Exodus 19-24

EasyEnglish Bible

The Israelites arrive at Sinai mountain

19 ^1-2 After the Israelites left Rephidim, they went into the Sinai desert. The Israelites put up their tents in the desert, at the side of Sinai mountain. That happened on the first day of the third month since they came out of Egypt.

³ Moses went up the mountain to speak with God. The Lord spoke to him from the mountain. He said, ‘This is what you must say to the Israelites, Jacob's descendants: ⁴ “You yourselves have seen what I did against the Egyptians. You know how I took care of you. I carried you carefully, like an eagle carries her babies on her wings. I brought you here to come to me. ⁵ Now you must be careful to obey me and my covenant with you. Then you will belong to me as my special people. The whole earth belongs to me, and I have chosen you from among all the nations. ⁶ You will be my priests who serve in my kingdom. You will be a nation that is special to me.” These are the words that you must speak to the Israelites.’

⁷ So Moses came back down from the mountain. He brought together all the leaders of the Israelites. He told them all the words that the Lord had commanded him. ⁸ The people all replied together. They said, ‘We will do everything that the Lord has said.’ Then Moses repeated their answer to the Lord.

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, ‘I will come to you in a thick cloud. Then the people will hear me when I speak to you. Then they will always believe what you say.’ Moses told the Lord the words that the people had said.

¹⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to the people. Make them ready to meet with me. Today and tomorrow they must wash their clothes. ¹¹ They must be ready on the third day. On that day, I will come down on Sinai mountain, so that all the people see me. ¹² Make a line round the edge of the mountain so that the people do not cross it. Say to them, “Be careful! Do not go up the mountain or even touch the edge of it. If any people or animals touch the mountain, they must die. ¹³ Nobody must go near them. You must throw stones at them to kill them. Or you must shoot arrows at them. You must not let them live, whether they are people or animals.” The people must wait until they hear the sound of a trumpet. When they hear a long noise, then they may go up on the mountain.’

¹⁴ Then Moses came down from the mountain to speak to the people. He told them to make themselves ready for God. So the people washed their clothes. ¹⁵ Then Moses said to them, ‘Prepare yourselves for the third day. While you wait, do not have sex with your wives, or anyone.’

¹⁶ On the morning of the third day, there was thunder and lightning. A thick cloud was there over the mountain. The people heard the noise of a loud trumpet. They were so afraid that their bodies were shaking.

¹⁷ Then Moses led the people away from their tents to meet with God. They went and they stood at the edge of the mountain. ¹⁸ Smoke covered Sinai mountain because the Lord had come down on the mountain, like a fire. The smoke rose up from the mountain, like smoke from a great fire. The whole mountain shook very much. ¹⁹ The noise of the trumpet became louder and louder. Moses spoke to God and God answered him with a loud voice.

²⁰ The Lord came down onto the top of Sinai mountain. Then the Lord told Moses that he must come up to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up the mountain. ²¹ The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go down to the people. Warn them that they must stay away from the mountain. They must not cross the line to try to see me, the Lord. If they do that, many of them will die. ²² Even the priests must make themselves clean before they come near to me. If they do not obey this command, I will punish them. I am the Lord.’

²³ Moses said to the Lord, ‘The people cannot come up Sinai mountain. You warned us that we must make a line round the edge of the mountain. You said that we must make the mountain a special place.’

²⁴ The Lord replied, ‘Now go back down. Then bring Aaron up with you. But the priests and the people must stay where they are. They must not try to come up here where I am. If they come across the line, I will punish them.’

²⁵ So Moses went down to the people. He told them what the Lord had said.

God's 10 special commands

20 Then God spoke all these words:

² ‘I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt, the country where you were slaves.

³ You must not have any other gods except me.

⁴ You must not make any idol for yourself. Do not make a false god in the shape of anything that is in the sky above. Do not make one in the shape of anything on the earth or in the sea. ⁵ You must not bend down your head to any idol or worship it. I am the Lord your God and I want you to belong to me alone. I will punish children because of the bad things that their fathers have done. I will also punish their children and their grandchildren too. That is how I will punish everyone who turns against me. ⁶ But I will truly love all those who love me. They are the people who obey my laws. I will continue to love them and their families for ever.

⁷ You must not speak the name of the Lord your God in a wrong way. The Lord will punish anyone who speaks his name in a wrong way.

