1. These are the things God told his people:
2. “I am the Lord your God. I am the one who freed you from the land of Egypt, where you were slaves.
3. “You must not worship any other gods except me.
4. “You must not make any idols. Don’t make any statues or pictures of anything up in the sky or of anything on the earth or of anything down in the water.
5. Don’t worship or serve idols of any kind, because I, the Lord, am your God. I hate my people worshiping other gods. People who sin against me become my enemies, and I will punish them. And I will punish their children, their grandchildren, and even their great-grandchildren.
6. But I will be very kind to people who love me and obey my commands. I will be kind to their families for thousands of generations.
7. “You must not use the name of the Lord your God to make empty promises. If you do, the Lord will not let you go unpunished.