King James Version
Exodus 20
26 verses with commentary
The Ten Commandments
And God spake all these words, saying,
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And God spake all these words, saying,</strong><br><br>The simplicity is majestic—'God spake' (וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים, vayedabber Elohim). Not Moses' interpretation, not human philosophy, but direct divine speech. The name 'Elohim' (God) emphasizes transcendent power—the Creator addresses His creatures. 'All these words' (כָּל הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה, kol hadevarim ha'eleh) refers to the Decalog...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
XX.
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS.
(1) **God spake.**—It is distinctly stated in Deuteronomy that the Ten Commandments were spoken to “all the assembly of Israel,” by God, “out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice” (Deuteronomy 5:22). It was not till after their delivery that the people entreated to be spared further communications of so awful a character. H...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**32-36. Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations--**The mere fact of such a multitude being fed for forty years in the wilderness, where no food of any kind is to be obtained, will show the utter impossibility of their subsisting on a natural production of the kind and quantity as this tarfa-gum [see on Ex 16:13]; and, as if for the purpose of removing all such groundless speculations, ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 20
Chapter Outline
The preface to the ten commandments.(1-2)
The commandments of the first table.(3-11)
Of the second table.(12-17)
The fear of the people.(18-21)
Idolatry again forbidden.(22-26)
**Verses 1-2**
God speaks many ways to the children of men; by conscience, by providences, by his voice, to all which we ought carefully to attend; but he never spake...
Read full commentary →I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. bondage: Heb. servants
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.</strong><br><br>The Decalogue's preamble establishes relationship before requirements. 'I am YHWH' (אָנֹכִי יְהוָה, anokhi YHWH)—the covenant name revealed at the burning bush. God identifies Himself not abstractly but redemptively: 'which have brought thee out' (אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ, asher ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(2) **I am the Lord thy God.**—The binding nature of commands upon the conscience depends upon the authority of the person who issues them. That there might be no dispute as to what the authority was in the case of the Decalogue, God prefaced the commands themselves by this distinct statement. By whomsoever they were communicated (see the first Note on Exodus 20:1), they were the commands of Jehov...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**32-36. Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations--**The mere fact of such a multitude being fed for forty years in the wilderness, where no food of any kind is to be obtained, will show the utter impossibility of their subsisting on a natural production of the kind and quantity as this tarfa-gum [see on Ex 16:13]; and, as if for the purpose of removing all such groundless speculations, ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
Chapter 20
Chapter Outline
The preface to the ten commandments.(1-2)
The commandments of the first table.(3-11)
Of the second table.(12-17)
The fear of the people.(18-21)
Idolatry again forbidden.(22-26)
**Verses 1-2**
God speaks many ways to the children of men; by conscience, by providences, by his voice, to all which we ought carefully to attend; but he never spake...
Read full commentary →Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou shalt have no other gods before me.</strong><br><br>The first word is singular 'Thou' (לֹא יִהְיֶה־לְךָ, lo yihyeh lekha)—God addresses each Israelite personally. 'No other gods' acknowledges rival claimants exist but denies their legitimacy. 'Before me' (עַל־פָּנָי, al-panai) literally 'before my face' or 'in my presence'—since God is omnipresent, this means 'anywhere, ever.' The com...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(3) **Thou shalt have no other gods before me.**—Heb., *There shalt be to thee no other god before me. *The result is the same, whether we translate *Elohim *by “god” or “gods;” but the singular verb shows that the plural form of the name is a mere plural of dignity.
**Before me**—literally, *before my face—*means strictly, “side by side with me”—*i.e., *“in addition to me.” God does not suppose t...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-11**
The first four of the ten commandments, commonly called the FIRST table, tell our duty to God. It was fit that those should be put first, because man had a Maker to love, before he had a neighbour to love. It cannot be expected that he should be true to his brother, who is false to his God. The first commandment concerns the object of worship, JEHOVAH, and him only. The worship...
