7Moses came and summoned the elders of the people and put before them all that the LORD had commanded him. 8All the people answered as one, saying, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do!” And Moses brought back the people’s words to the LORD. 9And the LORD said to Moses, “I will come to you in a thick cloud, in order that the people may hear when I speak with you and so trust you ever after.” Then Moses reported the people’s words to the LORD, 10and the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and warn them to stay purea today and tomorrow. Let them wash their clothes. 11Let them be ready for the third day; for on the third day the LORD will come down, in the sight of all the people, on Mount Sinai. 12You shall set bounds for the people round about, saying, ‘Beware of going up the mountain or touching the border of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death: 13no hand shall touch him, but he shall be either stoned or shot; beast or man, he shall not live.’ When the ram’s horn b-sounds a long blast,-b they may go up on the mountain.”
14Moses came down from the mountain to the people and warned the people to stay pure, and they washed their clothes. 15And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day: do not go near a woman.”
16On the third day, as morning dawned, there was thunder, and lightning, and a dense cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the horn; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17Moses led the people out of the camp toward God, and they took their places at the foot of the mountain.
18Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for the LORD had come down upon it in fire; the smoke rose like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountainc trembled violently. 19The blare of the horn grew louder and louder. As Moses spoke, God answered him in thunder. 20The LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain, and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up. 21The LORD said to Moses, “Go down, warn the people not to break through to the LORD to gaze, lest many of them perish. 22The priests also, who come near the LORD, must stay pure, lest the LORD break out against them.” 23But Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You warned us saying, ‘Set bounds about the mountain and sanctify it.’ ” 24So the LORD said to him, “Go down, and come back together with Aaron; but let not the priests or the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest He break out against them.” 25And Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.
20 God spoke all these words,a saying:
2I the LORD am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: 3You shall have no other gods besides Me.
4You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. 5You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I the LORD your God am an impassioned God, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject Me, 6but showing kindness to the thousandth gen- eration of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7You shall not b-swear falsely by-b the name of the LORD your God; for the LORD will not clear one who swears falsely by His name.
8Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God: you shall not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements. 11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.
12Honor your father and your mother, that you may long endure on the land that the LORD your God is assigning to you.
13You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
14You shall not covet your neighbor’s house: you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female slave, or his ox or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
15All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the blare of the horn and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they fell back and stood at a distance. 16“You speak to us,” they said to Moses, “and we will obey; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.” 17Moses answered the people, “Be not afraid; for God has come only in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may be ever with you, so that you do not go astray.” 18So the people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was.
19The LORD said to Moses:
Thus shall you say to the Israelites: You yourselves saw that I spoke to you from the very heavens: 20With Me, therefore, you shall not make any gods of silver, nor shall you make for yourselves any gods of gold. 21Make for Me an altar of earth and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your sacrifices of well-being,c your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause My name to be mentioned I will come to you and bless you. 22And if you make for Me an altar of stones, do not build it of hewn stones; for by wielding your tool upon them you have profaned them. 23Do not ascend My altar by steps, that your nakedness may not be exposed upon it.
21 These are the rules that you shall set before them:
2When you acquire a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years; in the seventh year he shall go free, without payment. 3If he came single, he shall leave single; if he had a wife, his wife shall leave with him. 4If his master gave him a wife, and she has borne him children, the wife and her children shall belong to the master, and he shall leave alone. 5But if the slave declares, “I love my master, and my wife and children: I do not wish to go free,” 6his master shall take him before God.a He shall be brought to the door or the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall then remain his slave for life.
7When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not be freed as male slaves are. 8If she proves to be displeasing to her master, who designated her for himself, he must let her be redeemed; he shall not have the right to sell her to outsiders, since he broke faith with her. 9And if he designated her for his son, he shall deal with her as is the practice with free maidens. 10If he marries another, he must not withhold from this one her food, her clothing, or her conjugal rights.b 11If he fails her in these three ways, she shall go free, without payment.
12He who fatally strikes a man shall be put to death. 13If he did not do it by design, but it came about by an act of God, I will assign you a place to which he can flee.
14When a man schemes against another and kills him treacherously, you shall take him from My very altar to be put to death.
15He who strikes his father or his mother shall be put to death.
16He who kidnaps a man—whether he has sold him or is still holding him—shall be put to death.
17He who insultsc his father or his mother shall be put to death.
18When men quarrel and one strikes the other with stone or fist, and he does not die but has to take to his bed—19if he then gets up and walks outdoors upon his staff, the assailant shall go unpunished, except that he must pay for his idleness and his cure.
20When a man strikes his slave, male or female, with a rod, and he dies there and then,d he must be avenged. 21But if he survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged,
