1   Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: Listen, O Israel, to the statutes and the laws which I proclaim in your hearing today. Learn them and be careful to observe them. 2   The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3   It was not with our forefathers that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, all of us who are alive and are here this day. 4   The Lord spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the fire. 5   I stood between the Lord and you at that time to report the words ^note of the Lord; for you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain. And the Lord said:

6   I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

7   You shall have no other god ^note to set against me.

8   You shall not make a carved image for yourself nor ^note the likeness of anything in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth.

9   You shall not bow down to them or worship ^note them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous god. I punish the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me. 10   But I keep faith with thousands, with ^note those who love me and keep my commandments.

11   You shall not wrong make use of the name of the Lord your God; the Lord will not leave unpunished the man who misuses his name.

12   Keep the sabbath day holy as the Lord your God commanded you. You have six days to labour and do all your work. 13    14   But the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; that day you shall not do any work, neither you, your son or your daughter, your slave or your slave-girl, your ox, your ass, or any of your cattle, nor the alien within your gates, so that your slaves and slave-girls may rest as you do. 15   Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God brought you out with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and for that reason the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.

16   Honour your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, so that you may live long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

Primary charge of Moses to the people

17   You shall not commit murder.

18   You shall not commit adultery.

19   You shall not steal.

20   You shall not give fal se evidence against your neighbour.

21   You shall not covet yo ur neighbour's wife; you shall not set your heart on your neighbour's house, his land, his slave, his slave-girl, his ox, his ass, or on anything that belongs to him.

22   These Commandments the Lord spoke in a great voice to your whole assembly on the mountain out of the fire, the cloud, and the thick mist; then he said no more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. 23   When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the heads of your tribes and the elders came to me and said, 24   ‘The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the fire: today we have seen that God may speak with men and they may still live. 25   Why should we now risk death? for this great fire will devour us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God again, we shall die. 26   Is there any mortal man who has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the fire, as we have, and has lived? 27   You shall go near and listen to all that the Lord our God says, and report to us all that the Lord our God has said to you; we will listen and obey.’

28   When the Lord heard these words which you spoke to me, he said, ‘I have heard what this people has said to you; every word they have spoken is right. 29   Would that they always had such a heart to fear me and to observe all my commandments, so that all might be well with them and their children for ever! 30   Go, and tell them to return to their tents, 31   but you yourself stand here beside me, and I will set forth to you all the commandments, the statutes and laws which you shall teach them to observe in the land which I am giving them to occupy.’

32   You shall be careful to do as the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn from it to right or to left. 33   You must conform to all the Lord your God commands you, if you would live and prosper and remain long in the land you are to occupy.

Previous section

Next section