Read full commentary →Thou 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:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou 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:</strong><br><br>The second commandment prohibits 'graven images' (פֶסֶל, pesel)—carved idols—and 'likeness' (תְּמוּנָה, temunah)—any representation. The comprehensive scope ('heaven, earth, water') bans all visual de...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(4) **Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.**—The two main clauses of the second commandment are to be read together, so as to form one sentence: “Thou shalt not make to thee any graven image, &c., so as to worship it.” (See the explanation of Josephus, *Ant. Jud., *iii. 5, § 5: ‘Ο δεύτερος λóγος κελεύει μηδένος εἰκόνα ζώον ποιήσαντας προσκυνεῖν.) It was not until the days of Hebrew decl...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 17 Ex 17:1-7. The People Murmur for Water.
**1. the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin--**In the succinct annals of this book, those places only are selected for particular notice by the inspired historian, which were scenes memorable for their happy or painful interest in the history of the Israelites. A more detailed itinerary is given in the later books of Moses, a...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-11**
The first four of the ten commandments, commonly called the FIRST table, tell our duty to God. It was fit that those should be put first, because man had a Maker to love, before he had a neighbour to love. It cannot be expected that he should be true to his brother, who is false to his God. The first commandment concerns the object of worship, JEHOVAH, and him only. The worship...
Read full commentary →Thou 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;
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou 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;</strong><br><br>Two prohibited actions: 'bow down' (לֹא־תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה, lo-tishtachaveh) and 'serve' (לֹא תָעָבְדֵם, lo ta'ovdem)—worship in posture and practice. God's jealousy (קַ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(5) **Nor serve them.**—The idolatry of the ancient world was, practically, not a mere worship of celestial beings through material representations of them, but an actual culture of the images themselves, which were regarded as possessed of miraculous powers. “I myself,” says Arnobius, “not so very long ago, worshipped gods just taken out of the furnace, fresh from the anvil of the smith, ivory, p...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2-3. the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink, &c.--**The want of water was a privation, the severity of which we cannot estimate, and it was a great trial to the Israelites, but their conduct on this new occasion was outrageous; it amounted even to "a tempting of the Lord." It was an opposition to His minister, a distrust of His care, an indifference to His...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-11**
The first four of the ten commandments, commonly called the FIRST table, tell our duty to God. It was fit that those should be put first, because man had a Maker to love, before he had a neighbour to love. It cannot be expected that he should be true to his brother, who is false to his God. The first commandment concerns the object of worship, JEHOVAH, and him only. The worship...
Read full commentary →And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.</strong><br><br>The contrast is staggering: judgment to third/fourth generation, but mercy 'unto thousands' (לַאֲלָפִים, la'alafim)—thousands of generations or thousands of people, either way vastly exceeding judgment's scope. God's 'bent' is toward mercy, not wrath. 'Them that love me' (לְאֹהֲבַי, le'ohavai) ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(6) **Shewing mercy unto thousands.**—Rather, *to the thousandth generation, *as is distinctly expressed in Deuteronomy 7:9. God’s mercy infinitely transcends His righteous anger. Sin is visited on three, or at most four, generations. Righteousness is remembered, and advantages descendants, for ever.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**2-3. the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink, &c.--**The want of water was a privation, the severity of which we cannot estimate, and it was a great trial to the Israelites, but their conduct on this new occasion was outrageous; it amounted even to "a tempting of the Lord." It was an opposition to His minister, a distrust of His care, an indifference to His...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-11**
The first four of the ten commandments, commonly called the FIRST table, tell our duty to God. It was fit that those should be put first, because man had a Maker to love, before he had a neighbour to love. It cannot be expected that he should be true to his brother, who is false to his God. The first commandment concerns the object of worship, JEHOVAH, and him only. The worship...
