Exodus 19-24

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

19 In the third month after the Israelites left the land of Egypt, the same day, they came into the Wilderness of Sinai.

² When they had departed from Rephidim and had come to the Wilderness of Sinai, they encamped there before the mountain.

³ And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him out of the mountain, Say this to the house of Jacob and tell the Israelites:

⁴ You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.

⁵ Now therefore, if you will obey My voice in truth and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own peculiar possession and treasure from among and above all peoples; for all the earth is Mine.

⁶ And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, a holy nation [consecrated, set apart to the worship of God]. These are the words you shall speak to the Israelites.

⁷ So Moses called for the elders of the people and told them all these words which the Lord commanded him.

⁸ And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do. And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.

⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you and believe you and remain steadfast forever. Then Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.

¹⁰ And the Lord said to Moses, Go and sanctify the people [set them apart for God] today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes

¹¹ And be ready by the third day, for the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai [in the cloud] in the sight of all the people.

¹² And you shall set bounds for the people round about, saying, Take heed that you go not up into the mountain or touch the border of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.

¹³ No hand shall touch it [or the offender], but he shall surely be stoned or shot [with arrows]; whether beast or man, he shall not live. When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.^(A)

¹⁴ So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified them [set them apart for God], and they washed their clothes.

¹⁵ And he said to the people, Be ready by the day after tomorrow; do not go near a woman.

¹⁶ The third morning there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.

¹⁷ Then Moses brought the people from the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

¹⁸ Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, for the Lord descended upon it in fire; its smoke ascended like that of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.

¹⁹ As the trumpet blast grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with a voice.^(B)

²⁰ The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

²¹ The Lord said to Moses, Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to gaze and many of them perish.

²² And also let the priests, who come near to the Lord, sanctify (set apart) themselves [for God], lest the Lord break forth against them.

²³ And Moses said to the Lord, The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You Yourself charged us, saying, Set bounds about the mountain and sanctify it [set it apart for God].

²⁴ Then the Lord said to him, Go, get down and you shall come up, you and Aaron with you; but let not the priests and the people break through to come up to the Lord, lest He break forth against them.

²⁵ So Moses went down to the people and told them.

20 Then God spoke all these words:

² I am the Lord your God, Who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

³ You shall have no other gods before or besides Me.

⁴ You shall not make yourself any graven image [to worship it] or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;

⁵ You shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me,^(C)

⁶ But showing mercy and steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

⁷ You shall not use or repeat the name of the Lord your God in vain [that is, lightly or frivolously, in false affirmations or profanely]; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

⁸ [Earnestly] remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (withdrawn from common employment and dedicated to God).

⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

¹⁰ But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your domestic animals, or the sojourner within your gates.

¹¹ For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it [set it apart for His purposes].

¹² Regard (treat with honor, due obedience, and courtesy) your father and mother, that your days may be long in the land the Lord your God gives you.

¹³ You shall not commit murder.

¹⁴ You shall not commit ^[a]adultery.^(D)

¹⁵ You shall not steal.^(E)

¹⁶ You shall not witness falsely against your neighbor.^(F)

¹⁷ You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.^(G)

¹⁸ Now all the people perceived the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the smoking mountain, and as [they] looked they trembled with fear and fell back and stood afar off.

¹⁹ And they said to Moses, You speak to us and we will listen, but let not God speak to us, lest we die.

²⁰ And Moses said to the people, Fear not; for God has come to prove you, so that the [reverential] fear of Him may be before you, that you may not sin.

²¹ And the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

²² And the Lord said to Moses, Thus shall you say to the Israelites, You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven.

²³ You shall not make [gods to share] with Me [My glory and your worship]; gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.

²⁴ An altar of earth you shall make to Me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I record My name and cause it to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

²⁵ And if you will make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone, for if you lift up a tool upon it you have polluted it.

²⁶ Neither shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness be not exposed upon it.

21 Now these are the ordinances you [Moses] shall set before [the Israelites].

² If you buy a Hebrew servant [as the result of debt or theft], he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, paying nothing.^(H)

³ If he came [to you] by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he came married, then his wife shall go out with him.

⁴ If his master has given him a wife and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s, and he shall go out [of your service] alone.

⁵ But if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go free,

⁶ Then his master shall bring him to God [the judges as His agents]; he shall bring him to the door or doorpost and shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him for life.

⁷ If a man sells his daughter to be a maidservant or bondwoman, she shall not go out [in six years] as menservants do.

⁸ If she does not please her master who has not espoused her to himself, he shall let her be redeemed. To sell her to a foreign people he shall have no power, for he has dealt faithlessly with her.

⁹ And if he espouses her to his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter.

¹⁰ If he marries again, her food, clothing, and privilege as a wife shall he not diminish.

¹¹ And if he does not do these three things for her, then shall she go out free, without payment of money.

¹² Whoever strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death.

