Exodus 20:1-17

EasyEnglish Bible

God's 10 special commands

20 Then God spoke all these words:

² ‘I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt, the country where you were slaves.

³ You must not have any other gods except me.

⁴ You must not make any idol for yourself. Do not make a false god in the shape of anything that is in the sky above. Do not make one in the shape of anything on the earth or in the sea. ⁵ You must not bend down your head to any idol or worship it. I am the Lord your God and I want you to belong to me alone. I will punish children because of the bad things that their fathers have done. I will also punish their children and their grandchildren too. That is how I will punish everyone who turns against me. ⁶ But I will truly love all those who love me. They are the people who obey my laws. I will continue to love them and their families for ever.

⁷ You must not speak the name of the Lord your God in a wrong way. The Lord will punish anyone who speaks his name in a wrong way.

⁸ Remember the Sabbath day. Keep it as a special day for me. ⁹ You have six days every week to do all your work. ¹⁰ But the seventh day is a Sabbath day. It is special for the Lord your God. You must not do any work on that day. Your son and your daughter must not work on that day. Your servants, male or female, must not work on that day. The foreign person who lives among you and even your animals must not work on that day. ¹¹ In six days, the Lord made the heavens, the earth and the sea. He made everything that is in them. But on the seventh day, the Lord rested. So he blessed the Sabbath day and he made it special.

¹² Always respect your father and your mother. Then you will live for many years in the land that the Lord your God will give to you.

¹³ You must not murder anyone.

¹⁴ You must not have sex with another person's husband or wife.

¹⁵ You must not take another person's things for yourself.

¹⁶ You must not say false things against your neighbour.

¹⁷ You must not want to take your neighbour's house for yourself. You must not want to take his wife, or his servants, male or female. You must not want to take his ox, or his donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbour.’