The Giving of the Torah at Sinai

1 In the 3rd month of the journey of the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, they came into the wilderness of Sinai. And God remembered his word and said, “I will give light to the world and illuminate its inhabited places, and make my covenant with the children of men, and glorify my people above all nations; for to them I will grant an eternal honor that will be a light to them, but to the ungodly a punishment.” 2 He said to Moses, “I will call you tomorrow. Be ready and tell my people, ‘For three days let no man go near his wife.’ On the 3rd day I will speak to you and to them, and after that you will come up to me. I will put my words in your mouth, and you will enlighten my people. For I have given into your hands an everlasting law by which I will judge all the world. This will be a testimony. For if men say, ‘We did not know you, and so we did not serve you,’ then I will take vengeance on them, because they did not know my law.” 3 Moses did as God commanded him, and he consecrated the people and said to them, “Be ready on the 3rd day, for after 3 days God will make his covenant with you.” And the people were consecrated. 4 On the 3rd day there were sounds of thunder and the brightness of lightning and the sound of instruments sounding aloud. And there was fear on all the people who were in the camp. And Moses brought the people out to meet God. 5 The mountains burned with fire, the earth shook, the hills were moved and the mountains overthrown; the depths boiled, and all the inhabited places were shaken; the heavens were folded up⁠a and the clouds drew up water. Flames of fire shone out, thunder and lightning multiplied, and winds and storms made a roaring; the stars gathered together, and the angels ran ahead, until God established the law of an everlasting covenant with the children of Israel and gave them an eternal commandment that would not pass away. 6 At that time the Lord spoke to his people all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall not make for yourself carved gods, nor make any detestable image of the sun or the moon or any of the ornaments of heaven, nor the likeness of anything on the earth or of things that creep in the waters or on the earth. I am the Lord your God, a jealous God, repaying the sins of those who sleep upon the living children of the ungodly, if they walk in the ways of their fathers, to the third and fourth generation, but showing mercy to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, so that my ways are not made vain; for God detests anyone who takes his name in vain. 8 “Keep the sabbath day to make it holy. Six days you shall do your work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord. On it you shall do no work, you and all your laborers, except that on it you praise the Lord in the assembly of the elders and glorify the Mighty One in the council of the aged. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and all the world, the uninhabited wilderness, and all things that labor, and all the order of heaven; and God rested the seventh day. Therefore God made the seventh day holy, because he rested on it. 9 “You shall love your father and your mother and fear them; and then your light will rise, and I will command the heaven and it will give you its rain, and the earth will hurry to yield its fruit, and your days will be many, and you will dwell in your land and will not be childless, for your offspring will not fail, even of those who dwell in it. 10 “You shall not commit adultery, for your enemies did not commit adultery with you, but you came out with a high hand. 11 “You shall not kill, because your enemies did not gain the mastery to kill you, but you saw their death. 12 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, speaking falsely, or your watchmen will speak falsely against you. 13 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, nor anything he has, or others will also covet your land.” 14 When the Lord stopped speaking, the people were filled with great fear, and they saw the mountain burning with torches of fire, and they said to Moses, “You speak to us, and do not let God speak to us, or we will die. For today we know that God speaks with man face to face, and man lives. Now we have truly perceived how the earth bore the voice of God with trembling.” And Moses said to them, “Do not be afraid; this voice came to you so that you would not sin.” 15 And all the people stood far off, but Moses drew near to the cloud, knowing that God was there. Then God spoke to him his justice and judgments, and kept him with him 40 days and 40 nights. There he commanded him many things and showed him the tree of life, from which he cut and took and put into Mara, and the water of Mara was made sweet and followed them in the desert 40 years, and went up into the hills with them and came down into the plain. He also commanded him concerning the tabernacle and the ark of the Lord, the sacrifice of burnt offerings and of incense, the ordinance of the table and of the lampstand, and concerning the basin and its base, the shoulder-piece and the breastplate, and the very precious stones, that the children of Israel should make them so; and he showed him their likeness, to make them according to the pattern he saw. And he said to him, “Make for me a sanctuary, and the tabernacle of my glory will be among you.”