20Exodus 20

The Ten Commandments

1God said to the people of Israel:Select Exodus 20:1

2I am the Lord your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt where you were slaves.Select Exodus 20:2

3Do not worship any god except me.Select Exodus 20:3

4Do not make idols that look like anything in the sky or on earth or in the ocean under the earth.Select Exodus 20:4

5Don't bow down and worship idols. I am the Lord your God, and I demand all your love. If you reject me, I will punish your families for three or four generations.Select Exodus 20:5

6But if you love me and obey my laws, I will be kind to your families for thousands of generations.Select Exodus 20:6

7Do not misuse my name. I am the Lord your God, and I will punish anyone who misuses my name.Select Exodus 20:7

8Remember that the Sabbath Day belongs to me.Select Exodus 20:8

9You have six days when you can do your work,Select Exodus 20:9

10but the seventh day of each week belongs to me, your God. No one is to work on that day—not you, your children, your slaves, your animals, or the foreigners who live in your towns.Select Exodus 20:10

11In six days I made the sky, the earth, the oceans, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That's why I made the Sabbath a special day that belongs to me.Select Exodus 20:11

12Respect your father and your mother, and you will live a long time in the land I am giving you.Select Exodus 20:12

13Do not murder.Select Exodus 20:13

14Be faithful in marriage.Select Exodus 20:14

15Do not steal.Select Exodus 20:15

16Do not tell lies about others.Select Exodus 20:16

17Do not desire to possess anything that belongs to another person—not a house, a wife, a husband, a slave, an ox, a donkey, or anything else.Select Exodus 20:17

The People Are Afraid

18The people trembled with fear when they heard the thunder and the trumpet and saw the lightning and the smoke coming from the mountain. They stood a long way offSelect Exodus 20:18

19and said to Moses, “If you speak to us, we will listen. But don't let God speak to us, or we will die!”Select Exodus 20:19

20“Don't be afraid!” Moses replied. “God has come only to test you, so that by obeying him you won't sin.”Select Exodus 20:20

21But when Moses went near the thick cloud where God was, the people stayed a long way off.Select Exodus 20:21

Idols and Altars

22The Lord told Moses to say to the people of Israel: With your own eyes you saw me speak to you from heaven.Select Exodus 20:22

23So you must never make idols of silver or gold to worship in place of me.Select Exodus 20:23

24Build an altar out of earth, and offer on it your sacrifices of sheep, goats, and cattle. Wherever I choose to be worshiped, I will come down to bless you.Select Exodus 20:24

25If you ever build an altar for me out of stones, do not use any tools to chisel the stones, because that would make the altar unfit for use in worship.Select Exodus 20:25

26And don't build an altar that requires steps; you might expose yourself when you climb up.Select Exodus 20:26