1 Moses summoned the entire assembly of Israel and proclaimed to them: “Hear, O Israel, the statutes {chukkim: fixed decrees} and the ordinances I declare to you this day; learn them, observe {shamar: faithfully guard} them, and put them into practice.”
2 The LORD our God {YHWH Eloheinu, Covenant Initiator} made a covenant {berit: binding oath} with us at Horeb.
3 It was not with our fathers that the LORD {YHWH, Covenant-Maker} made this covenant {brit: binding agreement}; rather, it was with us, with all of us who are here today and alive.
4 The LORD {YHWH, Covenant Revealer} spoke with you face to face {panim: direct, unmediated encounter} on the mountain from the midst of the fire.
5 I stood between the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Speaker} and you at that time to declare to you the word {devar: authoritative message} of the LORD, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain, saying:
6 I am the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikha, Covenant Redeemer}, who brought you out {hotseitikha: Powerful Redemption} from the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves.
7 You shall have no other gods {elohim: spiritual beings} before My face {panay: immediate presence}.
8 You shall not make for yourself an idol {pesel: carved image}, any likeness {temunah: visible form} that is in the heavens above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the waters under the earth.
9 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the LORD your God {YHWH Elohekha, Zealous Covenant Guardian}, am a jealous God {El kanna, zealous for exclusive devotion}, visiting the iniquity {avon: moral guilt} of the fathers upon the children and upon the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me.
10 But showing steadfast love {chesed: covenantal loyalty} to thousands of those who love Me {YHWH: Loving Sovereign} and who keep My commandments.
11 You shall not bear the name of the LORD your God {YHWH Elohekha, Covenant Lord} in vain {shav: deceptive emptiness}, because the LORD will not acquit anyone who bears His name in vain.
12 Keep the Sabbath {shabbat: rest} day holy, just as the LORD your God {YHWH Elohekha, Covenant Commander} has commanded you.
13 For six days you shall labor {ta’avod: serve with effort} and do all your work {melakhtekha: purposeful activity}.
14 But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikha, Covenant Sanctifier}; you shall not do any work {melakhah: purposeful labor} on it—you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, your ox, your donkey, any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates—so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as you do.
15 And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God {YHWH Elohekha, Redeemer} brought you out from there by a mighty hand {yad: power} and by an outstretched arm. Therefore, the LORD your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
16 Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God {YHWH Elohekha, Covenant Lawgiver} has commanded you, so that your days may be lengthened {ya-arikhun: extended lifespan}, and so that it may be well for you upon the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
17 You shall not {lo: absolute negation} murder {tirtzach: intentional bloodshed}.
18 And you shall not {velo: emphatic negation} commit adultery {tinaaf: forbidden sexual betrayal}.
19 And you shall not {lo: absolute prohibition} steal {tignov: take secretly or unlawfully}.
20 And you shall not bear {taaneh: give testimony} false witness against your neighbor {bereakha: fellow Israelite}.
21 And you shall not covet {takhmod: wrongful desire} the wife of your neighbor {re’a: fellow community member}. And you shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house, field, servant, maidservant, ox, donkey, or anything that belongs to him.
22 These words {hadvarim: divine instructions} the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Voice} spoke to your whole assembly on the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness with a great voice, and He added no more. Then He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
23 And it happened, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, and the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me {Mosheh: Moses, appointed mediator}—all the heads of your tribes and your elders {zikneikhem: respected leaders}.
24 And you said, “Behold, the LORD our God {YHWH Eloheinu, Covenant-Keeper} has shown us His glory {kevodo: majestic presence} and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. Today we have seen that God speaks with a human, and the human lives.”
25 And now, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us {tokhlenu: utterly destroy}; if we continue to hear the voice of the LORD our God {YHWH Eloheinu, Covenant Revealer} again, then we will die.
26 For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God {Elohim chayyim, Life-Giver} speaking from the midst of the fire {esh: consuming presence} as we have, and lived?
27 Draw near and listen to all that the LORD our God {YHWH Eloheinu, Covenant Guide} says; then you shall speak to us all that the LORD our God tells you, and we will hear and do {na’aseh: put it into practice}.
28 And the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge} heard the sound of your words {kol: spoken voice} when you spoke to me, and the LORD said to me, “I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you; they have done well in all that they have spoken.”
29 Oh, that such a heart {levav: inner will} were in them, to fear Me {YHWH, Sovereign Lawgiver} and to keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and their children forever.
30 Go, say to them, “Return {shuvu: come back} for yourselves to your tents {leaholeikhem: dwelling places}.”
31 Yet you shall stand here beside Me {YHWH, Divine Speaker}, and I will speak to you the entire commandment {mitzvah: divine instruction}, the statutes, and the judgments, which you are to teach them so that they may observe them in the land I am granting them as their possession.
32 And you shall diligently keep to do just as the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheichem, Law Giver} has commanded you; do not turn aside {tasuru: stray off course} to the right or to the left.
33 You shall walk in the whole path that the LORD your God {YHWH Eloheikhem, Covenant Guide} has commanded you, so that you may live, and that it may go well {tov: beneficial well-being} for you, and that you may lengthen your days in the land that you shall possess.