Read full commentary →Thou 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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou 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.</strong><br><br>'Take in vain' (לֹא תִשָּׂא לַשָּׁוְא, lo tissa lashav) means 'carry for emptiness/falsehood'—using God's name flippantly, deceptively, or carelessly. This bans profanity, yes, but primarily perjury (swearing falsely by God's name) and hypocrisy (...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(7) **Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.**—The Hebrew is ambiguous, as is to some extent the English translation. Most modern critics regard the phrase used as forbidding *false *swearing only; but some think that it forbids also “profane” or “vain swearing.” Our Lord’s comment in the Sermon on the Mount favours the view that false swearing alone was actually forbidden by th...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**4. Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people?--**His language, instead of betraying any signs of resentment or vindictive imprecation on a people who had given him a cruel and unmerited treatment, was the expression of an anxious wish to know what was the best to be done in the circumstances (compare Mt 5:44; Ro 12:21).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-11**
The first four of the ten commandments, commonly called the FIRST table, tell our duty to God. It was fit that those should be put first, because man had a Maker to love, before he had a neighbour to love. It cannot be expected that he should be true to his brother, who is false to his God. The first commandment concerns the object of worship, JEHOVAH, and him only. The worship...
Read full commentary →Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.</strong><br><br>'Remember' (זָכוֹר, zakhor) implies forgetting's danger—sabbath-keeping requires intentional memory. The Sabbath principle predates Sinai (Genesis 2:2-3), but here becomes covenant requirement. 'Keep it holy' (לְקַדְּשׁוֹ, leqadesho) means set apart, sanctified—one day different from six. The Sabbath testifies to Creation (God rest...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(8) **Remember the sabbath day.**—It is pertinent to remark that this command is introduced differently from any other by the word “remember.” But we cannot, therefore, conclude that the Sabbath was a primitive institution, which the Israelites were bound to have held in perpetual remembrance, since the reference may be merely to the injunction recently given in connection with the gathering of th...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**5. the Lord said unto Moses, &c.--**not to smite the rebels, but the rock; not to bring a stream of blood from the breast of the offenders, but a stream of water from the granite cliffs. The cloud rested on a particular rock, just as the star rested on the house where the infant Saviour was lodged [Mt 2:9]. And from the rod-smitten rock there forthwith gushed a current of pure and refreshing...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-11**
The first four of the ten commandments, commonly called the FIRST table, tell our duty to God. It was fit that those should be put first, because man had a Maker to love, before he had a neighbour to love. It cannot be expected that he should be true to his brother, who is false to his God. The first commandment concerns the object of worship, JEHOVAH, and him only. The worship...
Read full commentary →Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:</strong><br><br>The Sabbath command begins with permission to work—'six days shalt thou labour' (שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תַּעֲבֹד, sheshet yamim ta'avod). Work isn't curse but calling; labor has dignity. The rhythm is six-then-one, work-then-rest, mirroring Creation's pattern. 'All thy work' (כָּל־מְלַאכְתֶּךָ, kol-melakhtekha) means complete your ta...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(9) **Six days shalt thou labour.**—The form is certainly imperative; and it has been held that the fourth commandment is “not limited to a mere enactment respecting one day, but prescribes the due distribution of a week, and *enforces the six days’ work as much as the seventh day’s rest*” (Garden in Smith’s *Dictionary of the Bible, *vol. iii., p. 1068). But the work on the six days is really rat...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-11**
The first four of the ten commandments, commonly called the FIRST table, tell our duty to God. It was fit that those should be put first, because man had a Maker to love, before he had a neighbour to love. It cannot be expected that he should be true to his brother, who is false to his God. The first commandment concerns the object of worship, JEHOVAH, and him only. The worship...
Read full commentary →But 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:
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>But 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:</strong><br><br>The Sabbath belongs to YHWH ('sabbath of YHWH thy God')—it's His day, His gift. The comprehensive list (you, son, daughter, servants, animals, strangers)...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(10) **But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God.**—Heb., *But the seventh day *(*shall be*) *a sabbath to the Lord thy God*—*i.e., *it shall be a day of holy rest from things worldly, and of devotion to things heavenly. (See Note 2 on Exodus 20:8.)
