The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
The Ten Commandments
Exodus 20:1–17 — The Ten Commandments. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
1And God spoke all these words:
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ĕ·lō·hîm ’êṯ way·ḏab·bêr kāl- hā·’êl·leh lê·mōr had·də·ḇā·rîm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-spoke God (direct-object) all the-words the-these, saying —
Where the English smooths the original
An obscure tribe of Egyptian slaves plunges into the desert to hide from pursuit, and emerges, after forty years, with a code gathered into ‘ten words,’ so brief, so complete, so intertwining morality and religion, so free from local or national peculiarities, so close fitting to fundamental duties, that it is to-day, after more than three thousand years, authoritative in the most enlightened peoples. The voice that spoke from Sinai reverberates in all lands.
Alone uttered publicly by God in the ears of the people, alone inscribed on stone by the finger of God Himself, alone, of all commands, deposited in the penetrale of worship—the Ark—they formed the germ and basis, the very pith and kernel of the covenant which God, through Moses, made with man
This law God had given to man before; it was written in his heart by nature; but sin had so defaced that writing, that it was necessary to revive the knowledge of it.
God spake these words directly to the people, and not "through the medium of His finite spirits,"K&D survey the debate over angelic mediation (Acts 7:53; Gal 3:19; Heb 2:2) and conclude the OT presents God Himself as the speaker; the NT references are tiered as a flagged cross-reference, not asserted here.
2“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
’ā·nō·ḵî Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā ’ă·šer hō·w·ṣê·ṯî·ḵā mê·’e·reṣ miṣ·ra·yim mib·bêṯ ʿă·ḇå̄·ḏīm
Literal — word-for-word from the original
I [am] YHWH your-God, who brought-you-out from-the-land-of Egypt, from-the-house-of slaves.
Where the English smooths the original
By bringing them out of Egypt, the house of bondage, Jehovah had proved to the Israelites that He was their God. This glorious act, to which Israel owed its existence as an independent nation, was peculiarly fitted, as a distinct and practical manifestation of unmerited divine love, to kindle in the hearts of the people the warmest love in return, and to incite them to keep the commandments.
Thus exhibiting at once Almighty power and the tenderest compassion and care. God desires the obedience which springs from love, not fear.
By redeeming them, he acquired a further right to rule them; they owed their service to him to whom they owed their freedom. And thus Christ, having rescued us out of the bondage of sin, is entitled to the best service we can do for him.
God’s authority and right over them is fitly put in the front, as the foundation of all God’s commands, and their duties.
The law is spiritual, and takes knowledge of the secret thoughts, desires, and dispositions of the heart. Its grand demand is love, without which outward obedience is mere hypocrisy. It requires perfect, unfailing, constant obedience; no law in the world admits disobedience to itself. Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all, Jas 2:10.
3You shall have no other gods before Me.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lə·ḵå̄ yih·yeh- lō ’ă·ḥê·rîm ’ĕ·lō·hîm ‘al- på̄·nå̄·ya
Literal — word-for-word from the original
There-shall-not-be to-you gods other before-my-face.
Where the English smooths the original
Before me —literally, before my face— means strictly, “side by side with me”— i.e., “in addition to me.” God does not suppose that the Israelites, after all that He had done for them, would discard Him, and substitute other gods in His place, but fears the syncretism which would unite His worship with that of other deities.
The commandment requires the worship of one God alone, Jehovah - the God who had in so ninny ways manifested himself to the Israelites, and implies that there is, in point of fact, no other God.The transcription's "ninny" is an OCR error for "many"; quoted verbatim as supplied.
He forbids the worship of all others, not only in opposition to him, but also in conjunction with him, or subordination to him.
The sentence is quite a general one, and not only prohibits polytheism and idolatry, the worship of idols in thought, word, and deed (cf. Deuteronomy 8:11 , Deuteronomy 8:17 , Deuteronomy 8:19 ), but also commands the fear, love, and worship of God the Lord
4You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lō ṯa·‘ă·śeh- lə·ḵā p̄ɛ·sɛl wə·ḵāl tə·mū·nāh ʾă·šɛr baš·šå̄·ma·yim mim·ma·‘al wa·’ă·šer bā·’ā·reṣ mit·tå̄·ḥaṯ wa·’ă·šer bam·ma·yim mit·ta·ḥaṯ lå̄·ʾå̄·rɛṣ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Not shall-you-make for-yourself a-carved-idol, and-any form that [is] in-the-heavens above, and-that [is] in-the-earth beneath, and-that [is] in-the-waters beneath the-earth.
Where the English smooths the original
What the second commandment forbade was the worship of God under a material form. It asserted the spirituality of Jehovah.
"After declaring in the first commandment who was the true God, He commanded that He alone should be worshipped; and now He defines what is His lawful worship" (Calvin).K&D quoting Calvin.
