Exodus 19-20
New Catholic Bible
The Covenant at Mount Sinai
The Covenant and the Ten Commandments[a]
Chapter 19
God Proposes His Covenant.[b] 1 Three months to the day after the children of Israel left the land of Egypt, they arrived in the Sinai Desert. 2 They left the camp at Rephidim and arrived in the Desert of Sinai. There Israel camped in front of the mountain.
3 Moses climbed up to meet God, and the Lord called out to him from the mountain, saying, “You will say this to the house of Jacob and announce it to the children of Israel: 4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I lifted you up on eagles’ wings and brought you here to me. 5 Now, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession from among all the peoples, for the entire earth is mine. 6 You will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for me.’ These are the words you will speak to Israel.”[c]
7 Moses went and summoned the elders of the people and told them what the Lord had commanded him. 8 All the people answered together and said, “We will do what the Lord has said.” Then Moses returned to the Lord and told him what the people had said.
9 The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to approach you in a thick cloud so that the people will hear when I speak to you and always believe in you.”
The Lord Descends on Sinai.10 The Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11 and have them ready for the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai to visit all the people.
12 “You shall establish a boundary around it, saying, ‘Take heed not to climb up the mountain or even touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain will be put to death.’
13 “No hand must touch that person, however, for he must be stoned or shot with an arrow. Whether it be a human or an animal, he is not to live. They can come up the mountain only when you blow the trumpet.”
14 Moses went down the mountain to the people. He consecrated the people and had them wash their clothes. 15 Then he said to the people, “Be ready in three days’ time. Abstain from sexual relations.”
16 The Great Theophany. On the third day, as morning dawned, there was thunder, lightning, a dense cloud on the mountain, and the sound of loud trumpets. All the people in the camp were filled with fear.
17 Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They stood on foot at the base of the mountain.
18 Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, for the Lord had descended upon it in fire and the smoke rose up like the smoke of a furnace. The entire mountain trembled. 19 The sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Moses spoke and God responded with the sound of a trumpet.
20 The Lord thus descended upon Mount Sinai, on the mountain peak, and he called out to Moses upon the mountain peak. Moses went up the mountain.
21 The Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to gaze upon the Lord; otherwise many will die.
22 “Let the priests consecrate themselves before they approach the Lord. Otherwise the Lord will burst forth upon them.”
23 Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot climb up Mount Sinai, for you yourself have warned us saying, ‘Establish a boundary around the mountain and declare it to be holy.’ ”
24 The Lord told him, “Go, descend, then come back up with Aaron. But the priests and the people are not to break through to climb up to the Lord. Otherwise, he will burst forth against them.”
25 Moses went down and spoke to the people.
Chapter 20
The Ten Commandments.[d] 1 God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of that place of slavery. 3 You shall not have other gods instead of me. 4 You shall not make idols or any image of things that are in the heavens above or that are upon the earth or that are in the waters under the earth. 5 You shall not bow before them nor shall you serve them. I, the Lord, am your God, a jealous God, who punishes the sins of fathers upon their sons until the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, 6 but I will show my favor for a thousand generations of those who love me and observe my commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain, for the Lord will not leave unpunished those who use his name in vain.
8 “Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath in honor of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male slave, nor your female slave, nor your animals, nor the foreigner who dwells with you. 11 The Lord made the heavens and the earth and the seas and that which is in them in six days, but he rested the seventh day. Thus, the Lord blessed the Sabbath and declared it to be sacred.
12 “Honor your father and your mother so that your days may be lengthened in the land that the Lord your God, will give you.
13 “You shall not kill.
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not give false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male slave, nor his female slave, nor his oxen, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
18 Moses, Intermediary of the Covenant. All the people heard the thunder and saw the lightning. They heard the sound of the trumpet and saw the mountain smoking. They were filled with fear and kept their distance.
19 They said to Moses, “You speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us or we will die.”
20 Moses spoke to the people saying, “Do not be afraid. God has come to put you to the test so that you may always be filled with fear of him and not sin.”
21 The people kept their distance while Moses approached the dark cloud where God was found.
The Book of the Covenant[e]
Norms for Constructing an Altar to the Lord.22 The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen that I have spoken to you from the heavens. 23 Do not make gods from silver or from gold instead of me. You will not make them for yourselves.
24 “ ‘Make an altar for me in the land and upon it offer your burnt offerings and your communion sacrifices, your sheep and your oxen. In all the places where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.
25 “ ‘If you make an altar out of stone for me, do not build it out of cut stone. If you use a chisel upon it, it will be considered to be unclean. 26 Do not go up to the altar by steps, lest your nakedness be seen.’[f]
Footnotes
- Exodus 19:1 The entire past of Israel converges on the event at Sinai. The call of Abraham and the deliverance from the Egyptian yoke show God’s intention to his people. The time has come for that people to respond to the divine preferences. The Covenant is not a contract between equals, in which offer and response are on the same level; rather, the initiative is entirely the Lord’s. Israel does, however, have an obligation to agree to the “salvation” offered to it and to express a desire to commit itself to fidelity to the law of the Lord. The text of the Covenant will be Israel’s religious and social constitution.
- Exodus 19:1 The Hebrews have reached the southern part of the Sinai peninsula; it is the imposing countryside dominated by this summit that serves as a backdrop for their meeting with God. In submitting themselves to the Lord, they will become a consecrated people. Thus, the People of God is truly born of the Sinaitic Covenant.
- Exodus 19:6 A people taken from among the nations and consecrated to God (Isa 61:6; 1 Pet 2:5-9; Rev 1:6)
- Exodus 20:1 The Decalogue (“Ten Words”) is the basic law of the Covenant (there is a different version of the Decalogue in Deut 5:6-21). In fact, these words state consequences of commitment rather than laws: they show the result of denying God as Lord and deliverer (v. 2), as contrasted with belonging to the one true God. The prophets and Jesus will remind their hearers of the same requirement: the acknowledgment in the whole of one’s life that salvation is from the Lord.
- Exodus 20:22 This set of laws was probably promulgated at a later time than the Decalogue, since it supposes a people leading a settled, sedentary life. Perhaps it was given during the halt in the wilderness before Israel entered Canaan. The laws are concrete applications of the first commandment.
- Exodus 20:26 The one offering sacrifice would probably be wearing a simple loincloth, after the manner of the Egyptians, and would therefore risk indecent exposure.
