Deuteronomy 5 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Moses called all Israel together and said to them, "Listen, Israel. These are the firm rules and fair judgments I'm laying out for you today, right in your hearing. Learn them well and be sure to live by them."

Yahweh our God cut a covenant with us at Horeb.

Yahweh didn't cut this covenant with our ancestors, but with us—all of us who are alive here today.

Yahweh spoke with you face to face on the mountain, right out of the fire.

I stood between Yahweh and you at that time to relay Yahweh's words to you, because you were afraid of the fire and wouldn't go up the mountain. He said:

"I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the slave house."

"You will not have any other gods competing with me."

"You will not make for yourself a carved image — any form of anything in the sky above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath the earth."

"You will not bow down to them or serve them, because I, Yahweh your God, am an exclusive God. I hold the parents' failures against their children, down to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,"

"but showing faithful love to thousands of generations of those who love me and keep my commands."

"You will not misuse the name of Yahweh your God, because Yahweh will not let anyone who misuses his name go unpunished."

"Guard the Sabbath day and keep it set apart, exactly as Yahweh your God commanded you."

"Six days you will labor and do all your work,"

"but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You will not do any work — not you, not your son or daughter, not your male or female servant, not your ox, your donkey, or any of your livestock, and not any immigrant living in your towns — so that your male and female servants can rest just like you."

"Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and Yahweh your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. That's why Yahweh your God commanded you to observe the Sabbath day."

"Honor your father and your mother, exactly as Yahweh your God commanded you, so that you'll live a long life and things will go well for you in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you."

"You will not murder."

"You will not commit adultery."

"You will not steal."

"You will not give false testimony against your neighbor."

"You will not crave your neighbor's wife. You will not set your heart on your neighbor's house, his field, his male or female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

"These are the words Yahweh spoke to your entire assembly on the mountain, out of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a powerful voice. He added nothing more. He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me."

When you heard the voice coming from the darkness while the mountain was blazing with fire, all the leaders of your tribes and your elders came to me.

You said, "Look — Yahweh our God has shown us his weight and his greatness, and we've heard his voice out of the fire. Today we've seen that God can speak to human beings and they can still live."

"But now, why should we die? This massive fire will consume us! If we keep hearing the voice of Yahweh our God any longer, we'll die."

"Has any human being ever heard the voice of the living God speaking out of fire the way we have — and survived?"

"You go close and listen to everything Yahweh our God says. Then tell us everything Yahweh our God tells you, and we'll listen and do it."

Yahweh heard what you said to me, and Yahweh told me, "I've heard what this people said to you. Everything they've said is right."

"If only their hearts would always be like this — to stand in awe of me and keep all my commands — so that things would go well for them and their children forever!"

"Go tell them: Return to your tents."

"But you—stand here with me, and I'll tell you every command, every firm rule, and every fair judgment you are to teach them, so they can follow them in the land I'm giving them to possess."

So be careful to do exactly what Yahweh your God has commanded you. Don't turn aside to the right or to the left.

Walk in the entire way that Yahweh your God has commanded you, so that you'll live, and things will go well for you, and you'll have a long life in the land you're about to possess.