1Then Moses called all the Israelites together and told them: ¹⁹Listen, people of Israel to the rules and regulations that I'm giving you today. Learn them and make sure you follow them carefully.

2Remember that the Lord our God made an agreement with us at Horeb.

3He didn't make this agreement with our fathers, but with us, all of those who are still alive today.

4The Lord talked with you person to person from the fire on the mountain.

5This was the time when I stood between the Lord and you to tell you what the Lord said, because you were afraid of the fire and refused to go up the mountain. He told you,

6“I am the Lord your God, who led you out of Egypt, out of the prison-house of slavery.

7You must not have any other gods except me.

8You must not make for yourself any kind of idol, whether in the form of anything in the heavens above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters below.

9You must not bow down before them or worship them; for I am the Lord your God and I am passionately exclusive. I lay the consequences of the sin of those who hate me on their sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons;

10but I show trustworthy love to the thousands of generations who love me and keep my commandments.

11You must not use the name of the Lord your God in a wrong way, for the Lord will not forgive anyone who uses his name in a wrong way.

12Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you to do.

13You have six days to work and earn your living,

14but the seventh day is the Sabbath to honor the Lord your God. On this day you must not do any work—not you, not your son or daughter, not your male slave or female slave or your ox or donkey or any of your livestock, and not the foreigner who is staying with you, so that your male slave and female slave can have the same rest as you.

15Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, and that the Lord your God led you out from there with his great power and incredible strength. This is why the Lord your God has ordered you to keep the Sabbath day.

16Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you to do, so that you may live a long time and do well in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

17You must not kill people.

18You must not commit adultery.

19You must not steal.

20You must not give false evidence against others.

21You must not desire to have anyone else's wife. You must not desire to have their house or field, or their male slave or female slave, or their ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to them.”

22In a loud voice the Lord gave these commandments to all of you, speaking from the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness that covered the mountain. He didn't add anything else. He wrote them down on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

23When you heard the voice that came from the darkness while the mountain was on fire, all your tribal leaders and elders came to me,

24and said, “Listen, the Lord our God has revealed his glory and majesty to us, and we have heard his voice that came from the fire. Today we have seen that human beings don't die even when God speaks with them.

25But we could still die, couldn't we? This enormous fire is going to burn us up, and we'll die if the Lord our God continues to speak to us.

26Has anybody else ever heard the living God speak from the fire and survived, as we have?

27You go and listen to everything the Lord our God tells you. Then you can repeat to us everything the Lord our God tells you. We promise to listen and obey.”

28The Lord heard what you told me, and he said to me, “I've heard what these people told you. All that they've said is good.

29I only wish they really did respect me and always kept my commandments so that they and their children would do well for all time.

30Go and tell them: ‘You need to return to your tents.’

31But you are to stay here with me so that I can give you all the commandments and rules and regulations you are to teach them to follow in the country that I am giving them to take over and own.”

32So make sure you do what the Lord your God has ordered you to do—don't go astray in any direction.

33Follow all the ways the Lord your God has shown you, so that you do well and live long lives in the country that you will occupy.