Exodus 20

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¹And God spake all these words, saying, ✦ ²I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. ✦ ³Thou shalt have no other gods before me. ✦ ⁴Thou 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: ✦ ⁵Thou 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; ✦ ⁶And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. ✦ ⁷Thou 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. ✦ ⁸Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. ✦ ⁹Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: ✦ ¹⁰But 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: ✦ ¹¹For 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. ✦ ¹²Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. ✦ ¹³Thou shalt not kill. ✦ ¹⁴Thou shalt not commit adultery. ✦ ¹⁵Thou shalt not steal. ✦ ¹⁶Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. ✦ ¹⁷Thou 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. ✦ ¹⁸And 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. ✦ ¹⁹And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. ✦ ²⁰And 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. ✦ ²¹And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. ✦ ²²And 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. ✦ ²³Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. ✦ ²⁴An 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. ✦ ²⁵And 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. ✦ ²⁶Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

In this chapter

Person / place Moses

Where this chapter connects

Deut 5 ·17 Lev 19 ·12 Deut 4 ·10 Lev 26 ·7 Exod 23 ·6 Exod 21 ·6 Exod 34 ·5 Prov 1 ·5

Christ at the center

The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.

How Exodus 20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereDocumentaryExpedition BibleJoel Kramer · Free · evangelical
On-location biblical archaeology from a credentialed archaeologist (M.A., excavated in Israel) — the best free place to start on "did it really happen?"
★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
VideoSpoken GospelSpoken Gospel · Free · evangelical
Short, gospel-centered videos and spoken-word poems showing how each passage points to Jesus — especially strong on the Old Testament.
DocumentaryPatterns of Evidence: The ExodusTim Mahoney · Paid · evangelical
Investigates the archaeological evidence for the Exodus. Note: it advances a minority biblical chronology that mainstream scholars dispute — engaging, but weigh its conclusions critically.

Pastoral

★ Start hereCommentaryExodus (New American Commentary)Douglas K. Stuart · Paid · evangelical
The best evangelical, semi-technical commentary on Exodus — accessible to pastors and serious students.
DocumentaryThat the World May KnowRay Vander Laan · Paid · evangelical
Ray Vander Laan's on-location series immersing you in the Bible's historical and cultural world. (Mostly paid via Focus on the Family; some free clips.)
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Exodus videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Exodus 20YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Exodus 20David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on ExodusMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Exodus 20Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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