The Tanakh. Various Authors

him out of the mountain, saying: 'Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: ⁴Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself. ⁵Now therefore, if ye will hearken unto My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine; ⁶and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.' ⁷And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and set before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. ⁸And all the people answered together, and said: 'All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.' And Moses reported the words of the people unto the Lord. ⁹And the Lord said unto Moses: 'Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and may also believe thee for ever.' And Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord. ¹⁰And the Lord said unto Moses: 'Go unto the people, and sanctify them to-day and to-morrow, and let them wash their garments, ¹¹and be ready against the third day; for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. ¹²And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying: Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it; whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death; ¹³no hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live; when the ram's horn soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.' ¹⁴And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their garments. ¹⁵And he said unto the people: 'Be ready against the third day; come not near a woman.' ¹⁶And it came to pass on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of a horn exceeding loud; and all the people that were in the camp trembled. ¹⁷And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. ¹⁸Now mount Sinai was altogether on smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. ¹⁹And when the voice of the horn waxed louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice. ²⁰And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, to the top of the mount; and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. ²¹And the Lord said unto Moses: 'Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. ²²And let the priests also, that come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them.' ²³And Moses said unto the Lord: 'The people cannot come up to mount Sinai; for thou didst charge us, saying: Set bounds about the mount, and sanctify it.' ²⁴And the Lord said unto him: 'Go, get thee down, and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee; but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest He break forth upon them.' ²⁵So Moses went down unto the people, and told them.

      20And God spoke all these words, saying:

      ²I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

      ³Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. ⁴Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any manner of likeness, of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; ⁵thou shalt not bow down unto them, nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; ⁶and showing mercy unto the thousandth generation of them that love Me and keep My commandments.

      ⁷Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.

      ⁸Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work; ¹⁰but the seventh day is a sabbath unto the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any manner of work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; ¹¹for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

      ¹²Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

      ¹³Thou shalt not murder.

      Thou shalt not commit adultery.

      Thou shalt not steal.

      Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

      ¹⁴Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

       ¹⁵And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the horn, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off. ¹⁶And they said unto Moses: 'Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.' ¹⁷And Moses said unto the people: 'Fear not; for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before you, that ye sin not.' ¹⁸And the people stood afar off; but Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

      ¹⁹And the Lord said unto Moses: Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel: Ye yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. ²⁰Ye shall not make with Me—gods of silver, or gods of gold, ye shall not make unto you. ²¹An altar of earth thou shalt make unto Me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offerings, and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen; in every place where I cause My name to be mentioned I will come unto thee and bless thee. ²²And if thou make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast profaned it. ²³Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto Mine altar, that thy nakedness be not uncovered thereon.

      משפטים

      21Now these are the ordinances which thou shalt set before them. ²If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve; and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. ³If he come in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he be married, then his wife shall go out with him. ⁴If his master give him a wife, and she bear him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. ⁵But if the servant shall plainly say: I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free; ⁶then his master shall bring him unto ¹³God, and shall bring him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.

      ⁷And if a man sell his daughter to be a maid-servant, she shall not go out as the men-servants do. ⁸If she please not her master, who hath espoused her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed; to sell her unto a foreign people he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. ⁹And if he espouse her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters. ¹⁰If he take him another wife, her food, her raiment, and her conjugal rights, shall he not diminish. ¹¹And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out for nothing, without money.

      ¹²He that smiteth a man, so that he dieth, shall surely be put to death. ¹³And if a man lie not in wait, but God cause it to come to hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he may flee.

      ¹⁴And if a man come presumptuously upon his neighbour, to slay him with guile; thou shalt take him from Mine altar, that he may die.

      ¹⁵And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.

      ¹⁶And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

      ¹⁷And he that curseth his father or his mother, shall surely be put to death.

      ¹⁸And if men contend,