¹³ But if he did not lie in wait for him, but God allowed him to fall into his hand, then I will appoint you a place to which he may flee [for protection until duly tried].^(I)

¹⁴ But if a man comes willfully upon another to slay him craftily, you shall take him from My altar [to which he may have fled for protection], that he may die.

¹⁵ Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

¹⁶ Whoever kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or is found with him in his possession, shall surely be put to death.

¹⁷ Whoever curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

¹⁸ If men quarrel and one strikes another with a stone or with his fist and he does not die but keeps his bed,

¹⁹ If he rises again and walks about leaning upon his staff, then he that struck him shall be clear, except he must pay for the loss of his time and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.

²⁰ And if a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod and he [or she] dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished.

²¹ But if the servant lives on for a day or two, the offender shall not be punished, for he [has injured] his own property.

²² If men contend with each other, and a pregnant woman [interfering] is hurt so that she has a miscarriage, yet no further damage follows, [the one who hurt her] shall surely be punished with a fine [paid] to the woman’s husband, as much as the judges determine.

²³ But if any damage follows, then you shall give life for life,

²⁴ Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

²⁵ Burn for burn, wound for wound, and lash for lash.

²⁶ And if a man hits the eye of his servant or the eye of his maid so that it is destroyed, he shall let him go free for his eye’s sake.

²⁷ And if he knocks out his manservant’s tooth or his maidservant’s tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth’s sake.

²⁸ If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, then the ox shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be clear.

²⁹ But if the ox has tried to gore before, and its owner has been warned but has not kept it closed in and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned and its owner also put to death.

³⁰ If a ransom is put on [the man’s] life, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is laid upon him.

³¹ If the [man’s ox] has gored another’s son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule.

³² If the ox gores a manservant or a maidservant, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

³³ If a man leaves a pit open or digs a pit and does not cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it,

³⁴ The owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money to the animal’s owner, but the dead beast shall be his.

³⁵ If one man’s ox hurts another’s so that it dies, they shall sell the live ox and divide the price of it; the dead ox also they shall divide between them.

³⁶ Or if it is known that the ox has gored in the past, and its owner has not kept it closed in, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his.

22 If a man steals an ox or sheep and kills or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, or four sheep for a sheep.

² If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no blood shed for him.

³ But if the sun has risen [so he can be seen], blood must be shed for slaying him. The thief [if he lives] must make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.

⁴ If the beast which he stole is found in his possession alive, whether it is ox or ass or sheep, he shall restore double.

⁵ If a man causes a field or vineyard to be grazed over or lets his beast loose and it feeds in another man’s field, he shall make restitution of the best of his own field or his own vineyard.

⁶ If fire breaks out and catches so that the stacked grain or standing grain or the field be consumed, he who kindled the fire shall make full restitution.

⁷ If a man delivers to his neighbor money or goods to keep and it is stolen out of the neighbor’s house, then, if the thief is found, he shall pay double.

⁸ But if the thief is not found, the house owner shall appear before God [the judges as His agents] to find whether he stole his neighbor’s goods.

⁹ For every unlawful deed, whether it concerns ox, donkey, sheep, clothing, or any lost thing at all, which another identifies as his, the cause of both parties shall come before God [the judges]. Whomever [they] shall condemn shall pay his neighbor double.

¹⁰ If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep and it dies or is hurt or driven away, no man seeing it,

¹¹ Then an oath before the Lord shall be required between the two that the man has not taken his neighbor’s property; and the owner of it shall accept his word and not require him to make good the loss.

¹² But if it is stolen when in his care, he shall make restitution to its owner.

¹³ If it be torn in pieces [by some wild beast or by accident], let him bring [the mangled carcass] for witness; he shall not make good what was torn.

¹⁴ And if a man borrows anything of his neighbor and it gets hurt or dies without its owner being with it, the borrower shall make full restitution.

¹⁵ But if the owner is with it [when the damage is done], the borrower shall not make it good. If it is a hired thing, the damage is included in its hire.

¹⁶ If a man seduces a virgin not betrothed and lies with her, he shall surely pay a dowry for her to become his wife.

¹⁷ If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equivalent to the dowry of virgins.

¹⁸ You shall not allow a woman to live who practices sorcery.

¹⁹ Whoever lies carnally with a beast shall surely be put to death.

²⁰ He who sacrifices to any god but the Lord only shall be utterly destroyed.

²¹ You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

²² You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.

²³ If you afflict them in any way and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry;

²⁴ And My wrath shall burn; I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows and your children fatherless.

²⁵ If you lend money to any of My people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor, neither shall you require interest from him.

²⁶ If you ever take your neighbor’s garment in pledge, you shall give it back to him before the sun goes down;

²⁷ For that is his only covering, his clothing for his body. In what shall he sleep? When he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious and merciful.

²⁸ You shall not revile God [the judges as His agents] or esteem lightly or curse a ruler of your people.

