Exodus 20

1 And the Lord spoke all these words, saying:

Then God said this [to the Israeli people: ]

2 I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

“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 Thou shalt have no other gods beside me.

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

4 Thou shalt not make to thyself an idol, nor likeness of anything, whatever things are in the heaven above, and whatever are in the earth beneath, and whatever are in the waters under the earth.

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 Thou shalt not bow down to them, nor serve them; for I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, recompensing the sins of the fathers upon the children, to the third and fourth generation to them that 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 and bestowing mercy on them that love me to thousands [of them], and on them that 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 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord thy God will not acquit him that 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 to keep it holy.

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

9 Six days thou shalt labour, and shalt perform all thy work.

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

10 But on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God; on it thou shalt do no work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy servant nor thy maidservant, thine ox nor thine ass, nor any cattle of thine, nor the stranger that sojourns with thee.

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 heaven and the earth, and the sea and all things in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it.

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 Honour thy father and thy mother, that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest live long on the good land, which the Lord thy God gives to thee.

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 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Do not murder anyone.

14 Thou shalt not steal.

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

15 Thou shalt not kill.

Do not steal anything.

16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

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

17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife; thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house; nor his field, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any of his cattle, nor whatever belongs to thy neighbour.

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 And all the people perceived the thundering, and the flashes, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and all the people feared and stood afar off,

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 and said to Moses, Speak thou to us, and let not God speak to us, lest we 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 And Moses says to them, Be of good courage, for God is come to you to try you, that his fear may be among you, that ye sin not.

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 afar off, and Moses went into the darkness where God was.

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

22 And the Lord said to Moses, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and thou shalt report it to the children of Israel, Ye have seen 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 Ye shall not make to yourselves gods of silver, and gods of gold ye shall not make to yourselves.

24 Ye shall make to me an altar of earth; and upon it ye shall sacrifice your whole burnt-offerings, and your peace-offerings, and your sheep and your calves in every place, where I shall record my name; and I will come to thee and bless thee.

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 And if thou wilt make to me an altar of stones, thou shalt not build them hewn [stones]; for thou hast lifted up thy tool upon them, and they are defiled.

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 Thou shalt not go up to my altar by steps, that thou mayest not uncover thy nakedness upon 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.’”