HolyStudy
Bible IndexRead BibleNotesChurchesMissionPrivacyTermsContact
© 2026 HolyStudy
HomeRead BibleBible NotesChurchesSign in
HolyStudy
HomeRead BibleBible NotesChurches
Sign in

Exodus 20

1

And God spake all these words, saying,

1
2

I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

4

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:

5

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

6

And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

7

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

8

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9

Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:

10

But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

11

For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

12

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

13

Thou shalt not kill.

14

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

15

Thou shalt not steal.

16

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

17

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s.

18

And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.

1
19

And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

20

And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

21

And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

22

And the Lord said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.

1
23

Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.

24

An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.

25

And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.

26

Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.

← Previous ChapterNext Chapter →

Exodus 20

Exodus 20 records the Ten Commandments — the moral and covenant foundation of Israel's life with God — spoken directly by God to the assembled people, without a human intermediary. They begin not with obligation but with identity: I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt. The commands flow from liberation, not from coercion; they describe what the life of a redeemed people looks like. No other gods. No idols. Do not misuse God's name. Remember the Sabbath. Honor your parents. Do not murder, commit adultery, steal, give false testimony, or covet. The first four orient Israel toward God; the last six toward neighbor. Jesus will later summarize both tables as love of God and love of neighbor. The people, terrified by the thunder and fire, ask Moses to be their mediator — they cannot bear to hear God speak directly. Moses goes near the thick darkness where God is. The chapter ends with instructions about altars: simple, unhewn stone, no steps, lest the sacred become an occasion for shame. Matthew 5 returns to this chapter repeatedly as Jesus does not abolish but fulfills these commands, showing their full inward depth.

Exodus 20:1

And God spoke all these words. The introduction to the Ten Commandments emphasizes two things: the subject (God) and the mode (spoke all these words). This is not Mosaic legislation transmitted with divine approval but direct divine speech — God speaking in first person to the assembled community. Deuteronomy 5:22 confirms: these are the commandments the Lord proclaimed to your whole assembly out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness. The Ten Commandments are the only portion of the Torah spoken directly by God to the whole people. Everything else comes through Moses. The directness of this speech is the measure of its authority and the basis of its permanence. Matthew 5:17–18 says not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

Exodus 20:2

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. The Ten Commandments begin not with a command but with an identification. Before God speaks any obligation, He establishes the relationship: I am the Lord your God, and the relationship is defined by what He has done — I brought you out. The commands that follow are the grammar of the liberated life, not the conditions for liberation. Deuteronomy 6:20–25 makes the same structural point: the law explains the meaning of the deliverance, not the price of it. Romans 3:21–22 grounds righteousness in the faithfulness of God rather than in human compliance — the Decalogue's opening declaration is the Old Testament form of the same principle.

Exodus 20:3

You shall have no other gods before me. The first commandment is a statement of exclusive loyalty. Before me — literally before my face, in my presence — means in any context where God is present, which is everywhere. The prohibition is not a denial of the existence of other divine beings but a covenant requirement of exclusive devotion. Deuteronomy 6:5 says love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength — the totality of love and the exclusivity of the first commandment are the same principle. Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5 as the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:37. The first commandment is the foundation of all that follows: everything else in the Decalogue is an expression of what it means to have no other gods before the Lord.

Exodus 20:4

You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. The prohibition on images is the second commandment's first clause. The comprehensiveness of the prohibition — heaven above, earth beneath, waters below — covers the entire created order. No creature, however majestic or beautiful, is an appropriate representation of the Creator. Isaiah 40:18–19 asks: who then is God's equal? To whom will you compare him? Isaiah's rhetorical question assumes the answer that the second commandment requires: nothing. Romans 1:23 describes the fall into idolatry as exchanging the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being, birds, animals, and reptiles — the exact categories the second commandment prohibits.