**In it thou shalt not do any work.**—This negative aspect of the Sabbath is further emphasised by particular prohibitions :—(1) The proh...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**7. called the name of the place--**Massah ("temptation"); Meribah ("chiding," "strife"): the same word which is rendered "provocation" (He 3:8).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-11**
The first four of the ten commandments, commonly called the FIRST table, tell our duty to God. It was fit that those should be put first, because man had a Maker to love, before he had a neighbour to love. It cannot be expected that he should be true to his brother, who is false to his God. The first commandment concerns the object of worship, JEHOVAH, and him only. The worship...
Read full commentary →For 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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>For 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.</strong><br><br>The Sabbath's foundation is Creation—God's pattern becomes humanity's rhythm. 'Made' (עָשָׂה, asah) recalls Genesis 1's 'created' (bara). 'Heaven and earth, sea, all' (שָׁמַיִם וְאֶת־הָאָרֶץ אֶת־הַיָּם, sh...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(11) **For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth.**—Comp. Genesis 2:2-3, and Exodus 31:17. It is not improbable that the work of creation was made to occupy six days because one day in seven is the appropriate proportion of rest to labour for such a being as man. God might have created all things on one day had He so pleased; but, having the institution of the Sabbath in view, He prefigured i...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
Ex 17:8-16. Attack of Amalek.
**8. Then came Amalek--**Some time probably elapsed before they were exposed to this new evil; and the presumption of there being such an interval affords the only ground on which we can satisfactorily account for the altered, the better, and former spirit that animated the people in this sudden contest. The miracles of the manna and the water from the rock had produ...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 3-11**
The first four of the ten commandments, commonly called the FIRST table, tell our duty to God. It was fit that those should be put first, because man had a Maker to love, before he had a neighbour to love. It cannot be expected that he should be true to his brother, who is false to his God. The first commandment concerns the object of worship, JEHOVAH, and him only. The worship...
Read full commentary →Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.</strong><br><br>The first command governing human relationships addresses family—society's foundation. 'Honour' (כַּבֵּד, kabbed) means 'give weight to,' treat with gravitas, respect. It's heavier than 'obey'—obedience is for children, but honor is lifelong. Adult children honor ag...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(12) **Honour thy father and thy mother.**—It is not a matter of much importance how we divide the commandments; nor is it historically certain how they were originally distributed between the two tables. But, practically, the view that the fifth commandment begins the second table, which lays down our duty towards our neighbours, is to be preferred for its convenience, though it trenches upon sym...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**9. Moses said unto Joshua--**or, "Jesus" (Ac 7:45; He 4:8). This is the earliest notice of a young warrior destined to act a prominent part in the history of Israel. He went with a number of picked men. There is not here a wide open plain on which the battle took place, as according to the rules of modern warfare. The Amalekites were a nomadic tribe, making an irregular attack on a multitude pro...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-17**
The laws of the SECOND table, that is, the last six of the ten commandments, state our duty to ourselves and to one another, and explain the great commandment, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, Lu 10:27. Godliness and honesty must go together. The fifth commandment concerns the duties we owe to our relations. Honour thy father and thy mother, includes esteem of them, s...
Read full commentary →Thou shalt not kill.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou shalt not kill.</strong><br><br>The Hebrew 'lo tirtzach' (לֹא תִרְצָח) specifically prohibits 'murder' (unlawful killing), not all killing—war, capital punishment, and self-defense aren't banned. The verb 'ratzach' denotes criminal homicide, taking innocent life. Since humans bear God's image (Genesis 9:6), murder assaults divine likeness. Jesus expands this to include hatred and cont...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(13) **Thou shalt not kill.**—From the peculiar duties owed by children to their parents, the Divine legislator went on to lay down those general duties which men owe to their fellow-men. And of these the first is that of respecting their life. The security of life is the primary object of government; and it has been well said that men originally coalesced into States with a view to self-preservat...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10-12. Moses ... went up ... the hill ... held up his hand--**with the wonder-working rod; Moses acted as the standard bearer of Israel, and also their intercessor, praying for success and victory to crown their arms--the earnestness of his feelings being conspicuously evinced amid the feebleness of nature.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-17**
The laws of the SECOND table, that is, the last six of the ten commandments, state our duty to ourselves and to one another, and explain the great commandment, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, Lu 10:27. Godliness and honesty must go together. The fifth commandment concerns the duties we owe to our relations. Honour thy father and thy mother, includes esteem of them, s...