⁸ Remember the Sabbath day. Keep it as a special day for me. ⁹ You have six days every week to do all your work. ¹⁰ But the seventh day is a Sabbath day. It is special for the Lord your God. You must not do any work on that day. Your son and your daughter must not work on that day. Your servants, male or female, must not work on that day. The foreign person who lives among you and even your animals must not work on that day. ¹¹ In six days, the Lord made the heavens, the earth and the sea. He made everything that is in them. But on the seventh day, the Lord rested. So he blessed the Sabbath day and he made it special.

¹² Always respect your father and your mother. Then you will live for many years in the land that the Lord your God will give to you.

¹³ You must not murder anyone.

¹⁴ You must not have sex with another person's husband or wife.

¹⁵ You must not take another person's things for yourself.

¹⁶ You must not say false things against your neighbour.

¹⁷ You must not want to take your neighbour's house for yourself. You must not want to take his wife, or his servants, male or female. You must not want to take his ox, or his donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbour.’

The people are very afraid

¹⁸ The people heard the loud thunder and they saw the bright lightning. They heard the noise of the trumpet. They saw the smoke on the mountain. They were so afraid that their bodies were shaking. They would not come near. ¹⁹ They said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself. We will listen to you. But do not let God speak to us. If he does, we will die.’

²⁰ Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. God has come to test you. He wants you to respect him and to obey him. Then you will not do things that are wrong.’

²¹ So the people stayed away from the mountain. But Moses walked towards the thick, dark cloud, where God was.

Rules about certain things

²² Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell this to the Israelites: “You yourselves have heard me speak to you from heaven. ²³ Do not make any idols to take my place. Do not use silver or gold to make an idol that you will worship.

²⁴ Instead, use earth to make an altar for me. You must offer sacrifices to me on the altar. You may take your sheep, your goats or your cows to make burnt offerings or friendship offerings or other sacrifices to me. Make an altar like this in any place that I choose for you to worship me. In those places, I will come to you and I will bless you. ²⁵ You may also use stones from the ground to make an altar for me. But do not use any tools to cut the stones. If you use a tool on the stones, the altar will not be right for you to worship me there.

²⁶ Do not make an altar which has stairs going up to it. If you do that, someone may see under your clothes when you climb up the stairs. Then you would be ashamed.”

Israelite slaves

21 These are the laws that you must put in front of the Israelites:

² If you buy an Israelite slave, he must work for you for six years. But in the seventh year he will become a free man. He can leave you. He does not have to pay you any money. ³ If he came to you alone, he is free to leave alone. If he came with a wife, she can also leave with him. ⁴ But if the master has given a wife to the slave, she belongs to her master. If she has children, they also belong to her master. The slave must then leave by himself, without his wife and children.

⁵ But perhaps the slave may say, “I love my master, my wife and my children. I will not go away as a free man!” ⁶ Then his master must take the slave to stand in front of the judges.^[a] He must lead the slave to stand beside the door, or the wood that holds the door. Then the master must push the sharp point of a tool through the slave's ear. After that, he will serve his master for all his life.

⁷ Perhaps a man may sell his daughter to someone as a slave. She is not free to leave her master after six years, as the male slaves are. ⁸ Her master has chosen her for himself. If she does not make her master happy, he must let her family buy her back from him. He cannot sell her to a foreign person. He has not done what he promised to her.^{[b] 9} If the master had chosen the girl to marry his son, he must take care of her like his own daughter. ¹⁰ If the master marries another woman as well, he must still take care of the first woman. He must continue to give her food and clothes. He must not refuse to sleep with her. ¹¹ If he does not do these three things, she may leave him. She does not have to pay him any money.

When people attack other people

¹² Perhaps a person may hit another person so that he dies. You must punish the murderer with death. ¹³ But perhaps he had not decided to kill the other person. Perhaps God let it happen. Then the man should run away to a safe place that I will choose for you. ¹⁴ But if he already decided to kill the other person, he is a murderer. You must punish him with death. Even if he runs to my altar as a safe place, take him away from there and kill him.

¹⁵ If someone attacks his father or his mother, you must punish him with death.

¹⁶ If someone catches another person to sell him, you must punish him with death. Kill him even if you find him when he has not yet sold the man that he caught.

¹⁷ If someone curses his father or his mother, you must punish him with death.

¹⁸ Perhaps two men argue and they fight one another. One man might hit the other man with a stone or with his fist. The man that he hit might not die but he might have to stay in bed for some time. ¹⁹ After that, he may get up. He may be able to walk about outside, if he uses a stick. Then the man who hit him is not guilty. But he must pay the man that he has hurt. He must pay him for the time that he has not been able to work. He must also make sure that the man becomes completely well again.