Under the auspices of Moses himself, figures of cherubim, brazen serpents, oxen, and many other things in the earth beneath, were made and never condemned. The mere making was no sin—it was the making with the intent to give idolatrous worship.
the presence of the invisible God was to be marked by no symbol of Himself, but by His words written on stones, preserved in the ark in the holy of holies and covered by the mercy-seat.
5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lō- ṯiš·taḥ·wɛh lā·hem wə·lō ṯā·‘ā·ḇə·ḏêm kî ’ā·nō·ḵî Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā qan·nā ’êl pō·qêḏ ‘ă·wōn ’ā·ḇōṯ ‘al- bā·nîm ‘al- šil·lê·šîm wə·‘al- rib·bê·‘îm lə·śō·nə·ʾå̄y
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Not shall-you-bow-down to-them and-not shall-you-serve-them; for I YHWH your-God [am] a-jealous God, visiting the-iniquity of-fathers upon children, upon the-third and-upon the-fourth-[generations], of-those-who-hate-me,
Where the English smooths the original
a jealous God, who will not transfer to another the honour that is due to Himself ( Isaiah 42:8 ; Isaiah 48:11 ), nor tolerate the worship of any other god ( Exodus 34:14 ), but who directs the warmth of His anger against those who hate Him
God is pleased to call and account himself the Husband of his church and people, Jeremiah 2:2 Hosea 2:19 ; and therefore idolatry is called adultery
It is a fact that, under God’s natural government of the world, the iniquity of fathers is visited upon their children. Diseases caused by vicious courses are transmitted. The parents’ extravagance leaves their children beggars.
He is not "jealous." as the Greeks thought (Herod. 7:10, § 5), of mere success, or greatness; but he is very jealous of his own honour, and will not have the respect and reverence, which is his due, bestowed on other beings or on inanimate objects.
a jealous God ] who will not tolerate that the reverence due to Him, should be given to another,—whether to another god ( Exodus 34:14 ), or, as here, to an image worshipped, or, if an image of Himself, likely to be worshipped, as Divine,—and whose jealousy is described elsewhere burning like fire against those who thus dishonour Him.
6but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·‘ō·śeh ḥe·seḏ la·’ă·lā·p̄îm lə·’ō·hă·ḇay ū·lə·šō·mə·rê miṣ·wō·ṯāy
Literal — word-for-word from the original
and-doing loving-kindness to-thousands, of-those-who-love-me and-of-those-who-keep my-commandments.
Where the English smooths the original
God’s mercy infinitely transcends His righteous anger. Sin is visited on three, or at most four, generations. Righteousness is remembered, and advantages descendants, for ever.
Yahweh's visitations of chastisement extend to the third and fourth generation, his visitations of mercy to the thousandth; that is, forever.
Them that love me, and keep my commandments: this conjunction is very observable, both against those that falsely and foolishly pretend or insinuate that the inward affection of love to God is not absolutely and always necessary to salvation; and also against them who, pretending inward love to God, live in the customary breach of God’s known commands.
So ready is he rather to show mercy than to punish.
7You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lō ṯiś·śā ’eṯ- šêm- Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā laš·šāw kî Yah·weh ’êṯ lō yə·naq·qeh ’ă·šer- yiś·śā ’eṯ- šə·mōw laš·šāw
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Not shall-you-lift-up (direct-object) the-name of-YHWH your-God for-emptiness; for YHWH will-not hold-guiltless him who lifts-up his-name for-emptiness.
Where the English smooths the original
The word prohibits all employment of the name of God for vain and unworthy objects, and includes not only false swearing, which is condemned in Leviticus 19:12 as a profanation of the name of Jehovah, but trivial swearing in the ordinary intercourse of life, and every use of the name of God in the service of untruth and lying
We take God’s name in vain, 1st, By hypocrisy, making profession of God’s name, but not living up to that profession.
Our Lord’s comment in the Sermon on the Mount favours the view that false swearing alone was actually forbidden by the Law, since He proceeds to condemn profane swearing on His own authority: “But I say unto you” ( Matthew 5:34 ).
It is also here to be observed, as well as in the other commands, that when this sin is forbidden, the contrary duty is commanded, to wit, to use the name of God, both in swearing and otherwise, holily, cautiously, and reverently.
8Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
zā·ḵō·wr ’eṯ- haš·šab·bāṯ yō·wm lə·qad·də·šō
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Remember (direct-object) the-day-of-the-Sabbath, to-keep-it-holy.
Where the English smooths the original
This word remember is here very emphatical; and, 1. It reminds us of a former delivery of the substance of this command, to wit, Genesis 2:3 . 2. It insinuates the great necessity of consideration and preparation for the sabbath before it comes
probably there were always some whom natural piety taught that, in the absence of their ordinary employments, it was intended they should devote themselves to prayer and communion with God—to meditation on “high and holy themes,”
The word "remember" may either be used in the sense of "keep in mind" what is here enjoined for the first time, or it may refer back to what is related in Exodus 16:22-26 .
