Exodus 20:1-21

The Ten Commandments

1 ¹And ²God spoke all these words, saying,

2 ³"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 ⁴"You shall have no other gods before^[a] me.

4 ⁵"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 ⁶You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am ⁷a jealous God, ⁸visiting 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^[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 ⁹"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 ¹⁰"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 ¹¹Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,

10 but the ¹²seventh 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 ¹³sojourner who is within your gates.

11 For ¹⁴in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 ¹⁵"Honor your father and your mother, ¹⁶that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

13 ¹⁷"You shall not murder.^[c]

14 ¹⁸"You shall not commit adultery.

15 ¹⁹"You shall not steal.

16 ²⁰"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 ²¹"You shall not covet ²²your neighbor's house; ²³you 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 ²⁴the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid^[d] and trembled, and they stood far off

19 and said to Moses, ²⁵"You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die."

20 ²⁶Moses said to the people, "Do not fear, for God has come to ²⁷test 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 ²⁸thick darkness where God was.

Exodus 20:1-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 20

In this chapter we have an account of the giving of the law on Mount Sinai; the preface to it, Ex 20:1,2, the ten commandments it consists of, Ex 20:8-17, the circumstances attending it, which caused the people to remove at some distance, Ex 20:18, when they desired of Moses, that he would speak to them and not God, who bid them not fear, since this was for the trial of them; but still they kept at a distance, while Moses drew nigh to God, Ex 20:19-21 who ordered him to caution the children of Israel against idolatry, and directed what sort of an altar he would have made whereon to offer their sacrifices, promising that where his name was recorded he would grant his presence and blessing, Ex 20:22-26.

Cross References

• 1. For ver. 1-17, see Deuteronomy 5:6-21
• 2. Deuteronomy 5:22
• 3. Leviticus 26:13; Psalms 81:10; Hosea 13:4
• 4. 2 Kings 17:35; Jeremiah 25:6; Jeremiah 35:15
• 5. Leviticus 26:1; Deuteronomy 27:15; Psalms 97:7; [Acts 17:29]
• 6. Exodus 23:24; Joshua 23:7
• 7. Exodus 34:14; Deuteronomy 4:24; Deuteronomy 6:15; Joshua 24:19; Nahum 1:2
• 8. Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18; [Psalms 79:8; Psalms 109:14; Isaiah 65:6, 7; Jeremiah 32:18]
• 9. Leviticus 19:12; [Matthew 5:34, 35; James 5:12]
• 10. Leviticus 19:3, 30; Leviticus 26:2; See Exodus 31:13-17
• 11. Exodus 23:12; Exodus 34:21; Exodus 35:2; Leviticus 23:3; Luke 13:14
• 12. Exodus 16:26; Exodus 31:15; Genesis 2:2, 3; Ezekiel 20:12; See Numbers 15:32-36
• 13. See Nehemiah 13:16-19
• 14. See Gen. 1:1 - 2:3
• 15. Leviticus 19:3; Cited Matthew 15:4; Matthew 19:19; Mark 7:10; Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20; Ephesians 6:2; [Jeremiah 35:18, 19]
• 16. Ephesians 6:3
• 17. Cited Matthew 5:21; Matthew 19:18; Romans 13:9; [Genesis 9:5, 6; 1 John 3:15]
• 18. Leviticus 18:20; Deuteronomy 22:22; Proverbs 6:32; 1 Corinthians 6:9; Hebrews 13:4; Cited Matthew 5:27; Romans 13:9
• 19. Leviticus 19:11; Ephesians 4:28; Cited Matthew 19:18; Romans 13:9
• 20. Exodus 23:1; Proverbs 19:5, 9; Proverbs 21:28; Proverbs 24:28; Proverbs 25:18; Cited Matthew 19:18; See Deuteronomy 19:16-20
• 21. Luke 12:15; Ephesians 5:3, 5; Cited Romans 7:7; Romans 13:9; [Colossians 3:5; Hebrews 13:5]
• 22. Micah 2:2
• 23. Jeremiah 5:8; Matthew 5:28
• 24. Hebrews 12:18
• 25. Deuteronomy 5:25, 27; Deuteronomy 18:16; Galatians 3:19, 20; Hebrews 12:19
• 26. [1 Samuel 12:20]
• 27. [Genesis 22:1]; Deuteronomy 13:3
• 28. Deuteronomy 4:11; 2 Samuel 22:10; 1 Kings 8:12; Psalms 18:9; Psalms 97:2

Footnotes

• [a]. Or besides
• [b]. Or to the thousandth generation
• [c]. The Hebrew word also covers causing human death through carelessness or negligence
• [d]. Samaritan, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Masoretic Text the people saw