²⁰ Perhaps a master may hit his male slave or his female slave with a stick. If the slave dies because of this, you must punish the master. ²¹ But if the slave is still alive after one or two days, do not punish his master. The master has already lost the slave's work for that time.

²² When two men fight together, perhaps one of them may hit a pregnant woman. As a result of the fight, she may give birth to her child before the right time. If the man has not hurt the woman very much, he must pay money to her husband. He must pay the amount of money that the husband demands. A judge must agree that the money for his punishment is fair. ²³ But if the man has hurt the woman a lot, you must punish him as he deserves. Take a life for a life, ²⁴ an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot. ²⁵ You must give him a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.^[c]

²⁶ If a master hits the eye of his male slave or his female slave, he might destroy it. Then he must let the slave go away as a free person to pay for the loss of their eye. ²⁷ If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, he must also let the slave go away to pay for the loss of the tooth.

Rules about animals

²⁸ Perhaps a bull may attack someone so that the person dies. Then you must throw stones at the bull to kill it. You must not eat the meat from that bull. But do not punish the owner of the bull. ²⁹ But perhaps that bull has attacked people before. Perhaps someone warned the owner about this, but the man did not keep the bull in a safe place. If that happens, and the bull kills someone, you must kill the bull. You must also punish the bull's owner with death. ³⁰ But if the dead person's family demands money, the man can give them money instead of his life. He must pay them what they ask for. ³¹ This law is the same if the bull attacks someone's son or their daughter. ³² If it attacks a male slave or a female slave, the man must pay 30 silver coins to the slave's master. You must also throw stones at the bull to kill it.

³³ If a man digs a hole in the ground, he must cover it. If he leaves a hole open, a cow or a donkey might fall into it. ³⁴ Then the man who dug the hole must pay for the loss of the animal. He must pay money to the animal's owner, but he may keep the dead animal for himself.

³⁵ If one man's bull attacks another man's bull, it may die. Then they must sell the bull that is still alive. Each man can take half of the money and half of the dead bull as well. ³⁶ But perhaps that bull has attacked other animals before. If its owner knows that and he did not do anything, he must pay for the dead bull. He should have kept his bull in a safe place. So he must pay the owner of the dead bull, but he can keep the dead animal for himself.

Rules about things that belong to people

22 Perhaps someone may take another person's cow or sheep for himself. He may kill it or he may sell it. As punishment, he must pay the owner five cows for each cow that he has taken. He must pay four sheep for each sheep that he has taken.

² Perhaps someone may catch a robber as he goes into another person's house. The owner of the house might knock down the robber so that he dies. If this happens at night, the owner of the house is not guilty of murder. ³ But if the owner of the house kills the robber after sunrise, he is guilty of murder.

Anyone who takes something that belongs to someone else must pay back the owner. If he cannot pay for everything that he has taken, he must become a slave. The owner will receive the money that someone has paid for the slave.

⁴ You may find an animal that someone has taken for himself. If the animal is still alive, the person who took it must pay back to the owner twice its value. He must do this, whether it was a cow, a donkey, or a sheep.

⁵ A man's animals might go into someone else's field or vineyard to eat what is growing there. Then the owner of those animals must pay back the value of what they have eaten. He must give his best grain and his best grapes to pay back the other man.

⁶ Someone might light a fire in his field to burn thorn bushes. But the fire might grow and it might burn the crops in another farmer's field. It may destroy the crops that are growing there or the grain that is ready for harvest. It might even destroy the whole field. Then the person who lit the fire must pay the farmer for the crops that the fire has destroyed.

⁷ Perhaps you may give some of your money or your valuable things to your neighbour. You may ask your neighbour to keep them safe for you. But a robber might take those things from your neighbour's house. If you catch the robber, he must pay back twice the value of the things that he took. ⁸ But if you do not find the robber, you must take your neighbour to stand in front of the judges.^[d] They must decide if your neighbour has taken your things for himself.

⁹ Perhaps two people both say that something belongs to them. They may argue about a cow, a donkey, a sheep, some clothes or anything else that they have lost. Then both of them must go to stand in front of the judges. The judges will decide which of them is guilty. The guilty person must pay back twice the value of the thing to the other person.

