The 10 commandments
1God said: 2‘I am the Lord your God. I have brought you out of Egypt where you were slaves.
3You may not worship other gods. I am the only God.
4-5Do not make an image and bow down before it and serve it. Do not make an image that looks like something from heaven above, or like something on earth or like something in the water under the earth. I am the Lord your God, and you may serve only Me. I will punish the children if their father has sinned. I will also punish his grandchildren and great_grandchildren if he hates Me and disobeys Me. 6But if anyone loves Me and listens to Me, I will be good to him and to his children for a long time, for 1 000 generations.
7You may not use the name of the Lord your God in a wrong way, because God will punish anyone who uses his name for something that is not right.
8You must remember that the Sabbath day is a holy day. 9You have 6 days to work and do everything you have to do. 10But the 7th day is the Sabbath day of the Lord your God. Then you may not work, not you or your son or daughter or your servant or servant girl, or your animals or strangers who live among you. 11The Lord worked for 6 days to make heaven and earth, the sea and everything in it, but on the 7th day He did not work. That is why the Lord has blessed the Sabbath day and said it must be a holy day.
12You must respect your parents, and then you will live for many years in the land that the Lord your God gives you.
13You may not murder anyone.
14You may not commit_adultery.
15You may not steal.
16You may not tell lies about other people.
17You may not desire someone's house or want to have it for yourself. You may not desire someone's wife, or his servant or servant girl or his ox or his donkey, or anything that belongs to someone else.’
The people become afraid
18All the people heard the thunder and the ram's-horn. They also saw the lightning and the mountain that was covered with smoke. When the people saw it, they trembled and they stayed far away from the mountain.
19They said to Moses: ‘Please talk to us, and we will listen to you, but if God speaks to us, we will die.’
20Moses said to the people: ‘Do not be afraid because God has come to test you. God wants you to honour Him and not to sin.’
21The people stood far away from the mountain but Moses went near to the dark cloud where God was.
Laws about altars
22The Lord told Moses to tell the Israelites: ‘You have heard when I have talked to you from heaven. 23Do not make idols or gods for yourselves from silver or gold.
24You must make an altar for Me from ground and you must sacrifice on it burnt-offerings and meal-offerings, your sheep and goats and cattle. I will come to you and I will bless you where I want you to worship Me. 25If you make an altar for Me from stones, do not use stones that you have cut, because if you cut the stones, then the altar will be impure. 26You may not climb up to my altar on steps, because then people will be able to look under your clothes.’
