Deu 5 | EE | STEP | Moses called all the Israelites together and said: Listen, Israelites, to the rules that I explain to you today. You can hear what I am saying. Learn the rules and obey them.

Deuteronomy 5

God’s 10 special rules

1 Moses called all the Israelites together and said:

Listen, Israelites, to the rules that I explain to you today. You can hear what I am saying. Learn the rules and obey them. 2 The LORD our God made a special promise to us at Horeb. 3 He did not make this promise to our fathers. He made it to us, to all of us who are alive here today. 4 The LORD turned his face toward your faces and he spoke to you. He spoke out of the fire on the mountain. 5 (At that time, I stood between the LORD and you. I repeated the LORD‘s words to you. You were afraid of the fire, so you did not go up the mountain.) And God said:

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

7 You will have no other gods except Me.

8 You will not make a false god for yourself. Do not make the shape of anything that is in the sky above nor on the earth beneath. Do not make the shape of anything that lives in the water. 9 You must not bend down to them or obey them. I, the LORD your God, love you with a powerful love. I cannot let you love any other god. I punish children because of the bad things that their fathers have done. I do this to the grandchildren and to their children of everyone who hates me. 10 But I show my love to thousands (1000s) of families who love me. These families will obey me.

11 You must not use the name of the LORD your God in a wrong way. The LORD will not excuse anyone who does this.

12 Always make the Sabbath day a special day, as the LORD your God has told you. 13 Work hard for 6 days and do all the necessary work. 14 But the 7th day is a day for rest which the LORD your God has given to you. On that day, you must not do any work. Neither will your children work, nor your servants, nor your animals, nor people from other countries who live with you. Your servants must rest in the same way as you rest. 15 You must remember that you were slaves in Egypt. But I, the LORD your God, brought you out by my powerful authority. So the LORD your God has told you to make the Sabbath day a special day.

16 Always be very kind to your father and mother, as the LORD your God has told you. If you do that, you will have a long life. Also, your life will be good and happy in the country that God is giving to you.

17 You must not kill anyone because you are angry with him. That is murder.

18 You must not have sex with the wife or husband of another person.

19 You must not take another person’s things.

20 You must not say things that are not true about anyone.

21 You must not want another man’s wife. You must not want the house or the field of another person. You must not want his slaves or his animals or anything that is his.’

22 These are the rules that the LORD spoke in a loud voice to you. You were all there. He spoke from the mountain, from the middle of a great fire. There was a cloud, but there was no light. He spoke only these words. Then he wrote them on two flat stones and he gave them to me.

23 There was no light when you heard the voice of God. The mountain burned with fire. Then your leaders and your older men came to me.

24 And they said, ‘The LORD our God has shown us how powerful and how special he is. We have seen how great he is and we have heard his voice from the fire. This is what we have seen today: A man can live, even if God speaks to him. 25 But now, we do not want to die. This great fire will kill us. We will die if we continue to hear the voice of our God. 26 No other person has ever heard the voice of God and lived. We heard him speak out of the fire. And we are still alive! 27 Please go near to the LORD our God. Listen to all that he says. Then tell us what he tells you. We will listen and obey.’

28 The LORD heard what you said to me. He answered, ‘I have heard what these Israelites said to you. All that they said was good. 29 I really want them to obey me and to love my rules always! If they do that, everything will always be well for them and for their children. 30 Now tell them to return to their tents. 31 But I want you to stay here with me. I will give you all the rules and decrees that you must teach to the people. I will give this country to them so that they can keep it. But they must obey all these rules when they are living in that country.’

32 So you must be careful to obey the LORD your God. You must not refuse any of his rules.

33 You must live as the LORD your God says. If you do that, you will live for many years in your own country. You will enjoy all your good work.