Exodus 20:1-26 GNT

[1] God spoke, and these were his words: [2] "I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves. [3] "Worship no god but me. [4] "Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth. [5] Do not bow down to any idol or worship it, because I am the LORD your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punishment on those who hate me and on their descendants down to the third and fourth generation. [6] But I show my love to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my laws. [7] "Do not use my name for evil purposes, for I, the LORD your God, will punish anyone who misuses my name. [8] "Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. [9] You have six days in which to do your work, [10] but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me. On that day no one is to work-neither you, your children, your slaves, your animals, nor the foreigners who live in your country. [11] In six days I, the LORD, made the earth, the sky, the seas, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That is why I, the LORD, blessed the Sabbath and made it holy. [12] "Respect your father and your mother, so that you may live a long time in the land that I am giving you. [13] "Do not commit murder. [14] "Do not commit adultery. [15] "Do not steal. [16] "Do not accuse anyone falsely. [17] "Do not desire another man's house; do not desire his wife, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns." [18] When the people heard the thunder and the trumpet blast and saw the lightning and the smoking mountain, they trembled with fear and stood a long way off. [19] They said to Moses, "If you speak to us, we will listen; but we are afraid that if God speaks to us, we will die." [20] Moses replied, "Don't be afraid; God has only come to test you and make you keep on obeying him, so that you will not sin." [21] But the people continued to stand a long way off, and only Moses went near the dark cloud where God was. [22] The LORD commanded Moses to tell the Israelites: "You have seen how I, the LORD, have spoken to you from heaven. [23] Do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gold to be worshiped in addition to me. [24] Make an altar of earth for me, and on it sacrifice your sheep and your cattle as offerings to be completely burned and as fellowship offerings. In every place that I set aside for you to worship me, I will come to you and bless you. [25] If you make an altar of stone for me, do not build it out of cut stones, because when you use a chisel on stones, you make them unfit for my use. [26] Do not build an altar for me with steps leading up to it; if you do, you will expose yourselves as you go up the steps.