20:1   God spoke, and these were his words:

20:2   "I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves.

20:3   "Worship no god but me.

20:4   "Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth.

20:5   Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the LORD your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation.

20:6   But I show my love to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my laws.

20:7   "Do not use my name for evil purposes, for I, the LORD your God, will punish anyone who misuses my name.

20:8   "Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy.

20:9   You have six days in which to do your work,

20:10   but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me. On that day no one is to work---neither you, your children, your slaves, your animals, nor the foreigners who live in your country.

20:11   In six days I, the LORD, made the earth, the sky, the seas, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That is why I, the LORD, blessed the Sabbath and made it holy.

20:12   "Respect your father and your mother, so that you may live a long time in the land that I am giving you.

20:13   "Do not commit murder.

20:14   "Do not commit adultery.

20:15   "Do not steal.

20:16   "Do not accuse anyone falsely.

20:17   "Do not desire another man's house; do not desire his wife, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns."

20:18   When the people heard the thunder and the trumpet blast and saw the lightning and the smoking mountain, they trembled with fear and stood a long way off.

20:19   They said to Moses, "If you speak to us, we will listen; but we are afraid that if God speaks to us, we will die."

20:20   Moses replied, "Don't be afraid; God has only come to test you and make you keep on obeying him, so that you will not sin."

20:21   But the people continued to stand a long way off, and only Moses went near the dark cloud where God was.

20:22   The LORD commanded Moses to tell the Israelites: "You have seen how I, the LORD, have spoken to you from heaven.

20:23   Do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gold to be worshiped in addition to me.

20:24   Make an altar of earth for me, and on it sacrifice your sheep and your cattle as offerings to be completely burned and as fellowship offerings. In every place that I set aside for you to worship me, I will come to you and bless you.

20:25   If you make an altar of stone for me, do not build it out of cut stones, because when you use a chisel on stones, you make them unfit for my use.

20:26   Do not build an altar for me with steps leading up to it; if you do, you will expose yourselves as you go up the steps.