Exodus 20

¹ And God spoke all these words, saying,

God's words start here and end at end of Exodus 23.

The Ten Commandments will be repeated in Deuteronomy 5:4–21, but the two sets of commands are NOT identical in the details.

² "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

³ "You shall have no other gods before me.

⁴ "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

⁵ You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

⁶ but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

⁸ "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

⁹ Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,

¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

¹¹ For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

This is God Himself speaking, although he refers to Himself as "the LORD". This command is specifically to keep the Sabbath (the seventh day of the week) holy, and the reason God gives is "in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day." This supports the creaton account in Genesis 1. Anyone who claims that six-day creation is symbolic or metaphorical needs to explain why God chose to speak literally here. And if He isn't speaking literally here, then is is He lying to the Israelites about literal six-day creation? In case anyone think this is an anomaly God repeats the same reason in Exodus 31:17.

¹² "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

¹³ "You shall not murder.

¹⁴ "You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁵ "You shall not steal.

¹⁶ "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

¹⁷ "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."

¹⁸ Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off

¹⁹ and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die."

²⁰ Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin."

²¹ The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

²² And the LORD said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: 'You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven.

²³ You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.

²⁴ An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you.

²⁵ If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it.

²⁶ And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.'