Exodus 20

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¹Then 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 an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. ✦ ⁵You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, inflicting the punishment of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, ✦ ⁶but showing favor to thousands, to 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 leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. ✦ ⁸“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ✦ ⁹For six days you shall labor and do all your work, ✦ ¹⁰but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave or your female slave, or your cattle, or your resident who stays with you. ✦ ¹¹For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and everything that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day; for that reason the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. ✦ ¹²“Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged on the land which the Lord your God gives you. ✦ ¹³“You shall not murder. ✦ ¹⁴“You shall not commit adultery. ✦ ¹⁵“You shall not steal. ✦ ¹⁶“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. ✦ ¹⁷“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male slave, or his female slave, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” ✦ ¹⁸And all the people were watching and hearing the thunder and the lightning flashes, and the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it all, they trembled and stood at a distance. ✦ ¹⁹Then they said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but do not have God speak to us, or we will die!” ✦ ²⁰However, Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you will not sin.” ✦ ²¹So the people stood at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was. ✦ ²²Then the Lord said to Moses, “This is what you shall say to the sons of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. ✦ ²³You shall not make other gods besides Me; gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves. ✦ ²⁴You shall make an altar of earth for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause My name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you. ✦ ²⁵And if you make an altar of stone for Me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your chisel on it, you will profane it. ✦ ²⁶And you shall not go up by steps to My altar, so that your nakedness will not be exposed on it.’ ✦

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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