The verb shâbath denotes ‘rest,’ not in the positive sense of relaxation or refreshment (which is nûaḥ , see v. 11, Exodus 23:12 b), but in the negative sense of cessation from work or activity
9Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
šê·šeṯ yā·mîm ta·ʿă·ḇōḏ wə·‘ā·śî·ṯā kāl- mə·laḵ·tɛ·ḵå̄
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Six days you-shall-labor and-do all your-work,
Where the English smooths the original
the intention of the clause is prohibitory rather than mandatory—“thou shalt not work more than six days out of the seven.”
This is not to be taken for a precept, but a permission; not as a command enjoining men to work and labour with their hands, to provide for themselves and families things useful and necessary, and honest in the sight of God; but as a grant and allowance of so many days to employ themselves in
Because so it is a proper argument to enforce the observation of the sabbath: q.d. Grudge not me one day, when I allow you six for it.
10but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God, on which you must not do any work—neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant or livestock, nor the foreigner within your gates.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
haš·šə·ḇî·‘î wə·yō·wm šab·bāṯ Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā lō- ṯa·‘ă·śeh ḵāl mə·lā·ḵāh ’at·tāh ū·ḇin·ḵå̄- ū·ḇit·te·ḵā ‘aḇ·də·ḵā wa·’ă·mā·ṯə·ḵā ū·ḇə·hem·te·ḵā wə·ḡê·rə·ḵā ’ă·šer biš·ʿå̄·rɛ·ḵå̄
Literal — word-for-word from the original
but-the-seventh day [is] a-Sabbath to-YHWH your-God; not shall-you-do any work — you, and-your-son, and-your-daughter, your-manservant, and-your-maidservant, and-your-cattle, and-your-sojourner who [is] within-your-gates.
Where the English smooths the original
Thy stranger that is within thy gates - Not a "stranger," as is an unknown person, but a "lodger," or "sojourner." In this place it denotes one who had come from another people to take up his permanent abode among the Israelites
The whole family was to partake in the Sabbatical rest. Labour was to cease, not to be devolved by the stronger on weaker members.
God's care for cattle is a remarkable feature of the Old Testament dispensation.
The sabbath of the Lord, or, to the Lord , i.e. consecrated to his use, honour, and service.
11For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, but on the seventh day He rested. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kî šê·šeṯ- yā·mîm Yah·weh ’eṯ- ‘ā·śāh haš·šā·ma·yim wə·’eṯ- hā·’ā·reṣ ’eṯ- hay·yām wə·’eṯ- kāl- ’ă·šer- bām haš·šə·ḇî·‘î bay·yō·wm way·yā·naḥ ‘al- kên Yah·weh ’eṯ- bê·raḵ haš·šab·bāṯ yō·wm way·qad·də·šê·hū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
For [in] six days YHWH made (direct-object) the-heavens and-(direct-object) the-earth, (direct-object) the-sea and-(direct-object) all that [is] in-them, and-he-rested on-the-day the-seventh; therefore YHWH blessed the-day-of-the-Sabbath and-hallowed-it.
Where the English smooths the original
Each Sabbath is such a time, and is a type and foretaste of that eternal “sabbatising” in another world which “remaineth for the people of God” ( Hebrews 4:9 ).
Rested, i.e. ceased from his creating works; otherwise he worketh still { John 5:17 } by his providence and grace; and neither is idle nor weary, Isaiah 40:28 ; but this rest is ascribed to him for our admonition and imitation.
man's rest being purposely assimilated to God's rest, in order to show the resemblance between man's nature and God's ( Genesis 1:27 ), and to point towards that eternal rest wherein man, united with God, will find his highest bliss and the true end of his being. "There remaineth a rest for the people of God."
God prescribed the keeping of the Sabbath, that they might thus possess a day for the repose and elevation of their spirits, and a foretaste of the blessedness into which the people of God are at last to enter
12Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
kab·bêḏ ’eṯ- ’ā·ḇî·ḵā wə·’eṯ- ’im·me·ḵā lə·ma·‘an yā·me·ḵā ya·’ă·ri·ḵūn ‘al hā·’ă·ḏā·māh ’ă·šer- Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā nō·ṯên lāḵ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Honor (direct-object) your-father and-(direct-object) your-mother, so-that may-be-long your-days upon the-land that YHWH your-God [is]-giving to-you.
Where the English smooths the original
The fact seems to be that it is a transition commandment, and meant to cast special sacredness round the parental relationship, by paralleling it, in some sense, with that to God, of which it is a reflection. Other duties to other men stand on a different level from duties to parents. ‘Honour,’ which is to be theirs, is not remote from the reverence due to God. They are, as it were, His shadows to the child.
Of all our duties to our fellow-men, the first and most fundamental is our duty towards our parents, which lies at the root of all our social relations, and is the first of which we naturally become conscious.
