1 Then Moses called all the Israelites together and told them:* See 1:6. Listen, people of Israel to the rules and regulations that I'm giving you today. Learn them and make sure you follow them carefully. 2 Remember that the Lord our God made an agreement with us at Horeb.

3 He didn't make this agreement with our fathers, but with us, all of those who are still alive today. 4 The Lord talked with you person to person from the fire on the mountain.

5 This 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.

7 You must not have any other gods except me.

8 You 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. 9 You 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; 10 but I show trustworthy love to the thousands of generations who love me and keep my commandments.

11 You 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.

12 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord as the Lord your God has commanded you to do. 13 You have six days to work and earn your living, 14 but 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 females slave can have the same rest as you. 15 Remember 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. 16 Honor 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.

17 You must not kill people.

18 You must not commit adultery.

19 You must not steal.

20 You must not give false evidence against others.

21 You 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.”

22 In 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. 23 When you heard the voice that came from the darkness while the mountain was on fire, all your tribal leaders and elders came to me, 24 and said, “Listen, the Lord our God has revealed glory and majesty to us, and we have heard his voice that came from the fire. Today we have seen that human beings can don't die even when God speaks with them. 25 But 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. 26 Has anybody else ever heard the living God speak from the fire and survived, we have? 27 You 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.”

28 The 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. 29 I only wish they really did respect me and always kept my commandments so that they and their children would do well for all time. 30 Go and tell them: ‘You need to return to your tents.’ 31 But 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.”

32 So make sure you do what the Lord your God has ordered you to do—don't go astray in any direction. 33 Follow 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.