Exodus 20:5

You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. The second clause prohibits the worship that makes idols functionally divine. The prohibition is paired with a self-disclosure: God is a jealous God. The jealousy is covenantal — the same jealousy a husband has when a wife is unfaithful to the marriage covenant. The punishment extended to the third and fourth generation is the natural consequence of idolatry passed down through family culture: children raised in idolatrous households inherit its patterns. Ezekiel 18:20 clarifies that children are not punished for their parents' sins — what is extended is the consequence of generational patterns, not individual guilt.

Exodus 20:6

But showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. The love God shows extends to a thousand generations — the asymmetry with the third and fourth generation of punishment is deliberate. The mercy vastly outweighs the judgment. Exodus 34:7 expands this: maintaining love to thousands and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. The thousand-generation love of God is the deep note beneath the Decalogue — the commandments are given by a God whose default disposition is love, not punishment. Deuteronomy 7:9 says know that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. The faithfulness to a thousand generations is the backdrop against which every command is heard.

Exodus 20:7

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. The third commandment prohibits the empty, manipulative, or dishonest use of God's name. The name of God is the revelation of God's character — to use it falsely is to weaponize the divine identity for human purposes. False oaths, empty invoking of God's blessing, using God's authority to sanction human agendas — all violate the third commandment. Matthew 5:33–37 says let your yes be yes and your no be no — the radical simplification Jesus recommends is grounded in the third commandment's requirement that invocations of God be genuine. Misusing the name is not held guiltless because the name represents the person, and misrepresenting the name misrepresents the God who gave it.

Exodus 20:8

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. The fourth commandment begins with remember — the same word used throughout Exodus for memorial and commemoration. The Sabbath is not only practiced but remembered: there is a history behind it (creation), a present embodiment of it (rest), and a future pointing by it (the eschatological rest of Hebrews 4). Keeping it holy means setting it apart, marking it as different from the other six days. The Sabbath is not merely the absence of work but the presence of a different orientation: toward God, toward rest, toward the rhythm built into creation. Colossians 2:16–17 says the Sabbath is a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality is found in Christ. The shadow points to the rest that the gospel offers.

Exodus 20:9

Six days you shall labor and do all your work. The six days of work are not a concession or a secular compromise with the Sabbath's holiness — they are part of the commandment. The pattern six-and-one mirrors the creation week, and both work and rest are included. Genesis 2:15 says God placed the man in the garden to work it and take care of it — work is pre-fall, pre-curse, built into the human vocation. Colossians 3:23 says whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord, not for human masters. The six days of work done for the Lord are part of the same covenant rhythm as the seventh day of rest. Neither the work nor the rest is optional; both are covenantal.

Exodus 20:10

But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. The Sabbath rest extends to every member of the household: children, servants, animals, foreigners. The one command in the Decalogue that explicitly includes outsiders — the foreigner residing in your towns — is the Sabbath. The rest that God commands for His covenant people is extended to those who are not yet covenant members. This universality anticipates the New Covenant's extension of the rest Jesus offers to all who are weary and burdened (Matthew 11:28). The Sabbath is not Israel's private resource but a gift offered through Israel to the world.

Exodus 20:11

For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. The fourth commandment is grounded in creation theology: God's own rest on the seventh day is the prototype of Israel's Sabbath rest. The Sabbath is not a human invention but a divine institution, built into the fabric of time from the beginning. Hebrews 4:3–4 says God's rest was finished from the foundation of the world — the Sabbath rest available to the people of God is the rest God entered at creation's completion. The blessing and sanctification of the seventh day at creation is the basis of the Sabbath's holiness in the commandment. What God blessed and set apart at creation, the commandment requires Israel to honor.

Exodus 20:12

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. The fifth commandment bridges the two tables: honoring parents is simultaneously a command about human relationships and a command about the social structure through which God's blessings flow. The promise attached to this commandment — long life in the land — is the only promise in the Decalogue. Ephesians 6:2–3 quotes this as the first commandment with a promise. The honor owed to parents is not contingent on their worthiness but on their office — the same logic that requires honor for governing authorities in Romans 13:1. The generational structure of the covenant requires those who receive it to honor those who passed it to them.

