The Ten Commandments

Exodus 19, 20, and 25

     The people of Israel were traveling through the desert on the way to Canaan, the land that God had promised them.

     Almost three months after they left Egypt, they camped near a mountain called Sinai. Moses went up on the mountain. God told him, "Tell the people of Israel that they have seen all I did to make you safe and free from Egypt. In three days I am going to make a great covenant with you. The people of Israel will always be my chosen people, if they keep my covenant."

     Moses told the people what God said. He told all the people to pray and wash their clothes to be ready to hear God's plan for them. "God will give us the covenant from a thick cloud," he told them.

     On the third day there was thunder and lightning on top of the mountain. The people heard the sound of a trumpet growing louder and louder. God was on the mountain with fire and smoke and clouds, and there was an earthquake.

     God told Moses to bring his brother Aaron up on the mountain and to let the people stay behind. "My power will be too great for them to see and hear," God said.

     These are the ten commandments of the covenant that God told Moses: "I am the Lord, your God. I brought you out of Egypt. Do not worship any other gods besides me.

     "Do not make any statues or pictures or carvings of anyone in heaven or on earth or in the sea. Do not bow down to any statues or pictures or worship them. If you hate me and disobey me, you and your children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren will have great trouble. But I will show my love forever to those who love me and keep my commandments.

     "Do not use the name of God without respect.

     "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Work six days. But every seventh day is a Sabbath day. It is a holy day. Rest and do no work. Your sons and daughters and servants and animals should not work on the Sabbath. The Lord made heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them in six days, and on the seventh day God rested. The Lord has blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

     "Respect your father and mother, so you may live a long time in the promised land.

     "Do not be unfaithful to your husband or wife.

     "Do not steal.

     "Do not lie about other people.

     "Do not envy what other people have. Do not wish for their homes or their wives or their servants or their animals or anything that your neighbors have."

     These commandments, God told him how to make an altar, an ark, or special wooden box for the stone tablets, and a tent of worship.