The Covenant at Mount Sinai

The Covenant and the Ten Commandments^[a]

Chapter 19

God Proposes His Covenant.^{[b] 1} Three months to the day after the children of Israel left the land of Egypt, they arrived in the Sinai Desert. ² They left the camp at Rephidim and arrived in the Desert of Sinai. There Israel camped in front of the mountain.

³ Moses climbed up to meet God, and the Lord called out to him from the mountain, saying, “You will say this to the house of Jacob and announce it to the children of Israel: ⁴ ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I lifted you up on eagles’ wings and brought you here to me. ⁵ Now, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession from among all the peoples, for the entire earth is mine. ⁶ You will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for me.’ These are the words you will speak to Israel.”^[c]

⁷ Moses went and summoned the elders of the people and told them what the Lord had commanded him. ⁸ All the people answered together and said, “We will do what the Lord has said.” Then Moses returned to the Lord and told him what the people had said.

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to approach you in a thick cloud so that the people will hear when I speak to you and always believe in you.”

The Lord Descends on Sinai.

¹⁰ The Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes ¹¹ and have them ready for the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai to visit all the people.

¹² “You shall establish a boundary around it, saying, ‘Take heed not to climb up the mountain or even touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain will be put to death.’

¹³ “No hand must touch that person, however, for he must be stoned or shot with an arrow. Whether it be a human or an animal, he is not to live. They can come up the mountain only when you blow the trumpet.”

¹⁴ Moses went down the mountain to the people. He consecrated the people and had them wash their clothes. ¹⁵ Then he said to the people, “Be ready in three days’ time. Abstain from sexual relations.”

¹⁶ The Great Theophany. On the third day, as morning dawned, there was thunder, lightning, a dense cloud on the mountain, and the sound of loud trumpets. All the people in the camp were filled with fear.

¹⁷ Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They stood on foot at the base of the mountain.

¹⁸ Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, for the Lord had descended upon it in fire and the smoke rose up like the smoke of a furnace. The entire mountain trembled. ¹⁹ The sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Moses spoke and God responded with the sound of a trumpet.

²⁰ The Lord thus descended upon Mount Sinai, on the mountain peak, and he called out to Moses upon the mountain peak. Moses went up the mountain.

²¹ The Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to gaze upon the Lord; otherwise many will die.

²² “Let the priests consecrate themselves before they approach the Lord. Otherwise the Lord will burst forth upon them.”

²³ Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot climb up Mount Sinai, for you yourself have warned us saying, ‘Establish a boundary around the mountain and declare it to be holy.’ ”

²⁴ The Lord told him, “Go, descend, then come back up with Aaron. But the priests and the people are not to break through to climb up to the Lord. Otherwise, he will burst forth against them.”

²⁵ Moses went down and spoke to the people.

Chapter 20

The Ten Commandments.^{[d] 1} God spoke all these words:

² “I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of that place of slavery. ³ You shall not have other gods instead of me. ⁴ You shall not make idols or any image of things that are in the heavens above or that are upon the earth or that are in the waters under the earth. ⁵ You shall not bow before them nor shall you serve them. I, the Lord, am your God, a jealous God, who punishes the sins of fathers upon their sons until the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, ⁶ but I will show my favor for a thousand generations of those who love me and observe my commandments.

⁷ “You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain, for the Lord will not leave unpunished those who use his name in vain.

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labor and do your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is the Sabbath in honor of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male slave, nor your female slave, nor your animals, nor the foreigner who dwells with you. ¹¹ The Lord made the heavens and the earth and the seas and that which is in them in six days, but he rested the seventh day. Thus, the Lord blessed the Sabbath and declared it to be sacred.

¹² “Honor your father and your mother so that your days may be lengthened in the land that the Lord your God, will give you.

¹³ “You shall not kill.

¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ “You shall not steal.

¹⁶ “You shall not give false witness against your neighbor.

¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male slave, nor his female slave, nor his oxen, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

¹⁸ Moses, Intermediary of the Covenant. All the people heard the thunder and saw the lightning. They heard the sound of the trumpet and saw the mountain smoking. They were filled with fear and kept their distance.

¹⁹ They said to Moses, “You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us or we will die.”

²⁰ Moses spoke to the people saying, “Do not be afraid. God has come to put you to the test so that you may always be filled with fear of him and not sin.”

