Exodus 20
1 Then God said this [to the Israeli people: ]
And the Lord spoke all these words:
2 “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].
I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3 [So] you must worship [only] me; you must not worship any other god.
Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.
4 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.
Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth.
5 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).
Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them: I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me:
6 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.)
And shewing mercy unto thousands to them that love me, and keep my commandments.
7 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].
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain.
8 Do not forget that the seventh day [of every week] is mine, so dedicate those days to me.
Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day.
9 There are six days each week for you to do all your work,
Six days shalt thou labour, and shalt do all thy works.
10 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.
But on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work on it, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy beast, nor the stranger that is within thy gates.
11 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].
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them, and rested on the seventh day: therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it.
12 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.
Honour thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest be longlived upon the land which the Lord thy God will give thee.
13 Do not murder anyone.
Thou shalt not kill.
14 Do not (commit adultery/have sex with anyone other than your spouse).
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
15 Do not steal anything.
Thou shalt not steal.
16 Do not falsely accuse anyone [of committing a crime].
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
17 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.”
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house: neither shalt thou desire his wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.
18 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,
And all the people saw the voices and the flames, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mount smoking: and being terrified and struck with fear, they stood afar off,
19 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.”
Saying to Moses: Speak thou to us, and we will hear: let not the Lord speak to us, lest we die.
20 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.”
And Moses said to the people: Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that the dread of him might be in you, and you should not sin.
21 Then, as the people [watched from] a distance, Moses/I went close to the black cloud where God was.
And the people stood afar off. But Moses went to the dark cloud wherein God was.
22 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.
And the Lord said to Moses: Thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel: You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.
You shall not make gods of silver, nor shall you make to yourselves gods of gold.
24 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.
You shall make an altar of earth unto me, and you shall offer upon it your holocausts and peace offerings, your sheep and oxen, in every place where the memory of my name shall be: I will come to thee, and will bless thee.
25 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.
And if thou make an altar of stone unto me, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones: for if thou lift up a tool upon it, it shall be defiled.
26 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.’”
Thou shalt not go up by steps unto my altar, lest thy nakedness be discovered.
