The Second Book of Moses: Exodus

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- Chapter 20 -

(Deuteronomy 5:6–21)

Then God spoke these words to the Israelite people.

“I am Yahweh your God, the one you worship. I am the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt. I am the one who freed you from being slaves there.

You must worship only me; you must not worship any other god.

You must not carve a figure to worship that represents anything in the sky or that is on the ground or that is in the water under the ground.

You must not bow down to any idol and worship it because I am Yahweh your God, and I will not allow you to worship any other gods. I will punish those who sin and hate me. I will punish not only them, but also I will punish their descendants down to the third and fourth generation.

However, I will never stop loving thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my commandments.

Do not use my name carelessly because I am Yahweh your God, the one whom you should worship, and I will certainly punish those who use my name for wrong purposes.

Do not forget that the seventh day of every week belongs to me, so keep those days only for me.

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

but the seventh day is a day of rest, a day dedicated to me, Yahweh your 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 strangers who are living in your country.

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 day.

Honor your father and your mother, in order that you may live a long time in the land that I, Yahweh your God, will give you.

Do not murder anyone.

Do not commit adultery with anyone.

Do not steal anything.

Do not falsely accuse anyone of committing a crime.

Do not covet 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 another person owns.”

Moses Comforts the People

(Deuteronomy 5:22–33; Hebrews 12:18–29)

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 said to Moses, “If you speak to us, we will listen. But do not let God speak anymore to us. We are afraid that if he speaks anymore to us, we will die.”

Moses replied to the people, “Do not be afraid! God has come to determine how you will behave. He wants you to honor him and to not sin.”

Then, as the people watched from a distance, Moses went close to the black cloud where God was.

Idolatry Forbidden

(1 Corinthians 10:14–22)

Yahweh said to Moses, “Say this to the Israelite 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.

Make for me an altar from earth. Sacrifice on it your burnt offerings, your offerings to promise friendship with me, and also your sheep and oxen. Worship me in any place that I choose for you to honor me; if you do that, I will come to you and bless you.

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.

Do not make an altar that has steps in front of it because if you do that, God could see your naked body as you go up the steps.’”

(Deuteronomy 5:6–21)

God(a) spoke all these words, saying,

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

“You shall have no other gods before me.

“You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,

and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

“You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God,(b) for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who misuses his name.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

You shall labor six days, and do all your work,

but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates;

for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

“You shall not murder.

“You shall not commit adultery.

“You shall not steal.

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Moses Comforts the People

(Deuteronomy 5:22–33; Hebrews 12:18–29)

All the people perceived the thunderings, the lightnings, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled, and stayed at a distance.

They said to Moses, “Speak with us yourself, and we will listen; but don’t let God speak with us, lest we die.”

Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, that you won’t sin.”

The people stayed at a distance, and Moses came near to the thick darkness where God was.

Idolatry Forbidden

(1 Corinthians 10:14–22)

The LORD said to Moses, “This is what you shall tell the children of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.

You shall most certainly not make gods of silver or gods of gold for yourselves to be alongside me.

You shall make an altar of earth for me, and shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I record my name I will come to you and I will bless you.

If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of cut stones; for if you lift up your tool on it, you have polluted it.

You shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed to it.’

Footnotes

(a)20:1 After “God”, the Hebrew has the two letters “Aleph Tav” (the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet), not as a word, but as a grammatical marker.

(b)20:7 or, You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain