Moses and the Ten Commandments

(Exodus 19:1, 16, 18-19; 20:1-17; 31:18, 32:15, GNB)

On the first day of the third month after [the people of Israel] had left Egypt they came to the desert of Sinai. There they set up camp at the foot of Mount Sinai, and Moses went up the mountain to meet with God.

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud appeared on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast was heard...All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord had come down on it in fire. The smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and all the people trembled violently. The sound of the trumpet became louder and louder. Moses spoke, and God answered with thunder.

God spoke, and these were his words:
      "I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves.
      "Worship no god but me."
      "Do not make for yourselves images of anything in heaven or on earth or in the water under the earth. Do not bow down to any idol or worship  it, because I am the LORD your God and I tolerate no rivals. I bring punsihment on those who hate me and on their descendents down to the third and fourth generation. But I show my love to thousands of generations of those who love me and obey my laws.
      "Do not use my name for evil purposes, because I, the LORD your God, will punish anyone who misuses my name.
      "Observe the Sabbath and keep it holy. You have six days in which to do your work, but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me. On that day no one is to work--neither you, your children, your slaves, your animals, nor the foreigners who live in your country. In six days, I the LORD, made the earth, the sky, and the seas, and everything in them, but on the seventh day I rested. That is why I, the LORD, blessed the Sabbath and made it holy.
     "Respect your father and your mother, so that you may live a long time in the land that I am giving you.
     "Do not commit murder.
     "Do not commit adultery.
     "Do not steal.
     "Do not accuse anyone falsely.
     "Do not desire another man's house; do not desire his wife, his slaves, his cattle, his donkeys, or anything else that he owns."

When God had finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two stone tablets on which God himself had written the  commandments...Moses went back down the mountain, carrying the two stone tablets with the commandments written on both sides.

From the Good News Bible [GNB] (American Bible Society: 1976)