Moses Recalls the Covenant at Horeb

Moses called all Israel together and told them to hear the statutes and ordinances he was speaking that day, to learn them and observe them. He did not begin with a story about the wilderness or a scene at the mountain. He began with a command to listen, and he tied that command directly to a covenant the Lord had made with them at Horeb, not with their fathers, but with them, the people alive and standing there that day.

The Lord had spoken to them face to face out of the fire on the mountain. Moses stood between the Lord and the people at that time because they were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain. The Lord then spoke the Ten Commandments directly to the whole assembly out of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a great voice, and added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to Moses.

The first commandment was that they should have no other gods before the Lord, who brought them out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. They were not to make any graven image or any likeness of anything in heaven, earth, or water, and they were not to bow down to them or serve them. The Lord their God is a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate him, but showing lovingkindness to thousands of those who love him and keep his commandments.

They were not to take the name of the Lord their God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. They were to observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord commanded them. Six days they were to labor and do all their work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord. On that day no work was to be done by anyone in their households, including servants, livestock, or the stranger within their gates, so that servants might rest as well as their masters. They were to remember that they were servants in Egypt and the Lord brought them out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord commanded them to keep the Sabbath day.

They were to honor their father and mother, as the Lord commanded, so that their days might be long and it might go well with them in the land the Lord was giving them. They were not to kill, commit adultery, steal, bear false witness against their neighbor, or covet their neighbor's wife, house, field, servants, livestock, or anything that belonged to their neighbor.

After the Lord spoke these words, the people heard the voice out of the darkness while the mountain burned with fire. The heads of the tribes and the elders came to Moses and said that the Lord had shown them his glory and greatness, and they had heard his voice out of the fire. They saw that God speaks with man and man still lives. But they feared that if they heard the voice of the Lord any more, the great fire would consume them, for who of all flesh has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the fire and lived? They asked Moses to go near and hear all that the Lord would say, and then speak it to them, and they would hear and do it.

The Lord heard what the people said and told Moses that they had spoken well. The Lord wished that they would have such a heart in them to fear him and keep all his commandments always, so that it might be well with them and their children forever. The Lord told Moses to tell the people to return to their tents, but Moses himself was to stand by the Lord, and the Lord would speak to him all the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that Moses was to teach them, so that they might do them in the land the Lord was giving them to possess.

Moses then commanded the people to observe to do as the Lord had commanded, not turning aside to the right hand or to the left. They were to walk in all the way the Lord commanded them, so that they might live, and it might be well with them, and they might prolong their days in the land they were about to possess.