Exodus 20:13

You shall not murder. The sixth commandment establishes the absolute value of human life. Murder is not merely the taking of life but the unauthorized taking of the life of one who bears the image of God — Genesis 9:6 grounds the prohibition in the image: whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed, for in the image of God has God made mankind. Matthew 5:21–22 extends the prohibition inward: anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Jesus does not abolish the sixth commandment; He shows that its root is in the interior life of contempt and rage, which is the seed of which murder is the fruit. 1 John 3:15 says anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer — the commandment reaches into the heart.

Exodus 20:14

You shall not commit adultery. The seventh commandment protects the covenant of marriage as the foundational human covenant that images the covenant between God and Israel. Adultery violates covenant loyalty at the most intimate human level — it is what idolatry is at the theological level. The prophets consistently use marriage and adultery as metaphors for Israel's covenant faithfulness and unfaithfulness: Hosea, Jeremiah, Ezekiel. Matthew 5:27–28 extends the seventh commandment inward: anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. The commandment protects not only the act of marriage but the orientation of the heart that sustains it. Hebrews 13:4 says marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure.

Exodus 20:15

You shall not steal. The eighth commandment protects property as an extension of personhood — what belongs to someone is connected to who they are. Theft is not merely taking what belongs to another; it is a form of disrespect for the person who earned or received it. Ephesians 4:28 connects the prohibition on stealing to the positive obligation of labor and generosity: anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, so that they may have something to share with those in need. The commandment is not only negative (do not take) but implies a positive vocation: earn honestly, receive justly, share generously. The society the commandment envisions is one where everyone's property is secure and everyone's need is met.

Exodus 20:16

You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. The ninth commandment protects the integrity of the judicial process and the reputation of persons. False witness corrupts justice at its source — the testimony on which decisions rest. Proverbs 6:16–19 lists a lying tongue and a false witness among the things the Lord detests. Matthew 26:59–61 records false witnesses being assembled against Jesus at his trial — the ninth commandment is violated in the founding injustice of the passion narrative. The prohibition extends beyond the courtroom to every context where what we say about others shapes how they are perceived and treated. Ephesians 4:25 says therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body.

Exodus 20:17

You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. The tenth commandment is unique in the Decalogue: it prohibits an interior state, not an external action. Coveting is the desire to possess what belongs to another — not yet stealing or adultery, but the desire from which those acts grow. Romans 7:7–8 records Paul saying: I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, you shall not covet. The tenth commandment exposed the interior dimensions of sin that the other nine left implicit. James 4:2 says you desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. The root of the violence that breaks the earlier commandments is the covetousness the tenth commandment identifies.

Exodus 20:18

When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance. The community's response to the theophany is precisely what God anticipated and Moses promised: trembling. The sight and sound of God's presence — thunder, lightning, trumpet, smoke — produce fear in the created before the Creator. The staying at a distance is not disobedience but appropriate recognition of the boundary between the holy and the ordinary. Hebrews 12:21 says the sight was so terrifying that Moses said I am trembling with fear — the human response to raw divine holiness, even for the one who stands in the divine presence most regularly, is trembling. The trembling of the community is the right response to the reality of who is present at the mountain.

Exodus 20:19

They said to Moses: speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die. The people's request for a human mediator is the direct response to the theophany's overwhelming presence. They want Moses' voice, not God's voice — not because God's word is less authoritative but because they cannot survive the direct encounter. Hebrews 12:19 says they begged that no further word be spoken to them because they could not bear what was commanded. The request creates the institution of prophecy in Israel: God will speak to the prophet, the prophet will speak to the people. Deuteronomy 18:15–18 grounds the entire prophetic tradition in this moment: the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me. The request for mediation at Sinai is answered by a whole prophetic tradition that culminates in Christ.