Read full commentary →Thou shalt not commit adultery.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou shalt not commit adultery.</strong><br><br>'Lo tin'af' (לֹא תִנְאָף) prohibits sexual union outside marriage covenant—violating spouse's exclusive right to partner's body. Adultery breaks covenant, betrays trust, destroys families, confuses inheritance, and images Israel's spiritual adultery (idolatry). Prophets use marriage metaphor extensively (Hosea, Ezekiel 16, Jeremiah 3)—Israel'...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(14) **Thou shalt not commit adultery.**—Next to the duty of respecting a man’s life is placed that of respecting his domestic peace and honour. Adultery is an invasion of the household, a destruction of the bond which unites the family, a dissolution of that contract which is the main basis of social order. It was forbidden by all civilised communities, and in uncivilised ones frequently punished...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10-12. Moses ... went up ... the hill ... held up his hand--**with the wonder-working rod; Moses acted as the standard bearer of Israel, and also their intercessor, praying for success and victory to crown their arms--the earnestness of his feelings being conspicuously evinced amid the feebleness of nature.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-17**
The laws of the SECOND table, that is, the last six of the ten commandments, state our duty to ourselves and to one another, and explain the great commandment, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, Lu 10:27. Godliness and honesty must go together. The fifth commandment concerns the duties we owe to our relations. Honour thy father and thy mother, includes esteem of them, s...
Read full commentary →Thou shalt not steal.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou shalt not steal.</strong><br><br>'Lo tignov' (לֹא תִגְנֹב) prohibits taking what belongs to another—property rights are sacred. The command assumes private property is legitimate and God-ordained. Theft assaults God's distribution of resources and neighbor's stewardship. The eighth commandment encompasses fraud, embezzlement, wage-theft, failure to pay debts, and governmental confisca...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(15) **Thou shalt not steal.**—Our third duty towards our neighbour is to respect his right to his property. The framers of Utopias, both ancient and modern, have imagined communities in which private property should not exist. But such a condition of things has never yet been realised in practice. In the laws of all known States private property has been recognised, and social order has been, in ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**10-12. Moses ... went up ... the hill ... held up his hand--**with the wonder-working rod; Moses acted as the standard bearer of Israel, and also their intercessor, praying for success and victory to crown their arms--the earnestness of his feelings being conspicuously evinced amid the feebleness of nature.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-17**
The laws of the SECOND table, that is, the last six of the ten commandments, state our duty to ourselves and to one another, and explain the great commandment, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, Lu 10:27. Godliness and honesty must go together. The fifth commandment concerns the duties we owe to our relations. Honour thy father and thy mother, includes esteem of them, s...
Read full commentary →Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.</strong><br><br>'Lo ta'aneh' (לֹא תַעֲנֶה) means 'do not answer/testify.' 'False witness' (עֵד שָׁקֶר, ed shaqer) specifically addresses courtroom perjury, though applications extend to all lying. Truth-telling maintains justice—false testimony condemns the innocent and acquits the guilty. God values truth because He IS truth (John 1...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(16) **Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.**—Our fourth duty to our neighbour is not to injure his character. Our great poet has said—
“Who steals my purse, steals trash,
But he who filches from me my good name,
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
Yet leaves me poor indeed,”—
Thus indicating the fact that calumny may injure a man more than robbery. False witness is, of cou...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**13. Joshua discomfited Amalek--**Victory at length decided in favor of Israel, and the glory of the victory, by an act of national piety, was ascribed to God (compare 1Jo 5:4).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-17**
The laws of the SECOND table, that is, the last six of the ten commandments, state our duty to ourselves and to one another, and explain the great commandment, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, Lu 10:27. Godliness and honesty must go together. The fifth commandment concerns the duties we owe to our relations. Honour thy father and thy mother, includes esteem of them, s...