²¹ The people kept their distance while Moses approached the dark cloud where God was found.

The Book of the Covenant^[e]

Norms for Constructing an Altar to the Lord.²² The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen that I have spoken to you from the heavens. ²³ Do not make gods from silver or from gold instead of me. You will not make them for yourselves.

²⁴ “ ‘Make an altar for me in the land and upon it offer your burnt offerings and your communion sacrifices, your sheep and your oxen. In all the places where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.

²⁵ “ ‘If you make an altar out of stone for me, do not build it out of cut stone. If you use a chisel upon it, it will be considered to be unclean. ²⁶ Do not go up to the altar by steps, lest your nakedness be seen.’^[f]

Chapter 21

Laws Concerning Slaves. ¹ “These are the decrees that you will set before them.

² “When you buy a Hebrew slave, he will serve you for six years and in the seventh year he will go free, without paying anything.^{[g] 3} If he entered into slavery unmarried, he will go out alone. If he is married, then his wife will go with him. ⁴ If his master has given him a wife and she has had sons or daughters, the woman and her children will be the property of the master and he will go out alone.

⁵ “If the slave says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children, and I do not want to go free,’ ⁶ then the master will bring him before God. He will bring him to a door or a doorpost and will bore a hole in his ear with an awl. He will be his slave forever.

⁷ “When a man sells his daughter^[h] as a slave, she will not go free as the male slaves do. ⁸ If she does not please her master who has taken her as a concubine, she will be allowed to be redeemed. But he cannot sell her to foreigners, for he has acted faithlessly to her. ⁹ If he wishes to give her as a concubine to his own son, he will treat her like a daughter. ¹⁰ If he takes another for himself, he will not withhold her food, her clothes, or her marriage rights. ¹¹ If he does not give her these things, then she can go away without having to pay the price of her redemption.

¹² Different Cases of the Penalty of Death.“Whoever strikes a man causing his death will be put to death. ¹³ However, if the man did not lie in wait, but he met him by chance, there will be a place where he can flee for refuge.

¹⁴ “But when a person kills a neighbor with premeditation, he shall be dragged away from my altar to be put to death.

¹⁵ “Whoever strikes a mother or a father will be put to death.

¹⁶ “Whoever kidnaps a man and either sells him or has him still in his possession, shall be put to death.

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

¹⁸ Punishments for Personal Injury.^[i]“When people are fighting and one of them injures the other with a stone or with a fist, and this does not kill the other but causes a serious injury, ¹⁹ and yet the injured party is able to walk around with a staff, then the one who struck the blow shall be held to be innocent. He must, however, pay the victim for the time he lost on account of the injury and he must pay for his medical care.

²⁰ “When a man strikes his male or female slave with a staff and kills that slave, he shall surely be punished. ²¹ But if the slave lives for a day or two, the slave-owner shall not be punished, for the slave is his property.

²² “When some men fight and injure a pregnant woman so that she loses her child, but there is no other damage, they will be fined as much as the husband of the woman decides. They will pay in the presence of a judge. ²³ But if further harm results, they will pay 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 a burning for a burning, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.

²⁶ “When a man strikes the eye of his male slave or his female slave and blinds the slave, he will free the slave because of the eye. ²⁷ If he breaks a tooth of his male slave or his female slave, he will free the slave to compensate for the tooth.

²⁸ Animals: Injuries and Thefts.“If an ox gores a man or a woman and that person dies, the ox is to be stoned and its meat is not to be eaten, but the owner of the ox will be considered to be innocent. ²⁹ However, if the ox had already gored someone before and the owner had been warned, yet failed to keep it penned up, and if the ox gores another man or a woman and that person dies, then the ox is to be stoned and the owner is to be put to death.

³⁰ “If, however, a fine is imposed, he can pay it to redeem his life, as much as has been required. ³¹ This will also be the procedure if a son or a daughter is gored.

³² “If an ox gores a male or female slave, the master of the slave will be paid thirty shekels of silver, and the ox is to be stoned.

³³ “If someone leaves a cistern uncovered or digs a cistern and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, ³⁴ the owner of the cistern must make restitution and pay the owner of the animal. The dead animal will be his.

³⁵ “If someone’s ox gores another person’s ox and that ox dies, then they will sell the live ox and divide its price between them, and they will also divide the dead ox. ³⁶ But if it is known that the ox had already gored others and its owner had not confined it, then he must pay ox for ox, and the dead animal will be his.

