Exodus 20:1-17

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. ”

Exodus 20:1-17 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. 20:1 For ver. 1-17, see Deut. 5:6-21
• 2. 20:1 Deut. 5:22
• 3. 20:2 Lev. 26:13; Ps. 81:10; Hos. 13:4
• 4. 20:3 2 Kgs. 17:35; Jer. 25:6; 35:15
• 5. 20:4 Lev. 26:1; Deut. 27:15; Ps. 97:7; [Acts 17:29]
• 6. 20:5 ch. 23:24; Josh. 23:7
• 7. 20:5 ch. 34:14; Deut. 4:24; 6:15; Josh. 24:19; Nah. 1:2
• 8. 20:5 ch. 34:7; Num. 14:18; [Ps. 79:8; 109:14; Isa. 65:6, 7; Jer. 32:18]
• 9. 20:7 Lev. 19:12; [Matt. 5:34, 35; James 5:12]
• 10. 20:8 Lev. 19:3, 30; 26:2; See ch. 31:13-17
• 11. 20:9 ch. 23:12; 34:21; 35:2; Lev. 23:3; Luke 13:14
• 12. 20:10 ch. 16:26; 31:15; Gen. 2:2, 3; Ezek. 20:12; See Num. 15:32-36
• 13. 20:10 See Neh. 13:16-19
• 14. 20:11 See Gen. 1:1–2:3
• 15. 20:12 Lev. 19:3; Cited Matt. 15:4; 19:19; Mark 7:10; 10:19; Luke 18:20; Eph. 6:2; [Jer. 35:18, 19]
• 16. 20:12 Eph. 6:3
• 17. 20:13 Cited Matt. 5:21; 19:18; Rom. 13:9; [Gen. 9:5, 6; 1 John 3:15]
• 18. 20:14 Lev. 18:20; Deut. 22:22; Prov. 6:32; 1 Cor. 6:9; Heb. 13:4; Cited Matt. 5:27; Rom. 13:9
• 19. 20:15 Lev. 19:11; Eph. 4:28; Cited Matt. 19:18; Rom. 13:9
• 20. 20:16 ch. 23:1; Prov. 19:5, 9; 21:28; 24:28; 25:18; Cited Matt. 19:18; See Deut. 19:16-20
• 21. 20:17 Luke 12:15; Eph. 5:3, 5; Cited Rom. 7:7; 13:9; [Col. 3:5; Heb. 13:5]
• 22. 20:17 Mic. 2:2
• 23. 20:17 Jer. 5:8; Matt. 5:28

Footnotes

• [a] 20:3 Or 'besides'
• [b] 20:6 Or 'to the thousandth generation'
• [c] 20:13 The Hebrew word also covers causing human death through carelessness or negligence