The Ten Commandments appear in Exodus 20:1-17, and again with small differences in Deuteronomy 5:6-21. God speaks them at Mount Sinai to Israel, a people he has just brought out of slavery in Egypt. The list runs from having no other gods to not coveting what belongs to your neighbor. Christians agree on the words but count them in two main ways, so one command can carry a different number in different churches.
In short
The list sits in Exodus 20:3-17, after God introduces himself in verse 2 as the one who brought Israel out of Egypt.
The commands come to people God has already rescued. They describe life with him, not the price of getting free.
Most Protestant and Orthodox churches count the ban on carved images as its own command. Catholic and Lutheran churches join it to the first and split the coveting command in two.
Jesus sums up the law as love for God and love for neighbor in Matthew 22:37-40.
What is the Ten Commandments list in Exodus 20?
Verse 1 says God spoke all these words, and verse 2 tells you who is speaking before any command appears. Read the whole passage once before you think about numbers.
1And God spoke all these words, saying,
2“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
3“You shall have no other gods before me.
4“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.
5You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
6but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7“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“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep 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 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 sojourner who is within your gates.
11For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the 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“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
13“You shall not murder.
14“You shall not commit adultery.
15“You shall not steal.
16“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you 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.”
Here is the list in the order most Protestant Bibles use. Each line points to its verse, so you can check it against the text above.
| No. | Commandment | Verse |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Have no other gods before the LORD | Exodus 20:3 |
| 2 | Make no carved image to bow down to | Exodus 20:4-6 |
| 3 | Do not misuse the LORD's name | Exodus 20:7 |
| 4 | Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy | Exodus 20:8-11 |
| 5 | Honor your father and mother | Exodus 20:12 |
| 6 | Do not murder | Exodus 20:13 |
| 7 | Do not commit adultery | Exodus 20:14 |
| 8 | Do not steal | Exodus 20:15 |
| 9 | Do not bear false witness | Exodus 20:16 |
| 10 | Do not covet | Exodus 20:17 |
The common Protestant numbering of Exodus 20:3-17, paraphrased
The number ten comes from the Bible itself. Exodus 34:28 and Deuteronomy 4:13 both use a Hebrew phrase that means ten words. That is why you may hear the name Decalogue, from the Greek for ten words. But the text never numbers them one by one, and that gap explains the differences below.
Why does the list start with a rescue from Egypt?
Verse 2 comes before verse 3. Before God asks anything, he names what he has already done: he brought them out of the house of slavery. Israel does not keep these commands in order to go free. They are already free.
Chapter 19 sets the scene. Israel camps at Sinai in the third month after leaving Egypt (Exodus 19:1). In Exodus 19:4-6, God reminds them that he carried them out like an eagle carries its young. Only then does he invite them to obey his voice and keep his covenant. A covenant is a binding relationship with promises on both sides. The commands show what it looks like to live as his people.
That order can keep you from reading the list as a ladder to climb. Christians explain how law and grace fit together in different ways, but the passage starts with rescue. For a New Testament passage that sets grace and works side by side, see Ephesians 2:8-9 in context.
Why do Christians number the commandments differently?
The text names ten but does not mark where each one ends. So traditions draw the lines in different places. Every tradition keeps every word of the passage.
| Exodus 20 | Reformed, Orthodox, most Protestants | Catholic and Lutheran |
|---|---|---|
| Verse 3, no other gods | 1 | 1 |
| Verses 4-6, no carved images | 2 | part of 1 |
| Verse 7, the LORD's name | 3 | 2 |
| Verses 8-11, the Sabbath | 4 | 3 |
| Verse 12, father and mother | 5 | 4 |
| Verses 13-16, murder to false witness | 6 to 9 | 5 to 8 |
| Verse 17, coveting | 10 | 9 and 10 |
Two common ways to number the same verses
The first group treats the ban on images as its own command. The second follows a division that traditionally goes back to Augustine. It reads images as part of the first command about other gods, then splits verse 17 in two to keep the count at ten.
Even that second group varies. Catholic teaching usually follows Deuteronomy 5:21, where the neighbor's wife comes before the house. Luther's Small Catechism keeps the Exodus order, so its ninth names the house and its tenth covers the wife, servants, and animals.
What does each commandment ask?
The first commands center on God. Have no rival god (verse 3). Make no image to bow down to and serve (verses 4 to 6). Do not use his name in vain (verse 7), as if the God who saved them were empty words. Keep the Sabbath (verses 8 to 11), a rest that reaches children, servants, animals, and the foreigner in town. Verse 11 roots it in creation, and Deuteronomy 5:15 adds the memory of slavery in Egypt. Christians differ here: some keep Saturday, many treat Sunday as the Lord's Day, and others see the command fulfilled in Christ.
The rest turn to the people around you. Honor your parents (verse 12), a command that carries a promise of long days in the land. Then four short commands guard life, marriage, property, and a person's good name (verses 13 to 16). False witness points first to lying testimony against a neighbor, though many readers apply it to lies more broadly.
Verse 17 moves from actions to desire. You can break it without anyone seeing, because coveting happens inside you. The list ends where the other commands begin: in what a person wants.
How do the commandments read alongside the New Testament?
When someone asks Jesus for the great commandment, he names love for God with all your heart, soul, and mind, then love for your neighbor (Matthew 22:37-40). Those two lines map roughly onto the two halves of the list. Paul makes a similar move in Romans 13:8-10, where he says love for your neighbor fulfills the law. That does not erase the specific commands. It shows what they aim at.
For a picture of that love in daily life, see what love is patient, love is kind means. For the character Paul hopes the Spirit grows in a person, read the fruit of the Spirit explained.
Christians hold different views on how the law of Moses applies today. Wherever you land, start with the text. Read Exodus 19 and 20 together, then Deuteronomy 5, and note where they match and where they differ.