Exodus 20:12-17

20:12 “Honor ¹  your father and your mother, that you may live a long time ²  in the land ³  the Lord your God is giving to you.

20:13 “You shall not murder. ⁴ 

20:14 “You shall not commit adultery. ⁵ 

20:15 “You shall not steal. ⁶ 

20:16 “You shall not give ⁷  false testimony ⁸  against your neighbor.

20:17 “You shall not covet ⁹  your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.” ¹⁰ 

Deuteronomy 5:16-24

5:16 Honor ¹¹  your father and your mother just as the Lord your God has commanded you to do, so that your days may be extended and that it may go well with you in the land that he ¹²  is about to give you. 5:17 You must not murder. ¹³  5:18 You must not commit adultery. 5:19 You must not steal. 5:20 You must not offer false testimony against another. ¹⁴  5:21 You must not desire ¹⁵  another man’s ¹⁶  wife, nor should you crave his ¹⁷  house, his field, his male and female servants, his ox, his donkey, or anything else he owns.” ¹⁸ 

The Narrative of the Sinai Revelation and Israel’s Response

5:22 The Lord said these things to your entire assembly at the mountain from the middle of the fire, the cloud, and the darkness with a loud voice, and that was all he said. ¹⁹  Then he inscribed the words ²⁰  on two stone tablets and gave them to me. 5:23 Then, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness while the mountain was ablaze, all your tribal leaders and elders approached me. 5:24 You said, “The Lord our God has shown us his great glory ²¹  and we have heard him speak from the middle of the fire. It is now clear to us ²²  that God can speak to human beings and they can keep on living.

Romans 13:9

13:9 For the commandments, ²³  “Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet,” ²⁴  (and if there is any other commandment) are summed up in this, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁵ 

Galatians 5:14

5:14 For the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment, ²⁶  namely, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁷ 

James 2:11

2:11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” ²⁸  also said, “Do not murder.” ²⁹  Now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a violator of the law.

[20:12]  ¹ tn The verb כַּבֵּד (kabbed) is a Piel imperative; it calls for people to give their parents the respect and honor that is appropriate for them. It could be paraphrased to say, give them the weight of authority that they deserve. Next to God, parents were to be highly valued, cared for, and respected.

[20:12]  ² tn Heb “that your days may be long.”

[20:12]  ³ sn The promise here is national rather than individual, although it is certainly true that the blessing of life was promised for anyone who was obedient to God’s commands (Deut 4:1, 8:1, etc.). But as W. C. Kaiser (“Exodus,” EBC 2:424) summarizes, the land that was promised was the land of Canaan, and the duration of Israel in the land was to be based on morality and the fear of God as expressed in the home (Deut 4:26, 33, 40; 32:46-47). The captivity was in part caused by a breakdown in this area (Ezek 22:7, 15). Malachi would announce at the end of his book that Elijah would come at the end of the age to turn the hearts of the children and the parents toward each other again.

[20:13]  ⁴ tn The verb רָצַח (ratsakh) refers to the premeditated or accidental taking of the life of another human being; it includes any unauthorized killing (it is used for the punishment of a murderer, but that would not be included in the prohibition). This commandment teaches the sanctity of all human life. See J. H. Yoder, “Exodus 20,13: ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’,” Int 34 (1980): 394-99; and A. Phillips, “Another Look at Murder,” JJS 28 (1977): 105-26.

[20:14]  ⁵ sn This is a sin against the marriage of a fellow citizen – it destroys the home. The Law distinguished between adultery (which had a death penalty) and sexual contact with a young woman (which carried a monetary fine and usually marriage if the father was willing). So it distinguished fornication and adultery. Both were sins, but the significance of each was different. In the ancient world this sin is often referred to as “the great sin.”

[20:15]  ⁶ sn This law protected the property of the Israelite citizen. See D. Little, “Exodus 20,15: ‘Thou Shalt Not Steal’,” Int 34 (1980): 399-405.

[20:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “answer” as in a court of law.

[20:16]  ⁸ tn The expression עֵד שָׁקֶר (’ed shaqer) means “a lying witness” (B. S. Childs, Exodus [OTL], 388). In this verse the noun is an adverbial accusative, “you will not answer as a lying witness.” The prohibition is against perjury. While the precise reference would be to legal proceedings, the law probably had a broader application to lying about other people in general (see Lev 5:1; Hos 4:2).

[20:17]  ⁹ tn The verb חָמַד (khamad) focuses not on an external act but on an internal mental activity behind the act, the motivation for it. The word can be used in a very good sense (Ps 19:10; 68:16), but it has a bad connotation in contexts where the object desired is off limits. This command is aimed at curtailing the greedy desire for something belonging to a neighbor, a desire that leads to the taking of it or the attempt to take it. It was used in the story of the Garden of Eden for the tree that was desired.

[20:17]  ¹⁰ sn See further G. Wittenburg, “The Tenth Commandment in the Old Testament,” Journal for Theology in South Africa 21 (1978): 3-17: and E. W. Nicholson, “The Decalogue as the Direct Address of God,” VT 27 (1977): 422-33.

[5:16]  ¹¹ tn The imperative here means, literally, “regard as heavy” (כַּבֵּד, kabbed). The meaning is that great importance must be ascribed to parents by their children.

[5:16]  ¹² tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “He” in 5:3.

[5:17]  ¹³ tn Traditionally “kill” (so KJV, ASV, RSV, NAB). The verb here (רָצַח, ratsakh) is generic for homicide but in the OT both killing in war and capital punishment were permitted and even commanded (Deut 13:5, 9; 20:13, 16-17), so the technical meaning here is “murder.”

[5:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your neighbor.” Clearly this is intended generically, however, and not to be limited only to those persons who live nearby (frequently the way “neighbor” is understood in contemporary contexts). So also in v. 20.

[5:21]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew verb used here (חָמַד, khamad) is different from the one translated “crave” (אָוַה, ’avah) in the next line. The former has sexual overtones (“lust” or the like; cf. Song of Sol 2:3) whereas the latter has more the idea of a desire or craving for material things.

[5:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “your neighbor’s.” See note on the term “fellow man” in v. 19.

[5:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “your neighbor’s.” The pronoun is used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[5:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

[5:22]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and he added no more” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NLT “This was all he said at that time.”

[5:22]  ²⁰ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the words spoken by the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:24]  ²¹ tn Heb “his glory and his greatness.”

[5:24]  ²² tn Heb “this day we have seen.”

[13:9]  ²³ tn Grk “For the…” (with the word “commandments” supplied for clarity). The Greek article (“the”) is used here as a substantiver to introduce the commands that are quoted from the second half of the Decalogue (ExSyn 238).

[13:9]  ²⁴ sn A quotation from Exod 20:13-15, 17; Deut 5:17-19, 21.

[13:9]  ²⁵ sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.

[5:14]  ²⁶ tn Or “can be fulfilled in one commandment.”

[5:14]  ²⁷ sn A quotation from Lev 19:18.

[2:11]  ²⁸ sn A quotation from Exod 20:14 and Deut 5:18.

[2:11]  ²⁹ sn A quotation from Exod 20:13 and Deut 5:17.