The connection between the first four commandments and the fifth exists in the truth that all faith in God centers in the filial feeling. Our parents stand between us and God in a way in which no other beings can.
all government has grown out of the relation of father and child, and draws its moral weight and stability, upon which the prosperity and well-being of a nation depends, from the reverence of children towards their parents.
The first four commandments [Ex 20:3-11] comprise our duties to God—the other six [Ex 20:12-17] our duties to our fellow men; and as interpreted by Christ, they reach to the government of the heart as well as the lip (Mt 5:17).JFB's verse-12 note opens on v. 8 ('Remember the sabbath day') before this summary of the two tables; the excerpt is the table-summary clause, quoted verbatim.
13You shall not murder.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lō tir·ṣå̄ḥ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Not shall-you-murder.
Where the English smooths the original
This doth not forbid our necessary defence, or the magistrates putting offenders to death; but it forbids all malice and hatred to any, for he that hateth his brother is a murderer, and all revenge arising therefrom
AV. had shalt not kill : but the Heb. word implies violent, unauthorised killing. Cf. especially the list of crimes in Hosea 4:2 (where ‘killing’ has been kept), Jeremiah 7:9 .
Matthew 5:21-32 is the best comment on these two verses.
Life is placed at the head of these commandments, not as being the highest earthly possession, but because it is the basis of human existence, and in the life the personality is attacked, and in that the image of God
14You shall not commit adultery.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lō tin·ʾå̄p̄
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Not shall-you-commit-adultery.
Where the English smooths the original
The Mosaic enactments on the subject are peculiar chiefly in the absolute equality on which they place the man and the woman. Adulterers are as hateful as adulteresses, and are as surely to be put to death ( Leviticus 20:10 ; Deuteronomy 22:22-24 , &c.).
This prohibition is not only directed against any assault upon the husband's dearest possession, for the tenth commandment guards against that, but upholds the sacredness of marriage as the divine appointment for the propagation and multiplication of the human race
This commandment forbids all acts of uncleanness, with all those desires which produce those acts and war against the soul.
Marriage, according to the original institution, made the husband and wife "one flesh" ( Genesis 2:24 ); and to break in upon this sacramental union was at once a crime and a profanity.
15You shall not steal.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lō tiḡ·nōḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Not shall-you-steal.
Where the English smooths the original
The eighth commandment forbids this wrong, and requires us to respect the property of others no less than their person and their domestic peace and honour.
The right of property is sanctioned in the eighth commandment by an external rule: its deeper meaning is involved in the tenth commandment.
personal theft, as stealing of men and making slaves of them, selling them against their wills
This command forbids us to rob ourselves of what we have, by sinful spending, or of the use and comfort of it, by sinful sparing; and to rob others by invading our neighbour’s rights
16You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lō- ṯa·‘ă·neh šā·qer ‘êḏ ḇə·rê·‘ă·ḵā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Not shall-you-answer against-your-neighbor [as] a-false witness.
Where the English smooths the original
It was peculiar to the Hebrew legislation that it not only forbade and punished ( Deuteronomy 19:16-20 ) false testimony of this extreme kind, but denounced also the far commoner, yet scarcely less injurious, practice of spreading untrue reports about others, thus injuring them in men’s esteem.
not only is lying prohibited, but false and unfounded evidence in general; and not only evidence before a judge, but false evidence of every kind, by which (according to the context) the life, married relation, or property of a neighbour might be endangered
A man’s neighbour here is not only the Israelite, as some would have it, but any man
slandering, backbiting, tale-bearing, aggravating what is done amiss, and any way endeavouring to raise our own reputation upon the ruin of our neighbour’s.
17You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, or his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lō ṯaḥ·mōḏ rê·‘e·ḵā bêṯ lō- ṯaḥ·mōḏ rê·‘e·ḵā ’ê·šeṯ wə·‘aḇ·dōw wa·’ă·mā·ṯōw wə·šō·w·rōw wa·ḥă·mō·rōw wə·ḵōl ’ă·šer lə·rê·‘e·ḵā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Not shall-you-covet your-neighbor's house. Not shall-you-covet your-neighbor's wife, or-his-manservant, or-his-maidservant, or-his-ox, or-his-donkey, or-anything that [belongs] to-your-neighbor.
Where the English smooths the original
This command seems to have been added in order to teach the general principle that the Law of God is concerned, not with acts and words only, but with the thoughts of the heart.
Here the Mosaic law takes a step enormously in advance of any other ancient code. Most codes stopped short at the deed; a few went on to words; not one attempted to control thoughts. "Thou shalt not covet" teaches men that there is One who sees the heart
This is the tenth and last commandment, and is an explanation of several of the past; showing that the law of God not only forbids external acts of sin, but the inward and first motions of the mind to it
But it is the root of all sins of word or deed against our neighbor James 1:14-15 .
