The Ten Commandments
1 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. 2 xThe Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 yNot with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. 4 The Lord spoke with you zface to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire, 5 awhile I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord. For byou were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. He said:
6 c“‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
7 “‘You shall have no other gods before1 me.
8 “‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing steadfast love to dthousands2 of those who love me and keep my commandments.
11 “‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
12 “‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but ethe seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, fthat your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 gYou shall remember that you were a slave3 in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there hwith a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
16 “‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, ithat your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
18 j“‘And you shall not commit adultery.
19 “‘And you shall not steal.
20 “‘And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
21 “‘And you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. And you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’
22 “These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly kat the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And lhe wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. 23 And mas soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders. 24 And you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and ngreatness, and owe have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man pstill live. 25 Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. qIf we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die. 26 pFor who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived? 27 Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say, and rspeak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’
28 “And the Lord heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. sThey are right in all that they have spoken. 29 tOh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, uthat it might go well with them and with their descendants5 forever! 30 Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.” 31 But you, stand here by me, and vI will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’ 32 You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. wYou shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33 xYou shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and ythat it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.
A Chosen People
1 “When the eLord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, fthe Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations gmore numerous and mightier than you, 2 hand when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must idevote them to complete destruction.1 jYou shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. 3 kYou shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. lThen the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you mquickly. 5 But thus shall you deal with them: nyou shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their npillars and chop down their nAsherim and oburn their carved images with fire.
6 “For pyou are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be pa people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, 8 but qit is because the Lord loves you and is keeping rthe oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, sthe faithful God twho keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 10 and urepays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. vHe will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. 11 wYou shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.
12 x“And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you ythe covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. 13 He will zlove you, bless you, and multiply you. aHe will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. 14 You shall be blessed above all peoples. bThere shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. 15 And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil cdiseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. 16 And dyou shall consume all the peoples that the Lord your God will give over to you. eYour eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be fa snare to you.
17 “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ 18 gyou shall not be afraid of them but you shall hremember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, 19 the great trials that your eyes saw, ithe signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20 Moreover, jthe Lord your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. 21 You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is kin your midst, la great and awesome God. 22 mThe Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once,2 lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. 23 nBut the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. 24 And ohe will give their kings into your hand, and you shall pmake their name perish from under heaven. qNo one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. 25 The carved images of their gods ryou shall burn with fire. You sshall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be tensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. 26 And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction3 like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, ufor it is devoted to destruction.