²⁹ You shall not delay to bring to Me from the fullness [of your harvested grain] and the outflow [of your grape juice and olive oil]; give Me the firstborn of your sons [or redeem them].^(J)

³⁰ Likewise shall you do with your oxen and your sheep. Seven days the firstborn [beast] shall be with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me.

³¹ And you shall be holy men [consecrated] to Me; therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.

23 You shall not repeat or raise a false report; you shall not join with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

² You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; nor shall you bear witness at a trial so as to side with a multitude to pervert justice.

³ Neither shall you be partial to a poor man in his trial [just because he is poor].

⁴ If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again.

⁵ If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying [helpless] under his load, you shall refrain from leaving the man to cope with it alone; you shall help him to release the animal.

⁶ You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his cause.

⁷ Keep far from a false matter and [be very careful] not to condemn to death the innocent and the righteous, for I will not justify and acquit the wicked.

⁸ You shall take no bribe, for the bribe blinds those who have sight and perverts the testimony and the cause of the righteous.

⁹ Also you shall not oppress a temporary resident, for you know the heart of a stranger and sojourner, seeing you were strangers and sojourners in Egypt.

¹⁰ Six years you shall sow your land and reap its yield.

¹¹ But the seventh year you shall release it and let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat [what the land voluntarily yields], and what they leave the wild beasts shall eat. In like manner you shall deal with your vineyard and olive grove.

¹² Six days you shall do your work, but the seventh day you shall rest and keep Sabbath, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your bondwoman, and the alien, may be refreshed.

¹³ In all I have said to you take heed; do not mention the name of other gods [either in blessing or cursing]; do not let such speech be heard from your mouth.

¹⁴ Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to Me.

¹⁵ You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before Me empty-handed.

¹⁶ Also you shall keep the Feast of Harvest [Pentecost], [acknowledging] the firstfruits of your toil, of what you sow in the field. And [third] you shall keep the Feast of Ingathering [Booths or Tabernacles] at the end of the year, when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field.

¹⁷ Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.

¹⁸ You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread [but keep it unmixed], neither shall the fat of My feast remain all night until morning.

¹⁹ The first of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

²⁰ Behold, I send an ^[b]Angel before you to keep and guard you on the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared.

²¹ Give heed to Him, listen to and obey His voice; be not rebellious before Him or provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgression; for My ^[c]Name is in Him.^(K)

²² But if you will indeed listen to and obey His voice and all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

²³ When My Angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I reject them and blot them out,

²⁴ You shall not bow down to their gods or serve them or do after their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and break down their pillars and images.

²⁵ You shall serve the Lord your God; He shall bless your bread and water, and I will take sickness from your midst.

²⁶ None shall lose her young by miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.

²⁷ I will send My terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people to whom you shall come, and I will make all your foes turn from you [in flight].

²⁸ And I will send hornets before you which shall drive out the Hivite, Canaanite, and Hittite from before you.

²⁹ I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate [for lack of attention] and the wild beasts multiply against you.

³⁰ Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and are numerous enough to take possession of the land.

³¹ I will set your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the river [Euphrates]; for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand and you shall drive them out before you.

³² You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.

³³ They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.

24 God said to Moses, Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu [Aaron’s sons], and seventy of Israel’s elders, and worship at a distance.

² Moses alone shall come near the Lord; the others shall not come near, and neither shall the people come up with him.

³ Moses came and told the people all that the Lord had said and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, All that the Lord has spoken we will do.

⁴ Moses ^[d]wrote all the words of the Lord. He rose up early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve pillars representing Israel’s twelve tribes.

⁵ And he sent young Israelite men, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord.

⁶ And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he dashed against the altar.

⁷ Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people; and they said, All that the Lord has said we will do, and we will be obedient.

⁸ And Moses took the [remaining half of the] blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.^(L)

⁹ Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up [the mountainside].

¹⁰ And they saw the God of Israel [that is, a convincing manifestation of His presence], and under His feet it was like pavement of bright sapphire stone, like the very heavens in clearness.^(M)

¹¹ And upon the nobles of the Israelites He laid not His hand [to conceal Himself from them, to rebuke their daring, or to harm them]; but they saw [the manifestation of the presence of] God, and ate and drank.^(N)

¹² And the Lord said to Moses, Come up to Me into the mountain and be there, and I will give you tables of stone, with the law and the commandments which ^[e]I have written that you may teach them.^(O)

¹³ So Moses rose up with Joshua his attendant; and Moses went up into the mountain of God.

¹⁴ And he said to the elders, Tarry here for us until we come back to you; remember, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a cause, let him go to them.

¹⁵ Then Moses went up into the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

¹⁶ The glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day [God] called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

¹⁷ And the glory of the Lord appeared to the Israelites like devouring fire on the top of the mountain.

¹⁸ Moses entered into the midst of the cloud and went up the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain forty days and nights.