Exodus 20

1 And God spoke all these words:

Then God said this [to the Israeli people: ]

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

“I am Yahweh God, the one you [worship]. I am the one who brought you out of Egypt. I am the one who freed you from being slaves [there].

3 You shall have no other gods before Me.

[So] you must worship [only] me; you must not worship any other god.

4 You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.

You must not carve/make for yourselves any idol that represents anything in the sky or that is on the ground or that is in the water under the ground/earth.

5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

You must not bow down to any idol and worship it, because I am Yahweh God, and I (am very jealous/want you to worship me only). I will punish those who sin and hate me. I will punish not only them, but I will punish (their descendants, down to the third and fourth generation/their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren).

6 but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

But I will steadfastly love thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my commandments (OR, I will love for thousands of generations.)

7 You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.

Do not use my name carelessly (OR, for wrong/evil purposes), because I am Yahweh God, the one whom you [should worship], and I will certainly punish those who use my name for wrong/evil purposes [LIT].

8 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

Do not forget that the seventh day [of every week] is mine, so dedicate those days to me.

9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

There are six days each week for you to do all your work,

10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates.

but the seventh day is a day of rest, a day dedicated to me, Yahweh God, the one whom you [should worship]. On that day you must not do any work. You and your sons and daughters and your male and female slaves must not work. You must not even force your livestock to work, and you must not allow foreigners to work, those who are living in your country.

11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

I, Yahweh, created the sky, the earth, the ocean, and everything that is in them, in six days. Then I stopped my work of creating everything, and rested on the seventh day. That is the reason that I, Yahweh, have blessed the rest day and set it apart [to be a sacred/special day].

12 Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

Honor/Respect your fathers and your mothers, in order that you may live a long time in the land that I, Yahweh God, will give you.

13 You shall not murder.

Do not murder anyone.

14 You shall not commit adultery.

Do not (commit adultery/have sex with anyone other than your spouse).

15 You shall not steal.

Do not steal anything.

16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Do not falsely accuse anyone [of committing a crime].

17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Do not (covet/desire to have) someone else’s house, someone else’s wife, someone else’s male or female slave, someone else’s livestock, someone else’s donkeys, or anything else that some other person owns.”

18 When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sounding of the ram’s horn, and the mountain enveloped in smoke, they trembled and stood at a distance.

When the people heard the thunder and saw the lightning, and when they heard the sound of the trumpet and saw the smoke on the mountain, they were afraid and trembled. They stood at a distance,

19 “Speak to us yourself and we will listen,” they said to Moses. “But do not let God speak to us, or we will die.”

and said to Moses/me, “If you speak to us, we will listen. But do not let God speak any more to us. [We are afraid that] if he speaks [any more] to us, we will die.”

20 “Do not be afraid,” Moses replied. “For God has come to test you, so that the fear of Him may be before you, to keep you from sinning.”

Moses/I replied, “Do not be afraid! God has come to determine/test [how you will behave]. He wants you to revere him, and to not sin.”

21 And the people stood at a distance as Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

Then, as the people [watched from] a distance, Moses/I went close to the black cloud where God was.

22 Then the LORD said to Moses, “This is what you are to tell the Israelites: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.

Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Say this to the Israeli people: ‘You have heard how I, Yahweh, have spoken to you from heaven. I told you that you must not make any idols of silver or gold [that you will worship instead] of me.

23 You are not to make any gods alongside Me; you are not to make for yourselves gods of silver or gold.

24 You are to make for Me an altar of earth, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats and cattle. In every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.

Make for me an altar from dirt. Sacrifice on it the animals that you will burn completely. Also sacrifice on it the animals that you will not burn completely, to maintain fellowship with me. Worship me [MTY] in any place that I choose for you to honor/worship me; and if you do that, I will come to you and bless you.

25 Now if you make an altar of stones for Me, you must not build it with stones shaped by tools; for if you use a chisel on it, you will defile it.

If you make for me an altar from stones, do not make it from stones that you have cut [to make them look nice], because you will make the altar unsuitable for [worshiping] me if you use tools to cut the stones.

26 And you must not go up to My altar on steps, lest your nakedness be exposed on it.’

Do not make an altar that has steps in front of it, because if you do that, [people] could see your naked [buttocks] as you go up the steps.’”