Israel at Mount Sinai

19 Two months after the Israelites left Egypt, they came to the desert of Sinai. ² Israel had moved from Rephidim and had come into the desert of Sinai. They had set up camp there in front of the mountain.

³ Then Moses went up the mountain to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, “This is what you must say to the descendants of Jacob. Tell the Israelites, ⁴ ‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to my mountain. ⁵ If you carefully obey me and are faithful to the terms of my promise,^[a] then out of all the nations you will be my own special possession, even though the whole world is mine. ⁶ You will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.’ These are the words you must speak to the Israelites.”

⁷ So Moses went down and called for the leaders of the people. He repeated to them all the words that the Lord had commanded him. ⁸ All the people answered together, “We will do everything the Lord has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord.

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I am coming to you in a storm cloud so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always believe you.” Moses told the Lord what the people had said.

¹⁰ So the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people, and tell them they have two days to get ready. They must set themselves apart as holy. Have them wash their clothes ¹¹ and be ready by the day after tomorrow. On that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai as all the people watch. ¹² Mark off a boundary around the mountain for the people, and tell them not to go up the mountain or even touch it. Those who touch the mountain must be put to death. ¹³ No one should touch them. They must be stoned or shot with arrows. No matter whether it’s an animal or a person, it must not live. The people may go up the mountain ⌞only⌟ when the ram’s horn sounds a long blast.”

¹⁴ After Moses went down the mountain to the people, he had them get ready, and they washed their clothes. ¹⁵ Then Moses said to the people, “Be ready two days from now. Don’t disqualify yourselves by having sexual intercourse.”

¹⁶ On the morning of the second day, there was thunder and lightning with a heavy cloud over the mountain, and a very loud blast from a ram’s horn ⌞was heard⌟. All the people in the camp shook with fear. ¹⁷ Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸ All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord had come down on it in fire. Smoke rose from the mountain like the smoke from a kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently. ¹⁹ As the sound of the horn grew louder and louder, Moses was speaking, and the voice of God answered him.

²⁰ The Lord came down on top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up. ²¹ The Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people not to force their way through ⌞the boundary⌟ to see the Lord, or many of them will die. ²² Even the priests who are allowed to come near the Lord must set themselves apart as holy, or the Lord will violently kill them.”

²³ Moses said to the Lord, “The people can’t come up Mount Sinai, because you warned us yourself to mark off a boundary around the mountain and consider it holy.”

²⁴ The Lord said to him, “Go down, and bring Aaron back with you. But the priests and the people must not force their way through the boundary to come up to the Lord, or he will violently kill them.”

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

The Ten Commandments^(A)

20 Then God spoke all these words:

² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of slavery in Egypt.

³ “Never have any other god. ⁴ Never make your own carved idols or statues that represent any creature in the sky, on the earth, or in the water. ⁵ Never worship them or serve them, because I, the Lord your God, am a God who does not tolerate rivals. I punish children for their parents’ sins to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. ⁶ But I show mercy to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my commandments.

⁷ “Never use the name of the Lord your God carelessly. The Lord will make sure that anyone who carelessly uses his name will be punished.

⁸ “Remember the day of rest by observing it as a holy day. ⁹ You have six days to do all your work. ¹⁰ The seventh day is the day of rest—a holy day dedicated to the Lord your God. You, your sons, your daughters, your male and female slaves, your cattle, and the foreigners living in your city must never do any work ⌞on that day⌟. ¹¹ In six days the Lord made heaven, earth, and the sea, along with everything in them. He didn’t work on the seventh day. That’s why the Lord blessed the day he stopped his work and set this day apart as holy.

¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live for a long time in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³ “Never murder.

¹⁴ “Never commit adultery.

¹⁵ “Never steal.

¹⁶ “Never lie when you testify about your neighbor.

¹⁷ “Never desire to take your neighbor’s household away from him.

“Never desire to take your neighbor’s wife, his male or female slave, his ox, his donkey, or anything else that belongs to him.”

The People’s Reaction

¹⁸ All the people heard the thunder and saw the lightning. They heard the blast of the ram’s horn and saw the mountain covered with smoke. So they shook with fear and stood at a distance. ¹⁹ Then they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we’ll listen. But don’t let God speak to us, or we’ll die!”

²⁰ Moses answered the people, “Don’t be afraid! God has come only to test you, so that you will be in awe of him and won’t sin.”

²¹ The people kept their distance while Moses went closer to the dark cloud where God was.

General Rules for Worship

²² The Lord said to Moses, “This is what you must say to the Israelites: You’ve seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven. ²³ Never make any gods of silver or gold for yourselves. Never worship them.