³⁷ “If a man steals an ox or a sheep and then kills it or sells it, he shall pay back five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.

Chapter 22

¹ “If a thief is surprised while he is breaking in and is struck and dies, then there is no bloodguilt for the striker. ² But if the sun has already risen on him, there would be bloodguilt for the striker.

“A thief must surely pay restitution. If he has nothing with which he can pay, then he is to be sold to pay for his theft.

³ “If he is found with the animals he robbed and they are still alive, whether they be oxen or donkeys or sheep, he is to repay double.

Offenses Regarding Compensation. ⁴ “If someone uses a field or a vineyard as a pasture and lets his animals graze in someone else’s field, then he must repay that person with the best of his field and the best of his vineyard.

⁵ “If a fire breaks out and it spreads to the thornbushes so that it burns the stacked grain or the standing grain or the field itself, the person who started the fire must make restitution.^[j]

⁶ “If someone entrusts his neighbor with silver or goods for safekeeping, and there is a robbery in that house and the thief is caught, the thief shall pay back double. ⁷ If the thief is not caught, the master of the house is to be brought before the judges to swear that he has not laid hands on the property of his neighbor.

⁸ “Whatever the transgression, whether it be about an ox or a sheep or clothes or any other lost property about which a person has said, ‘This is mine,’ the case of both parties will be brought before the judges. Whoever the judges find guilty shall pay back double to his neighbor.

⁹ “If someone entrusts his neighbor with a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any other animal, and that animal dies or is injured or stolen with no witnesses, ¹⁰ then an oath to the Lord shall be taken between the two parties declaring that the one entrusted with the animal did not lay hands on his neighbor’s property. The owner of the property shall accept this and there shall be no restitution. ¹¹ But if it was stolen while he was present, then he will make restitution to its owner. ¹² If it was torn to pieces, let him bring the pieces as evidence and he shall not pay restitution.

¹³ “If someone borrows anything from a neighbor and it is hurt or dies when the owner is not there, he shall pay full restitution. ¹⁴ But if the owner is there, he shall not have to pay restitution. If the animal was hired, then its loss is the price of its hire.

¹⁵ Moral and Religious Regulations.“If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall pay a dowry for her and will make her his wife. ¹⁶ If her father refuses to give her to him, he must give him the normal amount of dowry paid for a virgin.^[k]

¹⁷ “You shall not allow a witch to live.

¹⁸ “Whoever lies with an animal must die. ¹⁹ Whoever offers a sacrifice to any other god besides the Lord will be annihilated.

²⁰ “You shall not mistreat or oppress the foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

²¹ “You shall not oppress the widow or the orphan. ²² If you mistreat them and they cry out to me for help, I will surely hear their cry, ²³ and my fury will burn and I will put you to death by the sword. Your wives will be widows and your children will be orphans.

²⁴ “If you lend money to any of the poor among my people, you will not act as a creditor toward him nor will you take any interest.

²⁵ “If you take your neighbor’s mantle as a pledge, you shall restore it to him at sunset, ²⁶ for it is his covering. It is the cloak for his body. What else would cover him when he sleeps? Otherwise, when he cries out to me, I will listen to his cry, for I am compassionate.^[l]

²⁷ “You shall not blaspheme God nor curse the leader of your people.

²⁸ “You shall not delay to make offerings from your harvest and your vintage. You shall give your firstborn from among your sons to me. ²⁹ You shall do the same with your oxen and your sheep. Seven days it shall remain with its mother, and on the eighth day you shall give it to me.

³⁰ “You shall be men consecrated to me. So do not eat the flesh of any beast that has been torn to pieces in the countryside; you shall throw it to the dogs.

Chapter 23

A Righteous and Fraternal People. ¹ “You shall not utter a false report. Do not join hands with the guilty to be an unjust witness. ² Neither shall you follow the multitude in doing evil nor shall you testify in a suit in order to agree with the multitude and thus falsify justice.

³ “You shall not even show partiality toward a weak man in a lawsuit.

^4 [m]“When you encounter the lost ox or donkey of your enemy, you shall bring it back to him. ⁵ When you see your enemy’s donkey lying helpless under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him alone. You must help him to release it.

⁶ “You shall not pervert justice for a needy person who turns to you in a dispute.

⁷ “Keep far away from falsehoods. Do not slay the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the wicked.