¹⁰ Perhaps you may ask your neighbour to keep one of your animals safe for you. It may be a donkey, a cow, a sheep or any other animal that belongs to you. Then the animal may die, or something may hurt it. Or perhaps a robber takes it for himself. If nobody has seen what really happened, you must do this: ¹¹ Your neighbour must make a serious promise to the Lord. He must promise that he did not take your animal for himself, or hurt it. Then you must accept what he has said. Do not ask your neighbour to pay you any money. ¹² But if a robber did take the animal from your neighbour, then your neighbour must pay you for it. ¹³ But perhaps a wild animal attacked it. Then your neighbour must show the pieces of your animal that are left. Then he will not have to pay you for the loss of your animal.

¹⁴ Your neighbour might lend one of his animals to you to do some work. Something bad might happen to the animal while its owner is not with it. It might die, or something might hurt it. Then you must pay your neighbour for the loss of the animal. ¹⁵ But if the owner is with his animal when something bad happens to it, you do not have to pay anything. And if you already paid your neighbour some money to use his animal, that will be enough to pay him for the loss.

Rules about life

¹⁶ Perhaps a man may meet a young girl who has not had sex with any man before. He might deceive her to have sex with her. If she has not yet promised to marry another man, he must marry her. He must give the right gifts to her parents. ¹⁷ Her father might refuse to give her to the man to be his wife. But the man must still give the right gifts for a girl who is not married.^[e]

¹⁸ You must punish with death any woman who is a magician.

¹⁹ You must punish with death anyone who has sex with an animal.

²⁰ You must completely destroy anyone who offers a sacrifice to a false god. You must only offer sacrifices to the Lord.

²¹ Never be cruel to a foreign person or give them trouble. Remember that you yourselves lived in Egypt as foreigners.

²² Never give trouble to any widow or to any children who have no family. ²³ If you are cruel to them, I will hear them when they call out to me for help. ²⁴ I will be very angry with you. I will kill you in war. Your wives will become widows. Your children will no longer have any family.

²⁵ You may lend money to any of my people who need help. But do not ask them to pay back more money than you have lent to them. That is what traders in money do. ²⁶ You may take someone's coat as a guarantee that he will pay you back. But you must always return his coat to him before sunset. ²⁷ He needs his coat to keep him warm at night. It is the only warm thing that he has to sleep in. If you keep his coat, I will hear him when he calls out to me for help. And I will help him, because I am very kind to people.

²⁸ Never insult God. Never curse anyone who is a leader of your people.

²⁹ Do not refuse to offer your grain, your wine or your olive oil to me.

You must give your firstborn sons to me.

³⁰ Do the same thing with your cows and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days. But on the eighth day, you must give them to me.

³¹ You must live as my special people. So do not eat any meat from your animals that wild animals have killed. Instead, you must give it as food to the dogs.

Rules for justice

23 Do not make false reports. Do not tell lies in court to help wicked people.

² Do not join a group of bad people to do evil things. When you speak in court, tell the truth so that the judges will decide what is right. Do not tell lies to agree with what everyone else says. ³ Do not speak on behalf of a poor man only because you like him.

⁴ Perhaps you may find your enemy's cow or his donkey when he has lost it. If so, you must give it back to him. ⁵ Perhaps you may see your enemy's donkey when it is carrying a heavy load. If the donkey has fallen down, do not refuse to give help. Do not leave the donkey there.

⁶ Always do what is right for your poor people when they stand in front of a judge. ⁷ Do not help anyone to use lies to accuse another person. Never punish anyone with death if they are not guilty. I will never say that a wicked person is not guilty.

⁸ Do not accept a bribe. A bribe will hide the truth even from honest people. It can make good people tell lies.

⁹ Do not be cruel to a foreign person who lives among you. You yourselves know what that feels like. Remember that you lived in Egypt as foreigners.

Rules about the Sabbath day and Feasts

¹⁰ You must plant seed in your fields for six years. Then you can bring your crops home at harvest time. ¹¹ But in the seventh year, you must let your fields lie empty. Do not dig them and do not plant anything in them. Then poor people among you can eat the food that they find in your fields. After that, the wild animals can eat any food that still remains. Do the same thing with your vineyards and your fields of olive trees.

¹² Do your work for six days each week, but do not work on the seventh day. Then your oxen and your donkeys will have time to rest. Any slave who was born in your home and any foreigner who works for you may also have time to rest. That will help them to be strong.

¹³ Be careful to obey everything that I have told you. Do not pray to other gods for help. Do not even speak about them.

¹⁴ Three times each year, you must eat a feast to give me honour.

¹⁵ Eat the Feast of Flat Bread every year. For seven days, you must eat bread that you have made without any yeast. I have commanded you to do this. Do it at the right time during the month Abib. It was in that month that you came out of Egypt. Nobody must come to me without an offering.

