The Ten Commandments

20 Then God spoke all these words, saying,

² “^(A)I am the Lord your God, ^(B)who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of ^[a]slavery.

³ “^(C)You shall have no other ^(D)gods ^[b]before Me.

⁴ “^(E)You shall not make for yourself ^[c]an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. ^5 (F)You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a ^(G)jealous God, ^(H)inflicting the ^[d]punishment of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, ⁶ but showing ^[e]favor to ^(I)thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

⁷ “^(J)You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not ^[f]leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

⁸ “Remember ^(K)the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ^9 (L)For six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; on it ^(M)you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your cattle, or your ^[g]resident who ^[h]stays with you. ^11 (N)For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; for that reason the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹² “^(O)Honor your father and your mother, so that your ^(P)days may be prolonged on the land which the Lord your God gives you.

¹³ “^(Q)You shall not murder.

¹⁴ “^(R)You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ “^(S)You shall not steal.

¹⁶ “^(T)You shall not ^[i]give false testimony against your ^(U)neighbor.

¹⁷ “^(V)You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; ^(W)you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male slave, or his female slave, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

¹⁸ And ^(X)all the people were watching and hearing the ^[j]thunder and the lightning flashes, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it all, they trembled and stood at a distance. ^19 (Y)Then they said to Moses, “Speak ^[k]to us yourself and we will listen; but do not have God speak ^[l]to us, or we will die!” ²⁰ However, Moses said to the people, “^(Z)Do not be afraid; for God has come in order ^(AA)to test you, and in order that ^(AB)the fear of Him may ^[m]remain with you, so that you will not sin.” ²¹ So the people stood at a distance, while Moses approached ^(AC)the thick darkness where God was.

²² Then the Lord said to Moses, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen that ^(AD)I have spoken ^[n]to you from heaven. ^23 (AE)You shall not make other gods besides Me; ^(AF)gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves. ²⁴ You shall make ^(AG)an altar of earth for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your ^(AH)burnt offerings and your ^(AI)peace offerings, ^(AJ)your sheep and your oxen; in every place ^(AK)where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you. ²⁵ And if you make an altar of stone for Me, ^(AL)you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your chisel on it, you will profane it. ²⁶ And you shall not go up by steps to My altar, so that ^(AM)your nakedness will not be exposed on it.’

Jesus, the Example

12 Therefore, since we also have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let’s ^(A)rid ourselves of every obstacle and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let’s ^(B)run with ^(C)endurance the race that is set before us, ² looking only at Jesus, the ^[a](D)originator and perfecter of the faith, who for the joy set before Him ^(E)endured the cross, ^(F)despising the shame, and has ^(G)sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

³ For ^(H)consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary ^[b](I)and lose heart.

A Father’s Discipline

^4 (J)You have not yet resisted ^[c](K)to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; ⁵ and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,

⁷ It is for discipline that you endure; ^(P)God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸ But if you are without discipline, ^(Q)of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ⁹ Furthermore, we had ^[d]earthly fathers to discipline us, and we ^(R)respected them; shall we not much more be subject to ^(S)the Father of ^[e]spirits, and ^(T)live? ¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, ^(U)so that we may share His holiness. ^11 (V)For the moment, all discipline seems not to be pleasant, but painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields the ^(W)peaceful fruit of righteousness.

¹² Therefore, ^[f](X)strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, ¹³ and ^(Y)make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is impaired may not be dislocated, but rather ^(Z)be healed.

^14 (AA)Pursue peace with all people, and the ^(AB)holiness without which no one will ^(AC)see the Lord. ¹⁵ See to it that no one ^(AD)comes short of the grace of God; that no ^(AE)root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many become ^(AF)defiled; ¹⁶ that there be no ^(AG)sexually immoral or ^(AH)godless person like Esau, ^(AI)who sold his own birthright for a single meal. ¹⁷ For you know that even afterward, ^(AJ)when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.

Contrast of Sinai and Zion

^18 (AK)For you have not come to ^(AL)a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, ¹⁹ and to the ^(AM)blast of a trumpet and the ^(AN)sound of words, which sound was such that those who heard ^(AO)begged that no further word be spoken to them. ²⁰ For they could not ^[g]cope with the command, “^(AP)If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” ²¹ And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, “^(AQ)I am terrified and trembling.” ²² But ^(AR)you have come to Mount Zion and to ^(AS)the city of ^(AT)the living God, ^(AU)the heavenly Jerusalem, and to ^(AV)myriads of ^[h]angels, ²³ to the general assembly and ^(AW)church of the firstborn who ^(AX)are enrolled in heaven, and to God, ^(AY)the Judge of all, and to the ^(AZ)spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, the ^(BA)mediator of a new covenant, and to the ^(BB)sprinkled blood, which speaks better than ^(BC)the blood of Abel.

The Unshaken Kingdom

^25 (BD)See to it that you do not refuse Him who is ^(BE)speaking. For ^(BF)if those did not escape when they ^(BG)refused him who ^(BH)warned them on earth, ^[i]much less will we escape who turn away from Him who ^(BI)warns us from heaven. ²⁶ And ^(BJ)His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “^(BK)Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” ²⁷ This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes ^(BL)the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸ Therefore, since we receive a ^(BM)kingdom which cannot be shaken, let’s ^[j]show gratitude, by which we may ^(BN)offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; ²⁹ for ^(BO)our God is a consuming fire.