Exodus 20 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~1446 BC on the earlier dating, or ~1260 BC on the later one, in the third month after Israel left Egypt
Location
At the base of Mount Sinai in the southern Sinai wilderness, with the people standing back from the mountain and Moses near it
Audience
The people of Israel and every later generation who took these commands as the core of their law
Situation
God speaks the Ten Commandments directly to the assembled nation, covering loyalty to him alone, images, his name, the Sabbath, parents, murder, adultery, theft, false testimony and coveting. The people are terrified by the thunder and smoke and beg Moses to speak to God on their behalf, after which God gives instructions about simple altars of earth or uncut stone.
Key Background
Other ancient law collections, such as the code of Hammurabi in Babylon, were framed as the king's achievements and set penalties case by case, while these ten are short, absolute and spoken by God himself to the whole people, which was without parallel. The ban on carved images was the most striking difference from every surrounding religion, since Egyptian and Canaanite worship centred on statues that were washed, fed and paraded. A rest day for everyone including servants, foreigners and working animals had no equivalent in the ancient world, where rest was a privilege of the wealthy, and the instruction to build altars without cut stone or steps kept Israelite worship deliberately plain next to the elaborate temples of Egypt.
Then spoke all these words:
"I am your God, the one who brought you out of Egypt — out of the place where you were
"Don't have any other me.
"Don't make an for yourself — no of anything in the sky above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath the earth.
"Don't bow down to them or serve them, because I, Yahweh your God, am an God. I hold the consequences of the parents' against their children, down to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
"but I show to thousands of generations of those who love me and keep my commands.
"Don't the name of Yahweh your God, because Yahweh will not let anyone who misuses his name go without consequences.
"Remember the day and it for
"You have six days to do all your work,
"but the seventh day is a Sabbath belonging to Yahweh your God. On that day, don't do any work — not you, your son or daughter, your male or female servant, your animals, or any living in your towns.
"Because in six days Yahweh made the sky, the earth, the sea, and everything in them, and then he on the seventh day. That's why Yahweh put his favor on the Sabbath day and it for
your father and your mother, so that you'll live a long life in the land Yahweh your God is giving you.
"Don't
"Don't commit
"Don't
"Don't give against your
"Don't your neighbor's house. Don't your neighbor's wife, or his male or female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
When the people experienced the the lightning flashes, the sound of the and the mountain covered in smoke, they trembled and kept their distance.
They said to Moses, "You speak to us and we'll listen, but don't let God speak to us directly or we'll die."
Moses told the people, "Don't be afraid. God has come to you, so that an of will stay with you and keep you from
So the people stayed at a distance while Moses approached the where God was.
Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites this: 'You've seen for yourselves that I spoke to you from the sky.
"Don't make any gods of silver or gold alongside me. Don't make them for yourselves.
"Make an of earth for me, and sacrifice your and your on it — your sheep, goats, and cattle. Wherever I cause my name to be remembered, I'll come to you and I'll you
"If you make a stone altar for me, don't build it with cut stones, because using a chisel on it would it.
"And don't go up to my altar on steps, so that your isn't exposed on it."