The Covenant at Horeb
And Moses called to all Israel and said to them: Hear, Israel, the statutes and the judgments that I am speaking in your ears today; and you shall learn them, and keep them, to do them.
The LORD our God cut a covenant with us at Horeb.
Not with our fathers did the LORD cut this covenant, but with us — we, these here today, all of us alive.
Face to face the LORD spoke with you at the mountain, from the midst of the fire —
The Ten Commandments
I was standing between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD; for you were afraid before the fire, and did not go up the mountain — saying:
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves.
You shall have no other gods before my face.
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any form that is in the heavens above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the waters under the earth.
You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of fathers on sons, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,
but doing loyal love to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not lift up the name of the LORD your God for what is worthless; for the LORD will not leave unpunished the one who lifts up his name for what is worthless.
Keep the sabbath day, to consecrate it, as the LORD your God commanded you.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. You shall not do any work — you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male slave, or your female slave, or your ox, or your donkey, or any of your beasts, or your sojourner who is within your gates — so that your male slave and your female slave may rest as you do.
And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a strong hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to keep the sabbath day.
Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, so that your days may be long, and so that it may go well for you, on the ground that the LORD your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
And you shall not commit adultery.
And you shall not steal.
And you shall not answer against your neighbor as a worthless witness.
And you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not crave your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male slave, or his female slave, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
Moses Intercedes for the People
These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly at the mountain, from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick gloom — a great voice, and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone, and gave them to me.
And it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me — all the heads of your tribes and your elders —
and you said, “Look — the LORD our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and his voice we have heard from the midst of the fire. This day we have seen that God speaks with mankind, and man lives.
But now, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, we shall die.
For who of all flesh has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
You go near, and hear all that the LORD our God says; and you speak to us all that the LORD our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.”
And the LORD heard the sound of your words when you spoke to me; and the LORD said to me, “I have heard the sound of the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken.
Would that this heart of theirs were theirs always — to fear me and to keep all my commandments all the days, so that it might go well for them and for their sons forever!
Go, say to them: Return to your tents.
But you — stand here with me, and I will speak to you all the commandment, and the statutes, and the judgments that you shall teach them; and they shall do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.”
So you shall keep to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside right or left.
In all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, you shall walk — so that you may live, and it may be well for you, and you may lengthen your days in the land that you will possess.