Read full commentary →Thou 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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Thou 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.</strong><br><br>The tenth command is internal—'lo tachmod' (לֹא תַחְמֹד, do not covet) addresses desire, not action. All previous commands concerned deeds; this penetrates the heart. 'Covet' means ino...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(17) **Thou shalt not covet.**—This command seems to have been added in order to teach the general principle that the Law of God is concerned, not with acts and words only, but with the thoughts of the heart. Rightly understood, the seventh and eighth commandments contain the tenth, which strikes at covetousness and lustful desire. (Comp. Matthew 5:27-28.) But ancient moralists did not usually rec...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14-16. Write this for a memorial--**If the bloody character of this statute seems to be at variance with the mild and merciful character of God, the reasons are to be sought in the deep and implacable vengeance they meditated against Israel (Psa 83:4).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 12-17**
The laws of the SECOND table, that is, the last six of the ten commandments, state our duty to ourselves and to one another, and explain the great commandment, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, Lu 10:27. Godliness and honesty must go together. The fifth commandment concerns the duties we owe to our relations. Honour thy father and thy mother, includes esteem of them, s...
Read full commentary →The People's Fear
And 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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And 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.</strong><br><br>Israel 'saw' (רֹאִים, ro'im) thunderings—synesthesia, senses overwhelmed. The phenomena (thunder, lightning, trumpet, smoke) terrify rather than attract. 'Removed and stood afar' (וַיָּנֻעוּ וַיַּעַ...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
AT THE PEOPLE’S REQUEST, MOSES BECOMES THEIR INTERMEDIARY.
(18-21) The delivery of the Ten Commandments by **a **voice manifestly superhuman impressed the people with an awful fear. They felt the near contact with God to be more than they could bear. Even Moses was so deeply moved that he exclaimed, “I exceedingly fear and quake” (Hebrews 12:21). The people were still more afraid, and felt compell...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14-16. Write this for a memorial--**If the bloody character of this statute seems to be at variance with the mild and merciful character of God, the reasons are to be sought in the deep and implacable vengeance they meditated against Israel (Psa 83:4).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 18-21**
This law, which is so extensive that we cannot measure it, so spiritual that we cannot evade it, and so reasonable that we cannot find fault with it, will be the rule of the future judgment of God, as it is for the present conduct of man. If tried by this rule, we shall find our lives have been passed in transgressions. And with this holy law and an awful judgment before us, w...
Read full commentary →And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die.</strong><br><br>Israel requests mediation—'speak thou...let not God speak' (דַּבֵּר־אַתָּה...וְאַל־יְדַבֵּר, dabber-attah ve'al-yedabber). They cannot endure direct divine speech; Moses must intermediate. This establishes mediation's necessity—people need a go-between to approach hol...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(19) **Speak thou with us.**—Comp. Deuteronomy 5:24-27, where the words of the people are reported at greater length :—“Behold, the Lord our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth. Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us: if we hear the vo...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**14-16. Write this for a memorial--**If the bloody character of this statute seems to be at variance with the mild and merciful character of God, the reasons are to be sought in the deep and implacable vengeance they meditated against Israel (Psa 83:4).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 18-21**
This law, which is so extensive that we cannot measure it, so spiritual that we cannot evade it, and so reasonable that we cannot find fault with it, will be the rule of the future judgment of God, as it is for the present conduct of man. If tried by this rule, we shall find our lives have been passed in transgressions. And with this holy law and an awful judgment before us, w...
Read full commentary →And 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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And 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.</strong><br><br>Moses says 'fear not' while urging 'that his fear may be before you'—paradoxical but profound. Don't fear annihilation (servile fear) but cultivate reverence (filial fear). God tests them (לְנַסּוֹת, lenassot)—not to discover their character (...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(20) **Moses said unto the people, Fear not.**—God approved the people’s proposal, and directed that they should withdraw to their tents (Deuteronomy 5:28-30). Moses then “drew near” to Him, and entered into “the thick darkness where God was” (Exodus 20:21). It is worthy of notice that the same manifestation which repelled the people attracted Moses.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 18-21**
This law, which is so extensive that we cannot measure it, so spiritual that we cannot evade it, and so reasonable that we cannot find fault with it, will be the rule of the future judgment of God, as it is for the present conduct of man. If tried by this rule, we shall find our lives have been passed in transgressions. And with this holy law and an awful judgment before us, w...
