1 And God spake all these words, saying,
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
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If thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. 4:23
Trivia: According to Exodus 14:24-25, who took off the Egyptians' chariot wheels?
1 And God spake all these words, saying,
2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
God spoke all these words [1]:
I am your God, who brought you out of Egypt.
3Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Don't have any gods before me. [2]
4Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any 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.
Don't make any graven images. [3]Don't make a likeness of anything. (No drawing, painting, photography, sculptures, etc.)
5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to 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;
6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
I am a jealous God, punishing children for what their fathers did, to the third and fourth generation. [4]
7 Thou 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.
Don't take my name in vain. (I'll punish you if you do.)
8Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Remember the sabbath day. [5]
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
Do all your work on the six non-sabbath days.
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
The seventh day is the sabbath. Don't do any work on that day. And don't let your children, slaves, strangers, or cattle do any work on that day either.
11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
I made heaven and earth in six days [6] and rested on the seventh. So I blessed the seventh day and made it holy.
Honor your father and thy mother. [7]
13Thou shalt not kill.
Don't kill. [8]
14Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Don't commit adultery. [9]
15Thou shalt not steal.
Don't steal. [10]
16Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Don't lie. [11]
17Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
Don't covet your neighbor's possessions [12] -- including his wife, slaves, ox, or ass.
18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.
19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.
Speak to us and we will hear.But don't let God speak to us or we will die.
20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.
Don't be afraid.
Or rather, fear God, so you won't sin.
21 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.
22And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
Moses came near the thick darkness where God was.
God said to Moses,
Tell the people you talked to me from heaven.
23Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.
Don't make gods out of silver or gold. [13]
24 An 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 all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.
25 And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.
Build an altar and sacrifice sheep and oxen to me as burnt offerings and peace offerings. [14]
Do this everywhere you go and I'll bless you for it.
26Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.
Don't go up steps to the altar, so no one will discover your nakedness. [15]
"These words" are generally considered to be The Ten Commandments.
But the text doesn't call this un-numbered list "The Ten Commandments"; it only says that "these words" were spoken by God.
(See Ex 34:28; Dt 4:13, 10:4 where the phrase "Ten Commandments" is actually used.)
Believers often say that the "days" of creation should be taken allegorically, but this verse is quite clear.
God created the universe in six 24 hour days.
Verses 12-16 list the (more or less) good commandments.
(The only ones Jesus seemed to know or care about.)
To the God of the Bible, women and slaves (servants in the KJV) are the property of men; they are his possessions -- like an ox or an ass.
God adds a few more rules in verses 23-26.
God tells the priests not to go up the steps to the altar "that thy nakedness not be discovered thereon."
(Skirts on stairs are a problem.)
How about declaring yourself as a believer in God in modern times? A bunch of people were incarcerated in Jerusalem for declaring themselves as Jesus and while I could understand this from a mental health issue, from a human rights issue many people were abducted into psych wards for being atheists, run-aways and fighters (example deaf person fighting in a psych ward because the staff wouldn't provide him with hearing aid after he had just been accepted in a job and was starting out the next month). There was even one popular psych ward where athiests were to convinced of joining Bible Studies and song worship with the selling point that there's a mega church which provides and welcomes atheistic beliefs free of redemption that they could go to once they got out.