Exodus 20:1-11

1 And God spake all these wordes ad saide:

2 I am the Lorde thy God, which haue brought the out of the londe of Egipte ad out of the house of bondage.

3 Thou shalt haue none other goddes in my syght.

4 Thou shalt make the no grauen ymage, nether any symilitude that is in heauen aboue, ether in the erth beneth, or in the water that ys beneth the erth.

5 Se that thou nether bowe thy sylf vnto them nether serue them: for I the Lorde thy God, am a gelouse God, and viset the synne of the fathers vppon the childern vnto the third and fourth generacion of the that hate me:

6 and yet shewe mercie vnto thousandes amonge them that loue me and kepe my commaundmentes.

7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lorde thy God in vayne, for the Lord wil not holde him giltlesse that taketh his name in vayne.

8 Remebre the Sabbath daye that thou sanctifie it.

9 Sixe dayes mayst thou laboure ad do al that thou hast to doo:

10 but the seuenth daye is the Sabbath of the Lorde thy God, in it thou shalt do no maner worke: nether thou nor thy sonne, nor thy doughter, nether thy manservaunte nor thy maydeservaunte, nether thy catell nether yet the straunger that is within thi gates

11 For in sixe dayes the Lorde made both heauen and erth and the see and all that in them is and rested the seuenth daye: wherfore the Lorde blessed the Sabbath daye and halowed it.

Exodus 20:1-11 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.