Read full commentary →And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.</strong><br><br>Spatial positioning dramatizes spiritual reality: people 'afar off' (מֵרָחֹק, merachok), Moses 'drew near' (נִגַּשׁ, niggash). The 'thick darkness' (הָעֲרָפֶל, ha'araphel) is where God dwells—cloud and darkness surround Him (Psalm 97:2). Moses alone penetrates the darkness; the people ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 18 Ex 18:1-27. Visit of Jethro.
**1-5. Jethro ... came ... unto Moses, &c.--**It is thought by many eminent commentators that this episode is inserted out of its chronological order, for it is described as occurring when the Israelites were "encamped at the mount of God." And yet they did not reach it till the third month after their departure from Egypt (Ex 19:1, 2; compare De 1:6, 9...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 18-21**
This law, which is so extensive that we cannot measure it, so spiritual that we cannot evade it, and so reasonable that we cannot find fault with it, will be the rule of the future judgment of God, as it is for the present conduct of man. If tried by this rule, we shall find our lives have been passed in transgressions. And with this holy law and an awful judgment before us, w...
Read full commentary →Laws About Altars
And 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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And 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.</strong><br><br>God emphasizes empirical verification—'ye have seen' (אַתֶּם רְאִיתֶם, atem re'item). Israel's faith isn't blind; it's grounded in witnessed theophany. They saw God speak 'from heaven' (מִן־הַשָּׁמַיִם, min-hashamayim)—not from idol, mountain,...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT.
(22-26) In the remainder of Exodus 20, and in the three chapters which follow, we have a series of laws delivered by God to Moses, immediately after the delivery of the Decalogue, which constituted the second stage of the revelation, and stood midway between the first great enunciation of abstract principles in the Ten Commandments and the ultimate minute and complicated ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 18 Ex 18:1-27. Visit of Jethro.
**1-5. Jethro ... came ... unto Moses, &c.--**It is thought by many eminent commentators that this episode is inserted out of its chronological order, for it is described as occurring when the Israelites were "encamped at the mount of God." And yet they did not reach it till the third month after their departure from Egypt (Ex 19:1, 2; compare De 1:6, 9...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-26**
Moses having entered into the thick darkness, God there spake in his hearing all that follows from hence to the end of chap. 23, which is mostly an exposition of the ten commandments. The laws in these verses relate to God's worship. The Israelites are assured of God's gracious acceptance of their devotions. Under the gospel, men are encouraged to pray every where, and whereve...
Read full commentary →Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold.</strong><br><br>The irony is thick—Israel will violate this within weeks (golden calf, Exodus 32). 'Make with me' (לֹא תַעֲשׂוּן אִתִּי, lo ta'asun itti) means 'alongside me'—no supplementary deities. The prohibition specifies precious metals (silver, gold)—costly idols are still abominations. Wealth doe...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(23) **Ye shall not make with me gods of silver.**—The expression “make with me” is unusual, but does not seem to have any peculiar force. Gods of silver and gods of gold are specially forbidden, because it was to idolatry of this kind that the Israelites were specially inclined. The golden calf is no isolated phenomenon. Molten images of gods, generally of silver, sometimes of gold, were objects ...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 18 Ex 18:1-27. Visit of Jethro.
**1-5. Jethro ... came ... unto Moses, &c.--**It is thought by many eminent commentators that this episode is inserted out of its chronological order, for it is described as occurring when the Israelites were "encamped at the mount of God." And yet they did not reach it till the third month after their departure from Egypt (Ex 19:1, 2; compare De 1:6, 9...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-26**
Moses having entered into the thick darkness, God there spake in his hearing all that follows from hence to the end of chap. 23, which is mostly an exposition of the ten commandments. The laws in these verses relate to God's worship. The Israelites are assured of God's gracious acceptance of their devotions. Under the gospel, men are encouraged to pray every where, and whereve...
