The Ten Commandments
Deuteronomy 5Moses called to all Israel, and said to them, “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and the ordinances which I declare in y’all’s ears today. Y’all must learn them and attend to doing them.” YHWH our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. YHWH didn’t make this covenant with our ancestors, but with us, with all of us here who are alive today. YHWH spoke with y’all face to face on the mountain from midst of the fire, (I stood between YHWH and y’all at that time, to show y’all the word of YHWH, because y’all were afraid of the fire, and didn’t go up onto the mountain). He said,
“I am YHWH your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“You must have no other gods before me.
“You must not make a idol for yourself in the likeness of anything in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water below the earth. You must not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, YHWH 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 and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You must not carry the name of YHWH your God for vain purposes, for YHWH will not hold anyone guiltless who carries ʜɪꜱ name that way. “You must observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as YHWH your God commanded you. You are to labor six days and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to YHWH your God, in which you must not do any work, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male slave, nor your female slave, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates, so that your male slave and your female slave may rest as well as you. You must remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and YHWH your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore YHWH your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. “You are to honor your father and your mother, as YHWH your God commanded you, that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land which YHWH your God gives you. “You must not murder. “You must not commit adultery.“You must not steal.
“You must not give false testimony against your neighbor. “You must not covet your neighbor’s wife. Neither are you to desire 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.”The People Respond
YHWH spoke these words to y’all’s entire assembly on the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice. Hᴇ added no more. Hᴇ wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me. When y’all heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, y’all came near to me, all the heads of y’all’s tribes, and y’all’s elders, and y’all said, “Look, YHWH our God has shown us ʜɪꜱ glory and ʜɪꜱ greatness, and we have heard ʜɪꜱ voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen today that God can speak with humans, and they still live. Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear YHWH our God’s voice any more, then we will die. For who is there of all flesh who 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 YHWH our God says, and tell us all that YHWH our God tells you. We will listen and do it.”
YHWH heard the voice of y’all’s words when y’all spoke to me, and YHWH said to me, “I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all they said. Oh 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!
“You are to go tell them, ‘Y’all must return to your* tents.’ But as for you, stand here by me, and I will tell you all the commandments, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which you are to teach them, so that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess.”
So y’all be careful to do what YHWH your* God has commanded y’all. Y’all must not turn away to the right hand or to the left. Y’all are to walk in all the path that YHWH your* God has commanded y’all, so that y’all may live and that it may be well with y’all, and that y’all may prolong your* days in the land that y’all are going to possess.