²⁴ “You must build an altar for me made out of dirt. Sacrifice your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings, your sheep, goats, and cattle on it. Wherever I choose to have my name remembered, I will come to you and bless you. ²⁵ If you build an altar for me made out of stones, never make it with cut stone blocks. If you use a chisel on it, you will make it unacceptable to me. ²⁶ Never use stairs to go up to my altar. Otherwise, people will be able to see under your clothes.”

Laws Concerning the Treatment of Slaves

21 ⌞The Lord continued,⌟ “Here are the legal decisions to be used by the Israelites:

² “Whenever you buy a Hebrew slave, he will be your slave for six years. In the seventh year he may leave as a free man, without paying for his freedom. ³ If he comes to you by himself, he must leave by himself. If he comes as a married man, his wife may leave with him. ⁴ If his master gives him a wife and she gives birth to sons or daughters, the wife and her children belong to the master, and the slave must leave by himself. ⁵ But if he makes this statement: ‘I hereby declare my love for my master, my wife, and my children. I don’t want to leave as a free man,’ ⁶ then his master must bring him to God. The master must bring him to the door or the doorframe and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his slave for life.

⁷ “Whenever a man sells his daughter into slavery, she will not go free the way male slaves do. ⁸ If she doesn’t please the master who has chosen her as a wife,^[b] he must let her be bought back by one of her close relatives. He has no right to sell her to foreigners, since he has treated her unfairly. ⁹ But if he has chosen her for his son, he must treat her like a daughter. ¹⁰ If that son marries another woman, he must not deprive the first wife of food, clothes, or sex. ¹¹ If he doesn’t give her these three things, she can go free, without paying any money for her freedom.

Laws Concerning Injury to People

¹² “Whoever strikes someone and kills him must be put to death. ¹³ If it wasn’t done intentionally, but God let it happen, the killer should flee to a place I will set aside for you. ¹⁴ But whenever someone becomes so angry that he plans to kill his neighbor, you must take him away from my altar and put him to death.

¹⁵ “Whoever hits his father or mother must be put to death.

¹⁶ “Whoever kidnaps another person must be put to death, whether he has sold the kidnapped person or still has him.

¹⁷ “Whoever curses his father or mother must be put to death.

¹⁸ “This is what you must do whenever men quarrel and one hits the other with a rock or with his fist and injures him so that he has to stay in bed. ¹⁹ If the injured man can get up again and walk around outside with a cane, the one who hit him must not be punished. He must pay the injured man for the loss of his time and for all his medical expenses.

²⁰ “Whenever an owner hits his male or female slave with a stick so that the slave dies from the beating, the owner must be punished. ²¹ But if the slave gets up in a day or two, the owner must not be punished. The slave is his property.

²² “This is what you must do whenever men fight and injure a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely. If there are no other injuries, the offender must pay whatever fine the court allows the woman’s husband to demand. ²³ If anyone is injured, the offender must pay a life for a life, ²⁴ an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, ²⁵ a burn for a burn, a bruise for a bruise, a wound for a wound.

²⁶ “Whenever an owner hits his male or female slave in the eye and the slave is blinded, he must let the slave go free to make up for the loss of the eye. ²⁷ If the owner knocks out the tooth of his male or female slave, he must let the slave go free to make up for the loss of the tooth.

²⁸ “Whenever a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull must be stoned to death, and its meat may not be eaten. The bull’s owner is free from any liability. ²⁹ But if the bull has had the habit of goring, and the owner has been warned but has not kept it confined, and it kills a man or a woman, then the bull must be stoned and its owner must be put to death, too. ³⁰ However, if only a cash settlement is demanded from the owner, the bull’s owner may save his life by paying whatever price is demanded of him. ³¹ If the bull gores someone’s son or daughter, this same ruling applies. ³² If the bull gores a male or female slave, its owner must pay 12 ounces of silver to the slave’s master, and the bull must be stoned.

Laws Concerning Property

³³ “Whenever someone opens up a cistern or digs a new one and doesn’t cover it and a bull or a donkey falls into it, ³⁴ the owner of the cistern must make up for the loss. He must pay money to the animal’s owner, and then the dead animal will be his.

³⁵ “Whenever one person’s bull kills another person’s bull, they must sell the live bull and divide the money between them. They must divide the dead bull, too. ³⁶ However, if it was known that the bull had the habit of goring, and its owner didn’t keep it confined, the owner must make up for the loss—bull for bull—and then the dead bull will be his.”