Read full commentary →An 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.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>An 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.</strong><br><br>God prescribes simple worship—earth altars, not elaborate structures. 'Altar of earth' (מִזְבַּח אֲדָמָה, mizbeach adamah) emphasizes humility and ac...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(24) **An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me.**—The earliest altars were, naturally, either of earth, or of unhewn stones, gathered into a heap, since these could be constructed with little labour, and without tools. But, as civilisation advanced, more elaborate structures took the place of the primitive ones. It became usual to erect altars of hewn stone, adorned with carvings more or less ri...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 18 Ex 18:1-27. Visit of Jethro.
**1-5. Jethro ... came ... unto Moses, &c.--**It is thought by many eminent commentators that this episode is inserted out of its chronological order, for it is described as occurring when the Israelites were "encamped at the mount of God." And yet they did not reach it till the third month after their departure from Egypt (Ex 19:1, 2; compare De 1:6, 9...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-26**
Moses having entered into the thick darkness, God there spake in his hearing all that follows from hence to the end of chap. 23, which is mostly an exposition of the ten commandments. The laws in these verses relate to God's worship. The Israelites are assured of God's gracious acceptance of their devotions. Under the gospel, men are encouraged to pray every where, and whereve...
Read full commentary →And 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. build: Heb. build them with hewing
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>And 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.</strong><br><br>Even stone altars must be unhewn (לֹא־תִבְנֶה אֶתְהֶן גָּזִית, lo-tivneh ethen gazit)—natural stones, untouched by human tools. Why? 'Lift up thy tool...polluted it' (הֵנַפְתָּ חַרְבְּךָ עָלֶיהָ וַתְּחַלְלֶהָ, henafta charbeka aleha...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(25) **If thou wilt make me an altar of stone.**—Among civilised nations altars were almost always of stone, which superseded earth, as more durable. God does not absolutely prohibit the employment of stone altars by the Israelites, who are found to use them upon certain occasions (Joshua 8:31; 1Kings 18:32). He is content to forbid the shaping of the stones by an implement, that so they may not g...
Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
CHAPTER 18 Ex 18:1-27. Visit of Jethro.
**1-5. Jethro ... came ... unto Moses, &c.--**It is thought by many eminent commentators that this episode is inserted out of its chronological order, for it is described as occurring when the Israelites were "encamped at the mount of God." And yet they did not reach it till the third month after their departure from Egypt (Ex 19:1, 2; compare De 1:6, 9...
Read full commentary →Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-26**
Moses having entered into the thick darkness, God there spake in his hearing all that follows from hence to the end of chap. 23, which is mostly an exposition of the ten commandments. The laws in these verses relate to God's worship. The Israelites are assured of God's gracious acceptance of their devotions. Under the gospel, men are encouraged to pray every where, and whereve...
Read full commentary →Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.
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KJV Study Commentary
<strong>Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.</strong><br><br>Stairs are prohibited lest 'nakedness be discovered' (לֹא־תַעֲלֶה בְמַעֲלֹת עַל־מִזְבְּחִי אֲשֶׁר לֹא־תִגָּלֶה עֶרְוָתְךָ עָלָיו, lo-ta'aleh vema'alot al-mizbechi asher lo-tigaleh ervatekha alav). Ancient Near Eastern garments (robes without undergarments) would expose priests c...
Read full commentary →Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
(26) **Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar.**—When the dress of the priests had been so arranged that no exposure of the person was possible (verses 42, 43), this precept became unnecessary. Thus it would seem that Solomon’s altar had steps. (Compare 2Chronicles 4:1 with Ezekiel 43:17.)
**Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
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Read full commentary →Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
**6. and thy wife, and her two sons--**See Ex 4:20.
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
**Verses 22-26**
Moses having entered into the thick darkness, God there spake in his hearing all that follows from hence to the end of chap. 23, which is mostly an exposition of the ten commandments. The laws in these verses relate to God's worship. The Israelites are assured of God's gracious acceptance of their devotions. Under the gospel, men are encouraged to pray every where, and whereve...
Read full commentary →