The Ten Commandments
The section opens by naming these commands as God's own words and by grounding them in His deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt.
A1nd God spoke all these words: 2“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
God forbids rival gods and every carved form for worship, insisting on exclusive devotion to Him. His jealousy answers hatred with judgment across generations and answers love with enduring covenant mercy.
3You shall have no other gods before Me. 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. 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, 6but showing loving devotion to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
God guards His name from misuse and sets apart the Sabbath as holy time. Israel's week is ordered by His pattern of creation, with rest extending through the whole household and community.
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. 8Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 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. 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.
The commands turn toward human life together: parents are to be honored, and murder, adultery, theft, false witness, and coveting are forbidden. Even desire is brought within the covenant's moral order.
12Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. 13You shall not murder. 14You shall not commit adultery. 15You shall not steal. 16You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 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.”