Exodus 20:20

Moses said to the people: do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning. Moses interprets the community's experience: do not be afraid — the same command Moses gave at the sea. The theophany is a test — not an examination with pass/fail but a formative experience designed to produce a lasting disposition: the fear of God. The fear that keeps you from sinning is not the terror of the theophany (which produced the request for distance) but the reverent awe that results from having stood in the presence of the holy. Proverbs 9:10 says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom — the wisdom that keeps Israel from sin begins with the Sinai encounter. The test succeeded when it produced enduring reverence rather than permanent paralysis.

Exodus 20:21

The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was. The spatial contrast crystallizes the covenant structure: the people at a distance, Moses in the thick darkness. The thick darkness is the place where God is — the same darkness that covered Egypt in the ninth plague, but now the setting of divine revelation rather than divine judgment. 1 Kings 8:12 records Solomon saying the Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud. The darkness that hides God from the unprepared reveals Him to the one who is called into it. Moses goes where the people cannot — into the presence that would destroy them — and brings back what they need. This is the priest's function and ultimately Christ's function: going where the people cannot go and returning with what they need.

Exodus 20:22

Then the Lord said to Moses: tell the Israelites this: you have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven. The reminder that God spoke from heaven — not from an earthly idol but from the transcendent source — grounds the prohibition on idols that follows. You have seen for yourselves carries the same evidentiary weight as the covenant proposal in Exodus 19:4: you yourselves have seen what I did. The covenant is grounded in witnessed reality, and the prohibitions that follow are grounded in the same witness: you know who spoke, you know what was seen, you know what is required. 2 Peter 1:16 says the apostles did not follow cleverly devised stories — the same appeal to eyewitness reality that grounded the Sinai covenant grounds the apostolic testimony.

Exodus 20:23

Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold. The prohibition restates the first and second commandments in the context of the theophany: having experienced the God who speaks from heaven, Israel is not to manufacture substitutes. The gods of silver and gold are the material inversions of the God who speaks from fire and darkness. Isaiah 46:6–7 mocks idols: they lift it to their shoulders and carry it; they set it up in its place and there it stands. It cannot move from its place. Even when someone cries out to it, it does not answer. The God who answered at Sinai cannot be replicated in metal. The prohibition is grounded in the absurdity of the contrast.

Exodus 20:24

Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you. Following the prohibition on idols, God gives the first instruction for genuine worship: an altar of earth. The simplicity is deliberate — uncut stone or raw earth, not the elaborate craftsmanship of the golden calf that will be fashioned in Exodus 32. Genuine worship does not require sophistication; it requires obedience to the form God commands. The promise wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you establishes the principle of real presence at the site of genuine worship. Deuteronomy 12:5 will centralize this presence at the chosen place. Matthew 18:20 says where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.

Exodus 20:25

If you make a stone altar, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it. The prohibition on dressed stones maintains the simplicity and humility of the altar. Human artistry on the altar substitutes human achievement for divine provision. The undressed stone is a natural object; the dressed stone is a human product. Worship built on human achievement directs attention to the builder rather than the God being worshipped. Hebrews 9:11 says Christ entered the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands — the principle of the undressed stone altar reaches its fulfillment in a covenant whose sanctuary was not made with human hands at all.

Exodus 20:26

And do not go up to my altar on steps, lest your nakedness be exposed on it. The prohibition on steps prevents the exposure of nakedness that ascending steps would cause under the robes worn by ancient priests. The concern is for holiness in worship: nothing inappropriate is to be visible in the act of approaching the altar. Later the Levitical priests will wear linen undergarments for exactly this reason (Exodus 28:42). The attention to physical modesty in the worship space is part of the comprehensive holiness that worship requires. The body matters in worship — not only the interior disposition but the physical appropriateness of how approach is made. The Decalogue ends, appropriately, with practical instructions about the altar where the covenant God is met.