Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them:
“ H ear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments (legal decisions) which I am speaking today in your hearing, so that you may learn them and observe them carefully. The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, all of us who are alive here today. The LORD spoke with you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire. I was standing between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said,
‘I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
‘You shall have no other gods before Me.
‘You shall not make for yourself an idol [as an object to worship], or any likeness (form, manifestation) of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous (impassioned) God [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely mine], visiting (avenging) the iniquity (sin, guilt) of the fathers on the children [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers], to the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, [Is 42:8; 48:11] but showing graciousness and lovingkindness to thousands [of generations] of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
‘You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain [that is, irreverently, in false affirmations or in ways that impugn the character of God]; for the LORD will not hold guiltless nor leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain [disregarding its reverence and its power].
‘Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy (set apart, dedicated to God), as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath [a day of rest dedicated] to the LORD your God; on that day you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock or the stranger who stays inside your [city] gates, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember [with thoughtful concern] that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
‘Honor (respect, obey, care for) your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that your days [on the earth] may be prolonged and so that it may go well with you in the land which the LORD your God gives you.
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