Exodus 19-20

Easy-to-Read Version

God’s Agreement With Israel

19 The Israelites reached the desert of Sinai in the third month of their trip from Egypt. ² They had traveled from Rephidim to the Sinai desert. The Israelites camped in the desert near Mount Sinai. ³ Then Moses climbed up the mountain to meet with God. The Lord spoke to him on the mountain and said, “Tell this to the Israelites, the great family of Jacob: ⁴ ‘You people saw what I did to the people of Egypt. You saw that I carried you out of Egypt like an eagle and brought you here to me. ⁵ So now I tell you to obey my commands and keep my agreement. So if you do this, you will be my own special people. The whole world belongs to me, but I am choosing you to be my own special people. ⁶ You will be a special nation—a kingdom of priests.’ Moses, you must tell the Israelites what I have said.”

⁷ So Moses climbed down the mountain and called the elders of the people together. Moses told the elders everything the Lord had commanded him to tell them. ⁸ All the people spoke at the same time and said, “We will obey everything the Lord says.”

Then Moses went back up the mountain and told the Lord that the people would obey him. ⁹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will come to you in the thick cloud. I will speak to you. All the people will hear me talking to you. I will do this so that they will always believe what you tell them.”

Then Moses told God everything the people had said.

¹⁰ And the Lord said to Moses, “Today and tomorrow you must prepare the people for a special meeting. They must wash their clothes ¹¹ and be ready for me on the third day. On the third day, the Lord will come down to Mount Sinai. And all the people will see me. ^12-13 But you must tell the people to stay away from the mountain. Make a line and don’t let them cross it. Any person or animal that touches the mountain must be killed with stones or shot with arrows. But don’t let anyone touch them. The people must wait until the trumpet blows. Only then can they go up the mountain.”

¹⁴ So Moses climbed down the mountain and went to the people. He got them ready for the special meeting and they washed their clothes.

¹⁵ Then Moses said to the people, “Be ready for the meeting with God in three days. Until that time do not have sexual relations.”

¹⁶ On the morning of the third day, a thick cloud came down onto the mountain. There was thunder and lightning and a very loud sound from a trumpet. All the people in the camp were frightened. ¹⁷ Then Moses led the people out of the camp to a place near the mountain to meet God. ¹⁸ Mount Sinai was covered with smoke. Smoke rose off the mountain like smoke from a furnace. This happened because the Lord came down to the mountain in fire. Also the whole mountain began to shake. ¹⁹ The noise from the trumpet became louder and louder. Every time Moses spoke to God, God answered him with a voice like thunder.

²⁰ So the Lord came down to Mount Sinai. He came from heaven to the top of the mountain. Then he called Moses to come up to the top of the mountain with him. So Moses went up the mountain.

²¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people not to come near me and look at me. If they do, many will die. ²² Also tell the priests who come near the Lord that they must prepare themselves for this special meeting. If they don’t, I, the Lord, will punish them.”

²³ Moses said to the Lord, “But the people cannot come up the mountain. You yourself told us to make a line and not allow the people to cross the line to holy ground.”

²⁴ The Lord said to him, “Go down to the people. Get Aaron and bring him back with you. But don’t let the priests or the people come near me. I will punish them if they come too close.”

²⁵ So Moses went down to the people and told them these things.

The Ten Commandments

20 These are the things God told his people:

² “I am the Lord your God. I am the one who freed you from the land of Egypt, where you were slaves.

³ “You must not worship any other gods except me.

⁴ “You must not make any idols. Don’t make any statues or pictures of anything up in the sky or of anything on the earth or of anything down in the water. ⁵ Don’t worship or serve idols of any kind, because I, the Lord, am your God. I hate my people worshiping other gods.^[a] People who sin against me become my enemies, and I will punish them. And I will punish their children, their grandchildren, and even their great-grandchildren. ⁶ But I will be very kind to people who love me and obey my commands. I will be kind to their families for thousands of generations.^[b]

⁷ “You must not use the name of the Lord your God to make empty promises. If you do, the Lord will not let you go unpunished.

⁸ “You must remember to keep the Sabbath a special day. ⁹ You may work six days a week to do your job. ¹⁰ But the seventh day is a day of rest in honor of the Lord your God. So on that day no one should work—not you, your sons and daughters, or your men and women slaves. Even your animals and the foreigners living in your cities must not work! ¹¹ That is because the Lord worked six days and made the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. And on the seventh day, he rested. In this way the Lord blessed the Sabbath—the day of rest. He made that a very special day.

¹² “You must honor and respect your father and your mother. Do this so that you will have a full life in the land that the Lord your God gives you.

¹³ “You must not murder anyone.

¹⁴ “You must not commit adultery.

¹⁵ “You must not steal anything.

¹⁶ “You must not tell lies about other people.^[c]

¹⁷ “You must not want to take your neighbor’s house. You must not want his wife. And you must not want his men and women servants or his cattle or his donkeys. You must not want to take anything that belongs to another person.”

The People Are Afraid of God

¹⁸ During all this time, the people in the valley heard the thundering and saw the lightning on the mountain. They saw smoke rising from the mountain and heard the sound of the trumpet. They were afraid and shook with fear. They stood away from the mountain and watched. ¹⁹ Then the people said to Moses, “If you want to speak to us, then we will listen. But please don’t let God speak to us. If this happens, we will die.”

²⁰ Then Moses said to them, “Don’t be afraid! God has come to test you. He wants you to respect him so that you will not sin.”

²¹ The people stood far away from the mountain while Moses went to the dark cloud where God was. ²² Then the Lord told Moses to say this to the Israelites: “You people have seen that I talked with you from heaven. ²³ So you must not make idols using gold or silver to compete with me. You must not make these false gods.

²⁴ “Make a special altar for me. You should use dirt to make this altar. Offer sheep and cattle as burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on this altar. Do this in every place where I tell you to remember me. Then I will come and bless you. ²⁵ But if you use stones to make an altar, then don’t use stones that were cut with an iron tool.^[d] If you do that, it will make the altar unacceptable. ²⁶ And you must not make steps leading up to the altar. If there are steps, when people look up to the altar, they will be able to see under your clothes.”