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The unit opens not with a command but with a Speaker. "And God spoke all these words" (v. 1) — the verb way·ḏab·bêr stands first, weighty and formal, and Scripture's own name for what follows is "the Ten Words" (Exodus 34:28), not "the Ten Commandments." Maclaren marvels that "an obscure tribe of Egyptian slaves" emerged from the desert with "a code gathered into 'ten words,' so brief, so complete" that it remains "authoritative in the most enlightened peoples"; "the voice that spoke from Sinai reverberates in all lands." Benson presses the deeper point: this law "was written in his heart by nature; but sin had so defaced that writing, that it was necessary to revive the knowledge of it." Then, before a single "thou shalt," comes the preface (v. 2): the emphatic ’ā·nō·ḵî, "I — I myself — am YHWH your God, who brought you out of... the house of slaves." Keil names its function exactly: by the Exodus "Jehovah had proved to the Israelites that He was their God," an act "peculiarly fitted... to kindle in the hearts of the people the warmest love in return." Grace is the ground of law. Benson draws the line straight to the gospel: "Christ, having rescued us out of the bondage of sin, is entitled to the best service we can do for him."
The first four words climb in a tight progression: the object of worship (v. 3), the manner of worship (vv. 4–6), the name in worship (v. 7), the time of worship (vv. 8–11). The first command bans not only apostasy but addition — "before my face" (‘al pā·nāy), as Ellicott shows, means "side by side with me... in addition to me"; it "fears the syncretism which would unite His worship with that of other deities." The second forbids representing God at all: "what the second commandment forbade," says Ellicott, "was the worship of God under a material form; it asserted the spirituality of Jehovah" — though, JFB observe, "the mere making was no sin... it was the making with the intent to give idolatrous worship." Its sanction reveals God's heart: He is qan·nā, "jealous" (v. 5), which Poole reads as marriage-jealousy — God "the Husband of his church," for whom "idolatry is called adultery"; Keil distinguishes mere zeal from the true sense, "a jealous God, who will not transfer to another the honour that is due to Himself." The threat against "those who hate me" (three or four generations) is dwarfed by the promise (v. 6): ḥesed, covenant-love, "to a thousand [generations]" — "so ready is he," says the Geneva note, "rather to show mercy than to punish"; Barnes: "his visitations of mercy to the thousandth; that is, forever." The third command guards the Name from emptiness — Keil: "all employment of the name of God for vain and unworthy objects." The fourth, the longest, roots the Sabbath in creation itself (v. 11): God "rested" (way·yā·naḥ) and "blessed" the day — and as Ellicott sees, each Sabbath becomes "a type and foretaste of that eternal 'sabbatising'... which 'remaineth for the people of God' (Hebrews 4:9)."
The fifth command stands at the seam of the two tables, and its form betrays its position. Maclaren saw it clearly: "it is a transition commandment, and meant to cast special sacredness round the parental relationship, by paralleling it, in some sense, with that to God, of which it is a reflection... They are, as it were, His shadows to the child." It alone in the second table carries a reason and names "the LORD thy God." "Honor" (kab·bêḏ) is from the root "to be heavy" — to give parents weight. Barnes locates the joint precisely: "all faith in God centers in the filial feeling. Our parents stand between us and God in a way in which no other beings can." Keil presses the social stakes: "all government has grown out of the relation of father and child," so that on "the reverence of children towards their parents" hangs "the prosperity and well-being of a nation." The promise — long days "in the land" — Paul names "the first commandment with promise" (Ephesians 6:2).
From the parent the law turns to the neighbor, and its movement is a descent inward. Keil, citing Luther's "mirum et aptum ordinem," lays bare the architecture: the commands "first of all secure life, marriage, and property against active invasion... and then, proceeding from deed to word and thought, they forbid false witness and coveting." Three two-word thunderclaps guard the outward goods — murder (v. 13, rāṣaḥ, the precise word for unauthorized killing, not all "killing"), adultery (v. 14, with the Mosaic law's "absolute equality" between man and woman, as Ellicott notes), theft (v. 15, which Gill extends even to "stealing of men and making slaves of them"). Then to words: the ninth forbids the lying witness (v. 16) — first in the courtroom, then in the street, for "calumny may injure a man more than robbery" (Ellicott). Finally, the tenth crosses where no ancient code had gone: "Thou shalt not covet" reaches into the heart. The Pulpit Commentary frames its grandeur: "Most codes stopped short at the deed; a few went on to words; not one attempted to control thoughts." Barnes calls coveting "the root of all sins of word or deed against our neighbor." Maclaren completes the circle: "the end touches the beginning. For that which we 'covet' is our God; and the first commandment is only obeyed when our hearts hunger after Him, and not after earth."
Read whole, the Decalogue makes a promise it cannot keep for fallen men, and the older voices feel the weight of it. JFB stand back from the whole table and name the crisis: "'If a man do them he shall live in them.' But, ah! what an if for frail and fallen man. Whoever rests his hope upon the law stands debtor to it all; and in this view every one would be without hope were not 'the Lord our Righteousness' (John 1:17)." Henry has already said that "the law is spiritual, and takes knowledge of the secret thoughts, desires, and dispositions of the heart"; "its grand demand is love, without which outward obedience is mere hypocrisy." The tenth command proves it — by forbidding the unspoken wish it shuts every mouth. So the law given on Sinai becomes, in Henry's phrase, the mirror that shows fallen man his face: holy, just, and good, and beyond his unaided keeping.
Set the whole unit against the rule that Scripture alone is the final authority, and several things stand out — offered as a reading to be tested, not a verdict to be trusted. First, grace precedes law. The covenant opens with redemption already accomplished — "I am the LORD... who brought you out" (v. 2) — before one command is given. Obedience is the answer of the redeemed, never the price of redemption; the same order that runs from Egypt to Sinai runs from the cross to the Christian life. Second, the law is one and indivisible, and reaches the heart. Henry's note that it "takes knowledge of the secret thoughts" is borne out by the tenth word: a command against desire can be enforced by no human court, only by the God "who sees the heart" (Pulpit). Henry draws the conclusion the Decalogue forces, citing James: "Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all, Jas 2:10." Third, the law's perfection is its verdict. Precisely because it is "holy, just, and good," it leaves the lawbreaker without hope in himself — and so, as JFB confess, drives him to "the Lord our Righteousness." The Decalogue is not a ladder to climb but a mirror to break the proud and a schoolmaster to lead to Christ (Galatians 3:24). Test these against the text; keep what the Word supports.
The tenth word forbids the wish no court can try — and so the Law that begins "I am the LORD who brought you out" ends by shutting every mouth and pointing past itself.
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
The entire Decalogue is repeated in Deuteronomy 5:6–21, with the small, telling variations the older voices catalogue (Keil lists them all: šāmôr for zāḵôr in the Sabbath command, the Exodus deliverance replacing creation as its ground, the wife placed before the house in the tenth). The verifier's strongest reading is on the jealous-God sanction (Ex 20:5 / Deut 5:9), which shares the rare ribbêaʻ (4 vv), qannâ’ (5 vv), and shillêsh (5 vv) — among the rarest lexemes in the Hebrew Bible, occurring in only a handful of verses: a clean verbal quotation, not a loose echo, and the verifier returns it as verbal. The preface (Ex 20:2 / Deut 5:6) shares the common ’ānōḵî, Miṣrayim, and ‘eḇeḏ — high-frequency words, so the verifier rates that pair only structural; but the two passages are manifestly the same text re-given, and the rare-lexeme overlap in the sanction carries the verbal badge for the whole. Keil's verdict is to take "the text of Exodus... as the original, which is not to be altered."
Exodus 20:2-17 · Deuteronomy 5:6-21
basis: Verifier on Ex 20:5 ↔ Deut 5:9 returns verbal: rare shared lexemes H7256 ribbêaʻ (4 vv), H7067 qannâʼ (5 vv), H8029 shillêsh (5 vv). The preface Ex 20:2 ↔ Deut 5:6 (H595 ’ânôkîy, H4714 Mitsrayim, H5650 ‘eḇeḏ) is only structural on its own — those lexemes are common — but the whole is the same Decalogue re-given; the verbal tier rests on the rare-lexeme overlap in the sanction
The jealous-God formula — "visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations" — is the very language YHWH proclaims of Himself after the golden calf (Exodus 34:7) and that Moses pleads back to Him at Kadesh (Numbers 14:18). The verifier finds the same rare ordinal ribbêaʻ (4 vv) and shillêsh (5 vv) with ‘āvôn (iniquity) and pāqad (visiting) in all three. Cambridge notes the definition here is "based upon Exodus 34:7... only with the two clauses transposed, so as to give the warning the first place, as the context here demands" — judgment foregrounded in the command, mercy foregrounded in the proclamation. The same God, the same words, weighted differently for two different purposes.
Exodus 20:5-6 · Exodus 34:6-7 · Numbers 14:18
basis: Verifier on Ex 20:5 ↔ Ex 34:7 and Num 14:18: shared rare lexemes H7256 ribbêaʻ (4 vv), H8029 shillêsh (5 vv) with H5771 ‘āvôn, H6485 pāqad — the same self-revelation of the Name
The fourth command roots itself in the seventh day of creation: "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth... and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy" (v. 11) — language drawn straight from Genesis 2:2–3. The verifier records the shared shəḇî‘î ("seventh"), qādash ("hallow"), and bārak ("bless"). This is a structural-thematic grounding rather than a quotation claim: the command does not cite Genesis so much as rest its authority on the pattern Genesis records. Keil draws the line forward, too: the Sabbath is "a foretaste of the blessedness into which the people of God are at last to enter" (Hebrews 4:9–10) — creation-rest pointing on to redemption-rest. (Deuteronomy 5:14–15 grounds the same command instead in the Exodus; the commentators hold both reasons compatible.)
Exodus 20:8-11 · Genesis 2:2-3 · Deuteronomy 5:12-15
basis: Verifier on Ex 20:11 ↔ Gen 2:3: shared H7637 shəḇî‘î, H6942 qādash, H1288 bārak, H3117 yôm — the command grounds the Sabbath in the creation pattern; no quotation claim
Jeremiah indicts Judah by reciting the second table back to it: "Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and swear falsely...?" (Jeremiah 7:9) — and Hosea 4:2 does the same ("swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery"). The verifier links each command to Jeremiah 7:9 by a shared verb — rāṣaḥ (murder, 40 vv) with v. 13, nā’ap̄ (adultery, 26 vv) with v. 14, gānaḇ (steal, 36 vv) with v. 15 — and Hosea 4:2 to v. 13 by rāṣaḥ. Held honestly: these verbs are moderately, not exceptionally, rare, and the prophets reorder and recast the list rather than quoting a fixed string; the verifier therefore returns each pair as structural / thematic, not a verbal quotation, and so it is tiered here. The point stands either way: the prophets are not coining new charges but holding up the Decalogue as the standard the nation has shattered — the law functioning exactly as the grand commentary's "mirror." Cambridge points to both passages as the prophetic echo of these commands.
Exodus 20:13-15 · Jeremiah 7:9 · Hosea 4:2
basis: Verifier on Ex 20:13/14/15 ↔ Jer 7:9 returns structural/thematic for each pair: shared verbs H7523 rāṣaḥ (40 vv), H5003 nā’ap̄ (26 vv), H1589 gānaḇ (36 vv) — moderately rare, no fixed-string quotation; Hosea 4:2 ↔ Ex 20:13 shares only H7523 rāṣaḥ. Downgraded from 'verbal' to match the verifier's own tier
The fifth command and its promise are repeated in Deuteronomy 5:16 (with the added clause "that it may go well with thee"), sharing the rare verb ’ārak ("prolong," 34 vv) and ’ăḏāmāh ("land"). Paul then lifts it into the New Covenant — "Honor your father and mother (this is the first commandment with a promise), that it may be well with you and that you may live long" (Ephesians 6:2–3) — quoting, notably, the Deuteronomy form with its extra clause. Held honestly: the Hebrew↔Greek link to Ephesians cannot rest on shared Strong's numbers (different languages); it is a confirmed NT citation tiered as structural, with the verbal force carried within the OT pair Exodus 20:12 ↔ Deuteronomy 5:16. The provenance of the exact wording (Deut, not Ex) is itself the interesting datum, recorded openly rather than smoothed over.
Exodus 20:12 · Deuteronomy 5:16 · Ephesians 6:2-3
basis: Verifier on Ex 20:12 ↔ Deut 5:16: shared H748 ’ārak (34 vv), H3513 kābad, H517 ’ēm, H127 ’ăḏāmāh. Ephesians 6:2–3 is a Greek↔Hebrew citation — cannot share Strong's, tiered structural; Paul quotes the Deut form (with 'that it may be well')
The ordinal shillêsh ("of the third generation," H8029) occurs in only five verses in the entire Hebrew Bible. Four of them are the jealous-God formula (Exodus 20:5; 34:7; Numbers 14:18; Deuteronomy 5:9); the fifth is the gentle close of Genesis — "Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation" (Genesis 50:23). The same rare word that measures the reach of judgment in the Decalogue measures the reach of a blessing in Joseph's old age. Held honestly: the verifier returns this pair as verbal on the strength of that lone rare lexeme, but there is no quotation, no borrowed phrase, nothing the one verse takes from the other — only a single shared ordinal across two utterly different sentences. So it is deliberately under-claimed here as a thematic resonance, not a verbal link, and weighed lightly: a reading offered, not a citation recorded.
Exodus 20:5 · Genesis 50:23
basis: Verifier on Ex 20:5 ↔ Gen 50:23 returns verbal on the lone shared lexeme H8029 shillêsh (5 vv); downgraded to structural/thematic because a single rare word with no quotation or borrowed phrase is a resonance, not a verbal citation (under-claiming per the rule)
Repeatedly the public-domain voices reach for the Sermon on the Mount as the true commentary on the second table — Barnes states flatly, "Matthew 5:21–32 is the best comment on these two verses," and Poole, Benson, and the Pulpit Commentary all cite Matthew 5 on murder-as-hatred and adultery-of-the-heart. Christ takes the outward prohibitions and presses them to the inward disposition the tenth command already implied. Held honestly: this is a cross-Testament link (Greek ↔ Hebrew); it cannot rest on shared Strong's numbers and is therefore tiered structural/thematic, not verbal. The Pulpit Commentary even cautions that in Matthew 5 our Lord may be "amplifying [the law] on his own authority" ("But I say unto you") rather than merely expounding it — a nuance left standing rather than resolved.
Exodus 20:13-17 · Matthew 5:21-28
basis: Cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew): no shared Strong's possible. Christ's interiorizing of the second table is thematic; the public-domain voices (Barnes, Poole, Pulpit) name Matthew 5 as the commentary — tiered structural, not verbal
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
"God spoke all these words" (v. 1) — and the New Testament identifies that Speaker with the Son. The Pulpit Commentary, reconciling the statements that the law was given "by the ministration of angels" (Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 2:2) with the plain claim that God Himself spoke, does so "by regarding God the Son as the actual speaker." The same Voice that thundered the Ten Words from the fire is the Word who later said, on a different mountain, "But I say unto you" (Matthew 5:22) — not abolishing the law He had given, but fulfilling it (Matthew 5:17). The Lawgiver and the Law's interpreter are one Person.
Exodus 20:1 · Matthew 5:17-22 · John 1:1-3
JFB read the whole Decalogue as a verdict that drives to Christ: "'If a man do them he shall live in them.' But, ah! what an if for frail and fallen man... every one would be without hope were not 'the Lord our Righteousness' (John 1:17)." The law given on Sinai is, in Paul's phrase, the schoolmaster that leads to Christ (Galatians 3:24): holy and good, yet powerless to make holy the one who breaks it. Its very preface anticipates the gospel order — first redemption ("I... brought you out," v. 2), then commandment — which Benson applies directly: "Christ, having rescued us out of the bondage of sin, is entitled to the best service we can do for him." The one who could not be justified by the law is justified by the Redeemer who kept it.
Exodus 20:2 · Romans 8:3-4 · Galatians 3:24 · Jeremiah 23:6
The fourth command grounds the Sabbath in God's own rest after creation (v. 11), and the older voices already read that rest as a foreshadowing fulfilled in Christ. Ellicott calls each Sabbath "a type and foretaste of that eternal 'sabbatising'... which 'remaineth for the people of God' (Hebrews 4:9)." Keil makes the typology explicit: the Sabbath was "a foretaste of the blessedness into which the people of God are at last to enter," and Christ, "Lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:8), having finished His redeeming work and rested, rose to make the day His own and to lead His people "to the rest of that eternal Sabbath." Creation-rest, Sabbath-rest, and the rest that remains in Christ are one unfolding promise (Hebrews 4:8–10).
Exodus 20:11 · Matthew 12:8 · Hebrews 4:8-10 · Colossians 2:16-17
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), dedicated to the public domain (CC0). The named voices are quoted verbatim from public-domain commentaries — Ellicott, Benson, Matthew Henry, Albert Barnes, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Matthew Poole, John Gill, the Geneva Study Bible, the Cambridge Bible, the Pulpit Commentary, Keil & Delitzsch, and Alexander Maclaren. Maclaren's two-part exposition ("The Decalogue: I — Man and God" on vv. 1–11, "II — Man and Man" on vv. 12–21) is the spine of this unit's reading. Spurgeon's Treasury of David is a Psalms work and so is not represented here; on a Pentateuch unit the diversity is supplied by the commentators above.
Two honesty notes specific to this unit. (1) The angelic-mediation question (v. 1): the New Testament thrice says the law came "by" or "through" angels (Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 2:2), while Exodus and Deuteronomy say God Himself spoke "face to face." The commentators resolve this variously — Barnes by God's essential presence in His agents, the Pulpit Commentary by identifying the Speaker as God the Son, Keil by denying finite-spirit mediation altogether. The synthesis does not adjudicate; it reports the range. (2) Numbering and division of the commandments: Scripture nowhere states how the Ten Words are divided or allotted to the two tablets (Barnes, Keil). This synthesis follows the common Reformed/Eastern enumeration (the prohibition of images as the second command, one command against coveting) but the Roman/Lutheran and the later Jewish schemes differ; the division is not itself revealed. The Hebrew text is the Masoretic tradition; transliterations, parsings, literal renderings, and the divergence notes are this tool's own work (⚙) — careful but fallible. The cross-references to Matthew 5 and Ephesians 6 are cross-Testament and so are tiered structural/thematic, never verbal, since Greek and Hebrew share no Strong's numbers. (3) Two threads were deliberately under-claimed in this pass: the prophets' catalogue of broken commands (Jer 7:9; Hosea 4:2) is tiered structural/thematic, not verbal, because the verifier returns structural for each pair — the shared verbs are only moderately rare and the prophets recast rather than quote a fixed string; and the lone shared rare word linking Exodus 20:5 to Genesis 50:23 (shillêsh), which the verifier flags verbal, is held here as a thematic resonance only, since a single word with no borrowed phrase is not a citation. "Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." (Acts 17:11)
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)