Old Testament

New Testament

Exodus 20:15-26 International Children’s Bible (ICB)

15. “You must not steal.

16. “You must not tell lies about your neighbor in court.

17. “You must not want to take your neighbor’s house. You must not want his wife or his men or women slaves. You must not want his ox or his donkey. You must not want to take anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

18. The people heard the thunder and the trumpet. They saw the lightning on the mountain and smoke rising from the mountain. They shook with fear and stood far away from the mountain.

19. Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself. Then we will listen. But don’t let God speak to us, or we will die.”

20. Then Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. God has come to test you. He wants you to respect him so you will not sin.”

21. The people stood far away from the mountain while Moses went near the dark cloud where God was.

22. Then the Lord told Moses to say these things to the Israelites: “You yourselves have seen that I talked with you from heaven.

23. You must not use gold or silver to make idols for yourselves. You must not worship these false gods in addition to me.

24. “Make an altar of dirt for me. Offer your whole burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on this altar as a sacrifice to me. Use your sheep and your cattle to do this. Worship me in every place that I choose. Then I will come and bless you.

25. You may use stones to make an altar for me. But don’t use stones that you have made smooth with tools. You must not use any tools on the stones. If you do, you make them unsuitable for use in worship.

26. And you must not make steps leading up to my altar. If you go up steps, people will be able to see under your clothes.”

Read complete chapter Exodus 20