Exodus 20

1 God spoke all these words:

Then God said this [to the Israeli people: ]

2 “I am Yahweh 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 must have no other gods before me.

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

4 You must not make for yourself a carved figure nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water below.

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 must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God. I punish the ancestors' wickedness by bringing punishment on the descendants, to the third and the fourth generation 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 I show covenant faithfulness to thousands 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 must not take the name of Yahweh your God, in vain, for I will not hold guiltless anyone who takes my 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 set it apart to me.

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

9 You must labor and do all your work for six days.

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

10 But the seventh day is a Sabbath for Yahweh your God. On it you must not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the foreigner who is 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 Yahweh made the heavens and earth, the sea, and everything that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart.

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 your mother, so that you may live a long time in the land that Yahweh 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 must not murder anyone.

Do not murder anyone.

14 You must not commit adultery.

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

15 You must not steal from anyone.

Do not steal anything.

16 You must not give false testimony against your neighbor.

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

17 You must not covet your neighbor's house; you must not covet your neighbor's wife, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his 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 All the people saw the thundering and the lightning, and heard the voice of the trumpet, and saw the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled and stood far 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 They said to Moses, “Speak to us, and we will listen; 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 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, for God has come to test you so that the honor of him may be in you, and so that you do not sin.”

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 the people stood far off, and 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 Yahweh said to Moses, “This is what you must tell the Israelites: 'You yourselves have seen that I have talked with 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 will not make for yourselves other gods alongside me, gods of silver or gods of gold.

24 You must make an earthen altar for me, and you must sacrifice on it your burnt offerings, fellowship offerings, sheep, and oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be honored, 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 If you make me an altar of stone, you must not build it of cut stones, for if you use your tools on it, you will have defiled 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 You must not go up to my altar on steps, so that your nakedness is not exposed.'”

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.’”