The Ten Commandments 1And the Lord spoke all these words: 2“I am the Lord your God, who led you away from the land of Egypt, out of the house of servitude. 3You shall not have strange gods before me. 4You shall not make for yourself a graven image, nor a likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on earth below, nor of those things which are in the waters under the earth. 5You shall not adore them, nor shall you worship them. I am the Lord your God: strong, zealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6and showing mercy to thousands of those who love me and keep my precepts. 7You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. For the Lord will not hold harmless one who takes the name of the Lord his God falsely. 8Remember that you are to sanctify the day of the Sabbath. 9For six days, you will work and accomplish all your tasks. 10But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work in it: you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, your beast and the newcomer who is within your gates. 11For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all the things that are in them, and so he rested on the seventh day. For this reason, the Lord has blessed the day of the Sabbath and sanctified it. 12Honor your father and your mother, so that you may have a long life upon the land, which the Lord your God will give to you. 13You shall not murder. 14You shall not commit adultery. 15You shall not steal. 16You shall not speak false testimony against your neighbor. 17You shall not covet the house of your neighbor; neither shall you desire his wife, nor male servant, nor female servant, nor ox, nor donkey, nor anything that is his.” Moses Comforts the People 18Then all the people considered the voices, and the lights, and the sound of the trumpet, and the smoking mountain. And being terrified and struck with fear, they stood at a distance, 19saying to Moses: “Speak to us, and we will listen. Let not the Lord speak to us, lest perhaps we may die.” 20And Moses said to the people: “Do not be afraid. For God came in order to test you, and so that the dread of him might be with you, and you would not sin.” 21And the people stood far away. But Moses approached toward the mist, in which was God. Idolatry Forbidden 22Thereafter, the Lord said to Moses: “This you shall say to the sons of Israel: You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. 23You shall not make gods of silver, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. 24You shall make an altar from the earth for me, and you shall offer upon it your holocausts and peace-offerings, your sheep and oxen, in every place where the memory of my name shall be. I will come to you, and I will bless you. 25And if you make an altar of stone for me, you shall not build it from cut stones; for if you lift up a tool over it, it will be defiled. 26You shall not ascend by steps to my altar, lest your nakedness be revealed.” |