Deuteronomy

¹Moses summoned all Israel and said: Hear, Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am declaring to you today. Learn them and be careful to follow them.

²The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.

³The LORD did not make this covenant with our ancestors but with us — with all of us who are alive here today.

⁴The LORD spoke to you face to face on the mountain out of the fire.

⁵(At that time I stood between the LORD and you to report the LORD's words to you, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) He said:

⁶I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.

⁷You shall have no other gods before me.

⁸Do not make an idol for yourself in the shape of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath the earth.

⁹Do not bow down to them or worship them, because I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God. I punish the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

¹⁰but I show love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

¹¹Do not misuse the name of the LORD your God, because the LORD will not leave unpunished anyone who misuses his name.

¹²Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you.

¹³You have six days to labor and do all your work,

¹⁴but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On that day no one may do any work — not you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your ox, your donkey, any of your livestock, or the foreigner living among you — so that your male and female servants may rest as you do.

¹⁵Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. That is why the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

¹⁶Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded, so that you may live long and so that things may go well for you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

¹⁷Do not murder.

¹⁸Do not commit adultery.

¹⁹Do not steal.

²⁰Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.

²¹Do not covet your neighbor's wife. Do not desire your neighbor's house, his field, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

²²The LORD spoke these commands to your whole assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, in a loud voice. He added nothing more, and he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

²³When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was blazing with fire, all your tribal leaders and elders came to me.

²⁴You said, 'The LORD our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that God can speak with humans and they can still live.

²⁵But now, why should we die? This great fire will devour us. If we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer, we will die.

²⁶For what mortal has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking from fire, as we have, and survived?

²⁷Go near and listen to everything the LORD our God says. Then tell us whatever the LORD our God tells you, and we will listen and obey.'

²⁸The LORD heard what you said to me, and the LORD said to me, 'I have heard what this people said to you. Everything they have said is good.

²⁹If only they had such a heart — that they would fear me and keep all my commands always, so that things might go well with them and their children forever.

³⁰Go and tell them: Return to your tents.

³¹But you, stand here with me, and I will tell you every command, statute, and ordinance that you are to teach them to follow in the land I am giving them to possess.'

³²So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you. Do not turn to the right or the left.

³³Walk in all the ways the LORD your God has commanded you so that you may live and prosper and have a long life in the land you will possess.