A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Exodus 20
Exodus 20 is the twentieth chapter of the second book of the Bible and contains the most famous list of laws in the Bible: the Ten Commandments. The 26-verse chapter records God speaking the commandments at Mount Sinai, in the hearing of the entire Israelite people.
The chapter opens with God speaking all these words. The setting is Mount Sinai, fifty days after the Israelites left Egypt. The mountain is wrapped in thunder, lightning, smoke, and the sound of a trumpet.
God begins by identifying himself: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery."
The Ten Commandments follow in order. The first: you shall have no other gods before me. The second: you shall not make for yourself an idol, or bow down to it; God is jealous, punishing those who hate him but showing love to thousands of those who love him. The third: you shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. The fourth: remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy; six days you shall labor, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD.
The fifth: honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land. The sixth: you shall not murder. The seventh: you shall not commit adultery. The eighth: you shall not steal. The ninth: you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. The tenth: you shall not covet your neighbor's house, wife, servant, ox, donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.
When the people see and hear the storm on the mountain, they tremble. They stand at a distance and ask Moses to speak with God on their behalf. Moses tells them not to be afraid; God has come to test them, so that the fear of him will keep them from sinning.
The chapter closes with God giving Moses additional instructions about altars. They are not to be made of cut stone, because using a tool on a stone would defile it.
Verse 1. And God spoke all these words:
Verse 2. “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Verse 3. You shall have no other gods before Me.
Verse 4. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.
Verse 5. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Verse 6. but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
Verse 7. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.
Verse 8. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Verse 9. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
Verse 10. but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates.
Verse 11. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
Verse 12. Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
Verse 13. You shall not murder.
Verse 14. You shall not commit adultery.
Verse 15. You shall not steal.
Verse 16. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Verse 17. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Verse 18. When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sounding of the ram’s horn, and the mountain enveloped in smoke, they trembled and stood at a distance.
Verse 19. “Speak to us yourself and we will listen,” they said to Moses. “But do not let God speak to us, or we will die.”
Verse 20. “Do not be afraid,” Moses replied. “For God has come to test you, so that the fear of Him may be before you, to keep you from sinning.”
Verse 21. And the people stood at a distance as Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
Verse 22. Then the LORD said to Moses, “This is what you are to tell the Israelites: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.
Verse 23. You are not to make any gods alongside Me; you are not to make for yourselves gods of silver or gold.
Verse 24. You are to make for Me an altar of earth, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and peace offerings, your sheep and goats and cattle. In every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.
Verse 25. Now if you make an altar of stones for Me, you must not build it with stones shaped by tools; for if you use a chisel on it, you will defile it.
Verse 26. And you must not go up to My altar on steps, lest your nakedness be exposed on it.’
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