Rules for a Free People

¹Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, “Hear, Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears today, that you may learn them, and observe to do them.”

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

³The LORD didn’t make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive today.

⁴The LORD spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the middle of the fire,

⁵(I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to show you the LORD’s word; for you were afraid because of the fire, and didn’t go up onto the mountain) saying,

⁶“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

⁷“You shall have no other gods before me.

⁸“You shall not make a carved image for yourself—any likeness of what is in heaven above, or what is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

⁹You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me

¹⁰and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

¹¹“You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who misuses his name.

¹²“Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you.

¹³You shall labor six days, and do all your work;

¹⁴but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, in which you shall not do any work—neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.

¹⁵You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

¹⁶“Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

¹⁷“You shall not murder.

¹⁸“You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁹“You shall not steal.

²⁰“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

²¹“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. Neither shall you desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

²²The LORD spoke these words to all your assembly on the mountain out of the middle of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice. He added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me.

²³When you heard the voice out of the middle of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders;

²⁴and you said, “Behold, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the middle of the fire. We have seen today that God does speak with man, and he lives.

²⁵Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the LORD our God’s voice any more, then we shall die.

²⁶For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as we have, and lived?

²⁷Go near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say, and tell us all that the LORD our God tells you; and we will hear it, and do it.”

²⁸The LORD heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me; and the LORD said to me, “I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have well said all that they have spoken.

²⁹Oh that there were such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!

³⁰“Go tell them, ‘Return to your tents.’

³¹But as for you, stand here by me, and I will tell you all the commandments, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess.”

³²You shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God has commanded you. You shall not turn away to the right hand or to the left.

³³You shall walk in all the way which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.

¹Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land that you go over to possess;

²that you might fear the LORD your God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you—you, your son, and your son’s son, all the days of your life; and that your days may be prolonged.

³Hear therefore, Israel, and observe to do it, that it may be well with you, and that you may increase mightily, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised to you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴Hear, Israel: The LORD is our God. The LORD is one.

⁵You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.

⁶These words, which I command you today, shall be on your heart;

⁷and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

⁸You shall bind them for a sign on your hand, and they shall be for frontlets between your eyes.

⁹You shall write them on the door posts of your house and on your gates.

¹⁰It shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities which you didn’t build,

¹¹and houses full of all good things which you didn’t fill, and cisterns dug out which you didn’t dig, vineyards and olive trees which you didn’t plant, and you shall eat and be full;

¹²then beware lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

¹³You shall fear the LORD your God; and you shall serve him, and shall swear by his name.

¹⁴You shall not go after other gods, of the gods of the peoples who are around you,

¹⁵for the LORD your God among you is a jealous God, lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

¹⁶You shall not tempt the LORD your God, as you tempted him in Massah.

¹⁷You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he has commanded you.

¹⁸You shall do that which is right and good in the LORD’s sight, that it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the LORD swore to your fathers,

¹⁹to thrust out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has spoken.

²⁰When your son asks you in time to come, saying, “What do the testimonies, the statutes, and the ordinances, which the LORD our God has commanded you mean?”

²¹then you shall tell your son, “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand;

²²and the LORD showed great and awesome signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house, before our eyes;

²³and he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in, to give us the land which he swore to our fathers.

²⁴The LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are today.

²⁵It shall be righteousness to us, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.”