Exodus 20
1 And God spake all these words saying: —
Then God said this [to the Israeli people: ]
2 I, am Yahweh thy God, —who have brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of servants: —
“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 not have other gods besides me.
[So] you must worship [only] me; you must not worship any other god.
4 Thou shalt not make to thee an image, or any form, that is in the heavens above, —or that is in the earth beneath, —or that is in the waters beneath 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 be led to serve them—For, I, Yahweh, thy God, am a jealous GOD, visiting the iniquity of fathers upon sons, unto three [generations] and, unto four, 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 but shewing lovingkindness unto thousands [of generations], —of them 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 Thou shalt not utter the name of Yahweh thy God for falsehood, for Yahweh will not let him go unpunished who uttereth his name for falsehood.
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 hallow it:
Do not forget that the seventh day [of every week] is mine, so dedicate those days to me.
9 Six days, shalt thou labour, and do all thy work;
There are six days each week for you to do all your work,
10 but, the seventh day, is a sabbath unto Yahweh thy God, —thou shalt do no work, thou nor thy son nor thy daughter nor thy servant, nor thy handmaid, nor thy beast, nor thy sojourner who 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, did Yahweh make the heavens and the earth, [and] the sea—and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day, —for this cause, Yahweh 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 Honour thy father, and thy mother, —that thy days may be prolonged upon the soil, which Yahweh thy God is about to give unto 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 murder.
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 testify against thy neighbour, with a witness of falsehood.
Do not falsely accuse anyone [of committing a crime].
17 Thou shalt not covet, thy neighbour’s house, —thou shalt not covet, thy neighbour’s wife nor his servant nor his handmaid nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything which belongeth unto 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, were witnessing the voices and the torches, and the sound of the horn, and the mountain smoking, —so then the people were struck with awe and shrank back, 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—Do not fear, for to the end he may prove you, hath God come, —and to the end the reverence of him may be upon 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 So then the people stood afar off, and, Moses, approached unto the thick gloom, where God was.
Then, as the people [watched from] a distance, Moses/I went close to the black cloud where God was.
22 Then said Yahweh unto Moses, Thus, shalt thou say, unto the sons of Israel, —Ye yourselves, have seen that out of the heavens, have I 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 [aught] beside me, —neither gods of silver, nor gods of gold, shall ye make to yourselves.
24 An altar of earth, shalt thou make to me, then shalt thou offer thereupon thine ascending-sacrifices and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen. In every place where I may mention my name, will I come in unto thee and 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 But if, an altar of stones, thou wilt make to me, thou shalt not build them hewn, —for as soon as thou hast lifted, thy sharp tool, thereupon, thou hast profaned 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 unto mine altar, —lest by any means thy shame be discovered thereupon.
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.’”
