The Book of Exodus, Chapters 19–20 (c. Tenth–Sixth Centuries B.C.E.)

The Hebrews were among the many peoples caught up in the web of King Cyrus’s empire. Upon conquering Babylon, he allowed them to return to Canaan and freely practice their religion after years in exile. The region had long been central to the Hebrews’ identity. They believed that centuries earlier, their god, Yahweh, had chosen them to be his special agents in the world. The relationship between Yahweh and the Hebrews was definitively forged when Yahweh led them out of slavery in Egypt into this “promised land” and gave them laws by which to live. The Book of Exodus includes the best known of these laws, the Ten Commandments, which God revealed to the Hebrew leader Moses on Mount Sinai. The biblical story casts him in much the same role as that of Hammurabi in his code—both are agents of divine justice and protection. Although the Hebrews did not deny the existence of other gods, their covenant with Yahweh was a crucial stage in the development of monotheism. In gradually accepting Yahweh as the only God, the Hebrews created a new religion that transformed the course of religious history in Western civilization.

From The Jerusalem Bible: Reader’s Edition (New York and London: Doubleday, 1966), 80–86.

III. The Covenant at Sinai

A. The Covenant and the Decalogue

The Israelites Come to Sinai 19 Three months after they came out of the land of Egypt . . . on that day the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sinai.¹ From Rephidim they set out again; and when they reached the wilderness of Sinai, there in the wilderness they pitched their camp; there facing the mountain Israel pitched camp.

Yahweh Promises a Covenant Moses then went up to God, and Yahweh called to him from the mountain, saying, “Say this to the House of Jacob, declare this to the sons of Israel, ‘You yourselves have seen what I did with the Egyptians, how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself. From this you know that now, if you obey my voice and hold fast to my covenant, you of all the nations shall be my very own for all the earth is mine. I will count you a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation.’ Those are the words you are to speak to the sons of Israel.” So Moses went and summoned the elders of the people, putting before them all that Yahweh had bidden him. Then all the people answered as one, “All that Yahweh has said, we will do.” And Moses took the people’s reply back to Yahweh.

Preparing for the Covenant Yahweh said to Moses, “I am coming to you in a dense cloud so that the people may hear when I speak to you and may trust you always.” And Moses took the people’s reply back to Yahweh.

Yahweh said to Moses, “Go to the people and tell them to prepare themselves today and tomorrow. Let them wash their clothing and hold themselves in readiness for the third day, because on the third day Yahweh will descend on the mountain of Sinai in the sight of all the people. You will mark out the limits of the mountain and say, ‘Take care not to go up the mountain or to touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain will be put to death. No one must lay a hand on him: he must be stoned or shot down by arrow, whether man or beast; he must not remain alive.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they are to go up the mountain.”

So Moses came down from the mountain to the people and bade them prepare themselves; and they washed their clothing. Then he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near any woman.”

The Theophany on Sinai Now at daybreak on the third day there were peals of thunder on the mountain and lightning flashes, a dense cloud, and a loud trumpet blast, and inside the camp all the people trembled. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the bottom of the mountain. The mountain of Sinai was entirely wrapped in smoke, because Yahweh had descended on it in the form of fire. Like smoke from a furnace the smoke went up, and the whole mountain shook violently. Louder and louder grew the sound of the trumpet. Moses spoke, and God answered him with peals of thunder. Yahweh came down on the mountain of Sinai, on the mountain top, and Yahweh called Moses to the top of the mountain; and Moses went up. Yahweh said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people not to pass beyond their bounds to come and look on Yahweh, or many of them will lose their lives. The priests, the men who do approach Yahweh, even these must purify themselves, or Yahweh will break out against them.” Moses answered Yahweh, “The people cannot come up the mountain of Sinai because you warned us yourself when you said, ‘Mark out the limits of the mountain and declare it sacred.’ ” “Go down,” said Yahweh to him, “and come up again bringing Aaron with you. But do not allow the priests or the people to pass beyond their bounds to come up to Yahweh, or he will break out against them.” So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them. . . .

The Decalogue 20 Then God spoke all these words. He said, “I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

“You shall have no gods except me.

“You shall not make yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything in heaven or on earth beneath or in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God and I punish the father’s fault in the sons, the grandsons, and the great-grandsons of those who hate me; but I show kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

“You shall not utter the name of Yahweh your God to misuse it,² for Yahweh will not leave unpunished the man who utters his name to misuse it.

“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. For six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath for Yahweh your God. You shall do no work that day, neither you nor your son nor your daughter nor your servants, men or women, nor your animals nor the stranger who lives with you. For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that these hold, but on the seventh day he rested; that is why Yahweh has blessed the Sabbath day and made it sacred.

“Honor your father and your mother so that you may have a long life in the land that Yahweh your God has given to you.

“You shall not kill.

“You shall not commit adultery.

“You shall not steal.

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his servant, man or woman, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is his.”

All the people shook with fear at the peals of thunder and the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the smoking mountain; and they kept their distance. “Speak to us yourself” they said to Moses “and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we shall die.” Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid; God has come to test you, so that your fear of him, being always in your mind, may keep you from sinning.” So the people kept their distance while Moses approached the dark cloud where God was.

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