Chronological Plan

¹“If someone steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for the ox and four sheep for the sheep—

²If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no guilt for bloodshed on his account.

³If the sun has risen on him, there will be guilt for bloodshed on his account—A thief shall certainly make restitution; if he owns nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.

⁴If what he stole is actually found alive in his possession, whether an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he shall pay double.

⁵“If someone lets a field or vineyard be grazed bare and lets his animal loose so that it grazes in another person’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard.

⁶“If a fire breaks out and spreads to thorn bushes, and stacked grain or the standing grain or the field itself is consumed, the one who started the fire must make restitution.

⁷“If someone gives his neighbor money or goods to keep for him and it is stolen from the neighbor’s house, if the thief is caught, then the thief shall pay double.

⁸If the thief is not caught, then the owner of the house shall appear before the judges, to determine whether he laid his hands on his neighbor’s property.

⁹For every breach of trust, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any lost thing about which one says, ‘This is it,’ the case of both parties shall come before the judges; he whom the judges condemn shall pay double to his neighbor.

¹⁰“If someone gives his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep for him, and it dies or is injured or is driven away while no one is looking,

¹¹an oath before the LORD shall be taken by the two of them that he has not laid a hand on his neighbor’s property; and its owner shall accept it, and he shall not be compelled to make restitution.

¹²But if it is actually stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner.

¹³If it is all torn to pieces, have him bring it as evidence; he shall not be compelled to make restitution for what has been torn to pieces.

¹⁴“And if someone borrows an animal from his neighbor, and it is injured or dies while its owner is not with it, he shall make full restitution.

¹⁵If its owner is with it, the borrower shall not be compelled to make restitution. If it is hired, it came by its hire.

¹⁶“If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and sleeps with her, he must pay a dowry for her to be his wife.

¹⁷If her father absolutely refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money equal to the dowry for virgins.

¹⁸“You shall not allow a sorceress to live.

¹⁹“Whoever has sexual intercourse with an animal must be put to death.

²⁰“He who sacrifices to any god, other than to the LORD alone, shall be utterly destroyed.

²¹“You shall not oppress a stranger nor torment him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

²²You shall not oppress any widow or orphan.

²³If you oppress him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will assuredly hear his cry;

²⁴and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

²⁵“If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, you are not to act as a creditor to him; you shall not charge him interest.

²⁶If you ever seize your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you are to return it to him before the sun sets,

²⁷for that is his only covering; it is his cloak for his body. What else is he to sleep in? And it will come about that when he cries out to Me, I will listen to him, for I am gracious.

²⁸“You shall not curse God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

²⁹“You shall not hold back the offering from your entire harvest and your wine. The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me.

³⁰You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother for seven days; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me.

³¹“You shall be holy people to Me, therefore you shall not eat any flesh torn to pieces in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.

¹“You shall not give a false report; do not join your hand with a wicked person to be a malicious witness.

²You shall not follow the crowd in doing evil, nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to join together with a crowd in order to pervert justice;

³nor shall you show favor to a poor person in his dispute.

⁴“If you encounter your enemy’s ox or his donkey wandering away, you must return it to him.

⁵If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying helpless under its load, you shall not leave it helpless for its owner; you must arrange the load with him.

⁶“You shall not pervert the justice due to your needy brother in his dispute.

⁷Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for I will not acquit the guilty.

⁸“You shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and subverts the cause of the just.

⁹“You shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger, for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.

¹⁰“Now you shall sow your land for six years and gather in its yield,

¹¹but in the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie uncultivated, so that the needy of your people may eat; and whatever they leave the animal of the field may eat. You are to do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

¹²“For six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as the stranger residing with you, may refresh themselves.

¹³Now concerning everything which I have said to you, be careful; and do not mention the name of other gods, nor let them be heard from your mouth.

¹⁴“Three times a year you shall celebrate a feast to Me.

¹⁵You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in that month you came out of Egypt. And no one is to appear before Me empty-handed.

¹⁶Also you shall keep the Feast of the Harvest of the first fruits of your labors from what you sow in the field; also the Feast of the Ingathering at the end of the year when you gather in the fruit of your labors from the field.

¹⁷Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.

¹⁸“You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread; nor is the fat of My feast to remain overnight until morning.

¹⁹“You shall bring the choice first fruits of your soil into the house of the LORD your God. “You are not to boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.

²⁰“Behold, I am going to send an angel before you to guard you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.

²¹Be attentive to him and obey his voice; do not be rebellious toward him, for he will not pardon your rebellion, since My name is in him.

²²But if you truly obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

²³For My angel will go before you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I will completely destroy them.

²⁴You shall not worship their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their deeds; but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their memorial stones in pieces.

²⁵And you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread and your water; and I will remove sickness from your midst.

²⁶There will be no one miscarrying or unable to have children in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.

²⁷I will send My terror ahead of you, and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.

²⁸And I will send hornets ahead of you so that they will drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from you.

²⁹I will not drive them out from you in a single year, so that the land will not become desolate and the animals of the field become too numerous for you.

³⁰I will drive them out from you little by little, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land.

³¹I will set your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River; for I will hand over the inhabitants of the land to you, and you will drive them out from you.

³²You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.

³³They shall not live in your land, otherwise they will make you sin against Me; for if you serve their gods, it is certain to be a snare to you.”

¹Then He said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and you shall worship at a distance.

²Moses alone, however, shall approach the LORD, but they shall not approach, nor shall the people come up with him.”

³Then Moses came and reported to the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do!”

⁴And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Then he got up early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve memorial stones for the twelve tribes of Israel.

⁵And he sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as peace offerings to the LORD.

⁶Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

⁷Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it as the people listened; and they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!”

⁸So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

⁹Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel,

¹⁰and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.

¹¹Yet He did not reach out with His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank.

¹²Now the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the Law and the commandments which I have written for their instruction.”

¹³So Moses got up along with Joshua his servant, and Moses went up to the mountain of God.

¹⁴But to the elders he said, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a legal matter, have him approach them.”

¹⁵Then Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

¹⁶The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.

¹⁷And to the eyes of the sons of Israel, the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountain top.

¹⁸Then Moses entered the midst of the cloud as he went up to the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.