¹⁶ Eat the Feast of Harvest every year. Offer to me the first crops that you bring from your fields.^[f]

At the end of each year, eat Feast of Final Harvest. Do that when you have finished bringing in all of your crops from the fields.

¹⁷ Three times each year, all your men must come to worship the Almighty Lord.

¹⁸ When you kill an animal to offer it to me as a sacrifice, do not offer it with bread that has yeast in it. Be sure to burn all the fat of the animal on the same day. Do not keep any of it until the next morning.

¹⁹ When you cut the first crops from your fields, bring the best food to the house of the Lord your God.

Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

God's special angel

²⁰ Look! I will send an angel to lead you on your journey. He will keep you safe. He will take you to the place that I have prepared for you. ²¹ Be careful to obey him. Listen to what he says to you. Do not turn against him. If you do that, he will not forgive you. I have given him my authority. ²² So be careful to obey him. Do everything that I tell you. Then I will be the enemy of your enemies. I will fight against anyone who fights against you. ²³ My angel will go in front of you. He will bring you into the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. I will destroy them completely. ²⁴ Do not worship their gods. Do not serve them. Do not copy the evil things that these people do. Destroy their idols and break their special stones into pieces.

²⁵ You must serve only me, the Lord your God. Then I will bless your food and your water. I will remove illness from among you. ²⁶ Your women will safely give birth to babies. They will all be able to have children. Everyone will live a long life.

²⁷ I will cause all the nations that you meet to be afraid. All the people who attack you will become confused. I will cause all your enemies to turn round and run away from you. ²⁸ I will send great fear on the people as you move into the land.^[g] That will chase out the Hivites, the Canaanites and the Hittites. ²⁹ But I will not chase out those people in one year. If I did that, the country would become empty of people. Then there would be many wild animals that would cause trouble to you. ³⁰ I will remove the people slowly, one group at a time. As you become strong, you will take the land as your own home.

³¹ I will decide where the borders of your land will be. You will have the land from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the desert to the Euphrates River. I will put the people who live there under your power. As you move into the land, you will chase those people out.

³² Do not make any agreement with them or with their gods. ³³ Do not let them live in your land. They would cause you to do bad things against me. If you serve their gods, you will become like their prisoners.’

God repeats his covenant

24 Then God said to Moses, ‘Come up to me, the Lord. Come with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and 70 of the leaders of Israel. Worship me, but do not come near. ² Only Moses can come near to me, but not the others. The people must not come up the mountain with him.’

³ Moses went and he told the people all the Lord's commands and his teaching. The people answered together, ‘We will do everything that the Lord has told us.’ ⁴ Then Moses wrote down everything that the Lord had said.

Early the next morning, Moses built an altar at the bottom of the mountain. Then he put up 12 stone pillars. Each pillar stood there for one of Israel's 12 tribes. ⁵ Moses sent young Israelite men to burn animals there, as offerings to the Lord. They also killed young bulls as friendship offerings to the Lord.

⁶ Moses took half of the blood of these animals and he put it into some bowls. He splashed the other half of the blood over the altar. ⁷ Then he took the Book of God's Covenant and he read it to the people. They replied, ‘We will do everything that the Lord has told us. We will obey his commands.’

⁸ Then Moses used the blood in the bowls to splash on the people. He said, ‘This blood shows that you accept the covenant that the Lord has made with you. You agree to obey the rules of his covenant.’

⁹ Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and the 70 Israelite leaders went up the mountain. ¹⁰ They saw the God of Israel there. Under his feet was something like a jewel called sapphire. It was as bright as a clear blue sky. ¹¹ God did not hurt those Israelite leaders. They saw God. They ate a meal and they drank together.

¹² The Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain. Stay here. I will give you the flat stones with my Law on them. I have written on them my Law and my commands, so that you can teach them to the people.’

¹³ So Moses went up the mountain of God. His servant Joshua went with him. ¹⁴ Moses said to the leaders, ‘Wait here for us. We will come back to you. Aaron and Hur are here with you. If you have any arguments, they can decide who is right.’

¹⁵ When Moses went up the mountain, the cloud covered it. ¹⁶ The Lord's bright glory appeared on Sinai mountain. The cloud covered the mountain for six days. On the seventh day, the Lord called out to Moses from inside the cloud. ¹⁷ The people could see the Lord's bright glory. To them, it looked like a fire that was burning the top of the mountain. ¹⁸ Moses went up the mountain and he went into the cloud. He stayed on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights.