Exodus 20

Exodus 20 records the Decalogue — Hebrew the ten words עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים aseret hadevarim Hebrew ‘The ten words.’ The Hebrew title of the Decalogue at Exod 34:28, Deut 4:13, and Deut 10:4. The English ‘commandments’ translates the Hebrew dabar in its sense of authoritative-divine-word; the more literal ‘ten words’ is preserved in the Greek dekalogos (whence ‘Decalogue’). Standard commentaries note the structural significance: the chapter's introduction (20:1 ‘And God spake all these words’) uses dabar (the plural devarim), not mitzvah (commandment). The chapter is presenting authoritative divine speech, not a code of commands in the legal-collection sense. — given in the Sinai theophany’s thunder, the LORD speaking from the mount directly to the people, in the chapter that is among the OT’s most theologically and culturally consequential. The chapter has three movements: the prologue and commandments (20:1-17), the people’s response and Moses’ mediation (20:18-21), and the altar-instruction that opens the Book of the Covenant (20:22-26).

The prologue and the commandments (20:1-17). The chapter opens with the announcement formula: “And God spake all these words, saying.” The use of dabar (word) rather than mitzvah (commandment) at the introduction is the chapter’s structural-theological signal: this is divine speech in the most direct possible sense, the LORD speaking to the assembled people without mediation. The covenant-prologue follows: “I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” Standard commentaries note the structural-theological significance: the LORD’s right to command is grounded in His having already delivered. The commandments are not the price of deliverance; they are the proper response to deliverance already received. The ANE suzerainty-treaty parallel is widely noted: ANE suzerain-vassal treaties typically open with a prologue recalling the suzerain’s prior beneficence before stipulating vassal obligations; the Decalogue’s structure follows the same pattern.

The commandments themselves, in the Reformed / Orthodox / most-Protestant numbering that mainstream LDS publications follow:

1. No other gods before me (20:3). The first command both negates polytheism and demands exclusive covenant-loyalty to YHWH.

2. No graven image (20:4-6). The prohibition extends to all created likenesses (heaven, earth, water); the commandment is enforced with one of the OT’s most-discussed clauses — visiting iniquity to the third and fourth generation, showing mercy unto thousands.

3. Do not take the name in vain (20:7). The verb shav (vain) covers both perjurious oaths and trivializing use; the LORD’s name is not to be deployed as instrument or ornament.

4. Remember the sabbath (20:8-11). The verb remember זָכַר zakhar Hebrew ‘Remember.’ The sabbath commandment uses zakhar (‘remember’); Deut 5:12's recapitulation uses shamar (‘keep’). The two verbs together generate the rabbinic principle that the sabbath is both to be remembered AND kept — the duality is preserved in synagogue practice where Friday-evening services emphasize zakhor (remembrance) and Saturday-morning emphasizes shamor (keeping). Exod 20 grounds the sabbath in creation (‘for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth’); Deut 5 grounds it in the deliverance (‘remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt’). The two groundings together establish the sabbath as both creation-ordinance and deliverance-memorial. grounds the commandment in the creation pattern (“in six days the LORD made heaven and earth”). The practice was established at Exodus 16:22–30↗ by the manna-economy four chapters before this codification.

5. Honour father and mother (20:12). The first commandment of the second table; the only Decalogue commandment with an attached promise (“that thy days may be long”); Paul cites this at Ephesians 6:2–3↗.

6. Do not kill (20:13). The Hebrew ratsach designates personal homicide, not capital punishment or war (which are handled separately in the OT legal code).

7. Do not commit adultery (20:14). The Hebrew na’aph covers the marital-fidelity violation specifically.

8. Do not steal (20:15). The Hebrew ganav covers theft generally; the OT legal code’s specific provisions on restitution and on kidnapping (man-stealing) develop in Exod 21-23.

9. Do not bear false witness (20:16). The Hebrew anah be-re’akha ed shaqer names the specific juridical-perjury violation; the broader prohibition on lying is in the wisdom literature.

10. Do not covet (20:17). The verb covet חָמַד chamad Hebrew ‘To desire, take pleasure in, covet.’ The verb covers both the inner desire and (in some constructions) the active reach toward what is forbidden. The commandment is the Decalogue's only command directed at internal disposition rather than external action — the structural signal that the covenant law engages the heart, not only the body. Paul at Rom 7:7-8 names this commandment as the one that brought him under conviction (‘I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet’); Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:21-30) extends the principle of internal-disposition accountability to the whole Decalogue. covers internal desire; the commandment is the Decalogue’s only command directed explicitly at internal disposition rather than external action.

The numbering differs across traditions. Jewish tradition treats the prologue itself (20:2) as the FIRST commandment; Catholic / Lutheran tradition combines no-other-gods and no-graven-image into the first commandment but splits coveting (20:17) into two; the Reformed / Orthodox / most-Protestant tradition (followed by most LDS publications) treats no-other-gods and no-graven-image as the first and second commandments and the entire covet prohibition as the tenth. All three traditions yield exactly ten enumerated commandments by different partitioning of the same Hebrew text.

The people’s response and Moses’ mediation (20:18-21). The chapter’s transition records the people’s terror: they “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.” Their request to Moses is one of the OT’s most consequential single sentences: “Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.” The covenant relationship’s mediated-character is established at the people’s own request. Moses’ answer is one of the chapter’s most theologically dense single statements: “Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.” The fear-of-the-LORD that the chapter installs at the covenant’s threshold is not paralyzing terror but the orienting-reverence that prevents sin.

The chapter then records the picture that the rest of the Sinai narrative will work out: “the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.” The mediator pattern formally installed at the burning bush is now operative in its covenant form: Moses ascends into the LORD’s presence on behalf of the people who cannot directly bear it. Hebrews 12:18–21↗ (already covered at Exod 19) describes precisely this scene to contrast it with the believers’ approach to the heavenly Mount Zion.

The altar-instruction (20:22-26). The chapter closes with the LORD’s first specifications for Israelite worship. No gods of silver or gold are to be made. The altar is to be of earth, on which burnt offerings and peace offerings, sheep and oxen, are to be sacrificed; “in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee.” If made of stone, the altar must not be of hewn stone — the human tool would pollute it. The altar must not have steps, lest the priest’s nakedness be exposed. The instructions are spare but significant: they establish the principle that human craftsmanship is not to assert itself in the place where the LORD’s name is recorded. The altar-instruction is the first paragraph of what scholars call the Book of the Covenant (Exod 20:22-23:33), which the next chapters will develop into the detailed civil-and-ritual law of the Sinai covenant.