Exodus 20

20 ¹ Then our Father spoke all these words:

The Ten Words

² I am your Father, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

³ Do not have any other gods before me.

⁴ Do not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything in the heavens above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters below the earth. ⁵ Do not bow down to them or serve them; for I, your Father, am a jealous Father, bringing the parents' sin down on their children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ Do not take the name of your Father in vain, for our Father will not leave unpunished anyone who takes his name in vain.

⁸ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to your Father. On it, do not do any work — you, or your son or your daughter, your male servant or your female servant, or your livestock, or the foreigner living among you. ¹¹ For in six days our Father made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore our Father blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹² Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land that your Father is giving you.

¹³ Do not murder.

¹⁴ Do not commit adultery.

¹⁵ Do not steal.

¹⁶ Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷ Do not covet your neighbor's house. Do not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

The People Pull Back

¹⁸ Now all the people witnessed the thunder and the flashes of lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain wrapped in smoke. When the people saw it, they trembled and stood far off. ¹⁹ They said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let our Father speak with us, or we will die."

²⁰ Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid, for our Father has come to test you, so that the fear of him will remain with you and you will not sin." ²¹ So the people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where our Father was.

Moses Draws Near

²² Then our Father said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel: You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken with you from heaven."

A Simple Altar

²³ Do not make gods of silver to be alongside me, nor make for yourselves gods of gold.

²⁴ Build me an altar of earth, and on it sacrifice your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

²⁵ If you make me an altar of stone, do not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you profane it. ²⁶ Do not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed on it.