Study Desk

"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.

But the seventh day is a day of rest in honor of the Lord your God. So on that day no one should work—not you, your sons and daughters, or your men and women slaves. Even your animals and the foreigners living in your cities must not work!

"You must honor and respect your father and your mother. Do this so that you will have a full life in the land that the Lord your God gives you.

Then the people said to Moses, "If you want to speak to us, then we will listen. But please don't let God speak to us. If this happens, we will die."

Then Moses said to them, "Don't be afraid! God has come to test you. He wants you to respect him so that you will not sin."

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

Then God said to Moses, "These are the other laws that you will give to the people:

If this happens, the master will bring the slave before God. The master will take the slave to a door or the wooden frame around the door and pierce the slave's ear using a sharp tool to show that the slave will serve that master for all his life.

But if an accident happens, and a person kills someone without planning it, then God allowed that thing to happen. I will choose some special places where people can run to for safety. So that person can run to one of those places.

"Whoever makes a sacrifice to a false god should be destroyed. The Lord is the only one you should make sacrifices to.

"You must not curse God or the leaders of your people.

"So three times each year all the men will come to the special place to be with the Lord God .

"When you gather your crops at harvest time, you should bring the first of everything you harvest to the house of the Lord your God. "You must not eat the meat from a young goat that is boiled in its mother's milk."

You must serve the Lord your God. If you do this, I will bless you with plenty of bread and water. I will take away all sickness from you.

Then Moses held the bowls full of the blood from the sacrifices. He threw that blood on the people. He said, "This blood shows that the Lord has made a special agreement with you. The laws God gave you explain the agreement."

On the mountain, these men saw the God of Israel. He was standing on something that looked like blue sapphires, as clear as the sky!

All the leaders of Israel saw God, but God did not destroy them. They all ate and drank together.

So Moses and his helper, Joshua, went up the mountain of God.

Aaron will wear this on his head. In this way he will remove the guilt if anything is wrong with the gifts that the Israelites give to God. Aaron will always wear this on his head so that the Lord will accept the gifts of the people.

I will live with the Israelites. I will be their God.