Exodus 20

1 And God spoke all these words, saying,

Then God said this [to the Israeli people: ]

2 I am the Lord thy God, who have brought thee 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 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

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

4 Thou shalt not make unto thyself any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water 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 thyself down to them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of 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 showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that 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 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh 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 shalt thou labor, and do all thy work.

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

10 But the seventh day is the sabbath in honor of the Lord thy God; on it thou shalt not do any work, neither thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy 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, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath 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 Honor thy father and thy mother; in order that thy days may be prolonged upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth 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 kill.

Do not murder anyone.

14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

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

15 Thou shalt not steal.

Do not steal anything.

16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

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

17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's.

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 thunders, and the lightnings, and the sound of the cornet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they removed trembling, 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 they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with 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 said unto the people, Fear not; for in order to prove you, did God come, and in order that his fear may be before your faces, 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 drew near unto 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 And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that from heaven I have spoken with you.

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 any thing with me; gods of silver, and gods of gold ye shall not make unto yourselves.

24 An altar of earth shalt thou make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offerings, and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep, and thy oxen; in every place where I shall permit my name to be mentioned, I will come unto thee, and I will 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 me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted 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 Neither shalt thou go up by steps upon my altar, that thy nakedness be not laid open thereon.

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.’”