lord made the heavens and the earth and the seas and that which is in them in six days, but he rested the seventh day. Thus, the Lord blessed the Sabbath and declared it to be sacred.
12 “Honor your father and your mother so that your days may be lengthened in the land that the Lord your God, will give you.
13 “You shall not kill.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not give false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male slave, nor his female slave, nor his oxen, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
18 Moses, Intermediary of the Covenant. All the people heard the thunder and saw the lightning. They heard the sound of the trumpet and saw the mountain smoking. They were filled with fear and kept their distance.
19 They said to Moses, “You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us or we will die.”
20 Moses spoke to the people saying, “Do not be afraid. God has come to put you to the test so that you may always be filled with fear of him and not sin.”
21 The people kept their distance while Moses approached the dark cloud where God was found.
The Book of the Covenant[e]
Norms for Constructing an Altar to the Lord.22 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen that I have spoken to you from the heavens. 23 Do not make gods from silver or from gold instead of me. You will not make them for yourselves.
24 “ ‘Make an altar for me in the land and upon it offer your burnt offerings and your communion sacrifices, your sheep and your oxen. In all the places where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.
25 “ ‘If you make an altar out of stone for me, do not build it out of cut stone. If you use a chisel upon it, it will be considered to be unclean. 26 Do not go up to the altar by steps, lest your nakedness be seen.’[f]
Chapter 21
Laws Concerning Slaves. 1 “These are the decrees that you will set before them.
2 “When you buy a Hebrew slave, he will serve you for six years and in the seventh year he will go free, without paying anything.[g] 3 If he entered into slavery unmarried, he will go out alone. If he is married, then his wife will go with him. 4 If his master has given him a wife and she has had sons or daughters, the woman and her children will be the property of the master and he will go out alone.
5 “If the slave says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children, and I do not want to go free,’ 6 then the master will bring him before God. He will bring him to a door or a doorpost and will bore a hole in his ear with an awl. He will be his slave forever.
7 “When a man sells his daughter[h] as a slave, she will not go free as the male slaves do. 8 If she does not please her master who has taken her as a concubine, she will be allowed to be redeemed. But he cannot sell her to foreigners, for he has acted faithlessly to her. 9 If he wishes to give her as a concubine to his own son, he will treat her like a daughter. 10 If he takes another for himself, he will not withhold her food, her clothes, or her marriage rights. 11 If he does not give her these things, then she can go away without having to pay the price of her redemption.
12 Different Cases of the Penalty of Death.“Whoever strikes a man causing his death will be put to death. 13 However, if the man did not lie in wait, but he met him by chance, there will be a place where he can flee for refuge.
14 “But when a person kills a neighbor with premeditation, he shall be dragged away from my altar to be put to death.
15 “Whoever strikes a mother or a father will be put to death.
16 “Whoever kidnaps a man and either sells him or has him still in his possession, shall be put to death.
17 “Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.
18 Punishments for Personal Injury.[i]“When people are fighting and one of them injures the other with a stone or with a fist, and this does not kill the other but causes a serious injury, 19 and yet the injured party is able to walk around with a staff, then the one who struck the blow shall be held to be innocent. He must, however, pay the victim for the time he lost on account of the injury and he must pay for his medical care.
20 “When a man strikes his male or female slave with a staff and kills that slave, he shall surely be punished. 21 But if the slave lives for a day or two, the slave-owner shall not be punished, for the slave is his property.
22 “When some men fight and injure a pregnant woman so that she loses her child, but there is no other damage, they will be fined as much as the husband of the woman decides. They will pay in the presence of a judge. 23 But if further harm results, they will pay 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 a burning for a burning, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.
26 “When a man strikes the eye of his male slave or his female slave and blinds the slave, he will free the slave because of the eye. 27 If he breaks a tooth of his male slave or his female slave, he will free the slave to compensate for the tooth.
28 Animals: Injuries and Thefts.“If an ox gores a man or a woman and that person dies, the ox is to be stoned and its meat is not to be eaten, but the owner of the ox will be considered to be innocent. 29 However, if the ox had already gored someone before and the owner had been warned, yet failed to keep it penned up, and if the ox gores another man or a woman and that person dies, then the ox is to be stoned and the owner is to be put to death.
30 “If, however, a fine is imposed, he can pay it to redeem his life, as much as has been required. 31 This will also be the procedure if a son or a daughter is gored.
32 “If an ox gores a male or female slave, the master of the slave will be paid thirty shekels of silver, and the ox is to be stoned.
33 “If someone leaves a cistern uncovered or digs a cistern and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the cistern must make restitution and pay the owner of the animal. The dead animal will be his.
35 “If someone’s ox gores another person’s ox and that ox dies, then they will sell the live ox and divide its price between them, and they will also divide the dead ox. 36 But if it is known that the ox had already gored others and its owner had not confined it, then he must pay ox for ox, and the dead animal will be his.
37 “If a man steals an ox or a sheep and then kills it or sells it, he shall pay back five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.
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