⁸ “Do not accept gifts, for gifts blind the clear-sighted and pervert the cause of the righteous.

⁹ “Do not oppress those who are sojourners, for you know the life of the sojourner because you yourselves were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ “For six years you shall sow the land and you shall harvest its produce, ¹¹ but in the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow so that the needy of your people may eat of it. Whatever is left, let the beasts of the field eat it. You shall do likewise with your vineyards and your olive groves. ¹² For six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest so that your ox and your donkey may rest, as well as the sons of your female slaves and your sojourners.

¹³ “You shall take heed of all that I have said to you. Do not mention the names of other gods, nor let them be heard on your lips.

¹⁴ Feasts and Rites To Be Observed.“Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast in my honor.^[n]

¹⁵ “You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread. You must eat unleavened products for seven days, as I have commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month I brought you out of the land of Egypt. You will not appear before me empty-handed.

¹⁶ “You shall also observe the Harvest Feast of the firstfruits of that which you have sown in the fields as well as the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather the fruit of your labor in the fields.

¹⁷ “Three times a year all your men shall appear before the Lord God.

¹⁸ “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, nor shall you allow the fat of my feast to remain till the morning.

¹⁹ “You shall bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord, your God. You shall not cook a kid goat in its mother’s milk.^[o]

²⁰ Promises and Instructions for Entering into Canaan.^[p]“Behold, I will send an angel before you to protect you on your way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. ²¹ Pay heed to him and listen to his voice and do not rebel against him for he will not pardon your transgression since my name is in him. ²² If you listen to his voice and do what I will tell you, I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

²³ “When my angel goes before you and leads you to the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, I will destroy them. ²⁴ You shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them. You shall not do what they do, but rather you shall demolish and break their sacred pillars to pieces.

²⁵ “You shall serve the Lord, your God. He will bless your bread and water and take away sickness from your midst. ²⁶ There will be no woman in your land who miscarries or who is sterile. I will make you arrive at the full count of your days.

²⁷ “I will send my terror before you and throw into confusion all the peoples among whom you will come. I will make your enemies turn their backs and flee.

²⁸ “I will send hornets ahead of you and they will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. ²⁹ I will not drive them out from before you in a single year lest the country remain deserted and the wild beasts multiply against you. ³⁰ Little by little I will drive them out before you until you have many sons to occupy the land.

³¹ “I will establish your borders from the Red Sea up to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the river. I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hands and I will drive them out from before you. ³² But you must not make a covenant with them or their gods. ³³ They are no longer to live in your land. Otherwise, they would make you sin against me, for you would serve their gods and that would be a trap for you.”

Chapter 24

The People of God Ratify the Covenant.^{[q] 1} He said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. ² Moses alone shall approach the Lord, but the others shall not draw near and the people shall not go up with him.”

³ Moses went to tell the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances. All the people answered together and said, “We will keep all the commands that the Lord has given.”

⁴ Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Then he rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ He sent some of the young men of Israel to offer burnt offerings and to sacrifice young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord.

⁶ Moses took half of the blood and placed it in bowls and the other half of the blood he poured out on the altar. ⁷ He then took the book of the covenant and read it in the presence of the people. They said, “All that the Lord has commanded, we will do and obey.”

⁸ Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people saying, “Behold, the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

⁹ Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel. ¹⁰ They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was a pavement that looked as if it were made from sapphires, shining like the very heavens. ¹¹ He did not stretch out his hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; they saw God and yet they continued to eat and drink.

Moses on the Mountain: The Regulation of Worship^[r]

¹² Moses Ascends the Mountain of God. The Lord said to Moses, “Climb up to me on the mountain and remain there. I will give you stone tablets with the laws and commandments that I have written for their instruction.”

¹³ Then Moses went up with Joshua, his assistant, and they climbed the mountain of God. ¹⁴ He told the elders, “Remain here to wait for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are here with you. Whoever has any concern can bring it to them.”

¹⁵ Moses then climbed up the mountain, and clouds covered the mountain.

¹⁶ The glory of the Lord^[s] settled upon Mount Sinai, and clouds covered it for seven days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from out of the cloud.

¹⁷ The glory of the Lord appeared to the children of Israel to be a consuming fire on the mountaintop. ¹⁸ Moses entered into the midst of the cloud and climbed up the mountain. He remained on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.