Chapter Overview
Summary
Exodus 20 is the Decalogue — the Ten Words — delivered from Sinai. Every one of the Ten is cited somewhere in the New Testament, and the citations consistently follow the LXX's Greek wording. The most significant LXX-specific feature of the chapter is the manuscript tradition's variation in the order of the middle commandments (murder, adultery, theft): Philo, Paul at Romans 13:9 (though not all witnesses), and some LXX manuscripts put adultery first, while the standard Rahlfs LXX and the MT have murder first. The LXX also harmonizes with Deuteronomy 5 in several places, creating a consistent Decalogue-text tradition.
Notable Variants
The ordering of commandments 6–8 (LXX Codex Vaticanus: adultery-theft-murder; standard: murder-adultery-theft); Ephesians 6:2–3's verbatim citation of the fifth commandment at 20:12; Romans 13:9's composite LXX citation of commandments 7, 6, 8, 10 with the 'and any other commandment' summary; the LXX's specific Sabbath-rationale at 20:11 vs Deuteronomy 5's slavery-rationale; the anthropomorphic shift at 20:5's 'jealous God' rendered with the same LXX vocabulary carried into NT jealousy-of-God theology (2 Cor 11:2, Jas 4:5).
Structural Notes
LXX Exodus 20 preserves MT's 23-verse structure. The Decalogue proper runs 20:1–17; the altar-law that follows (20:22–26 in some enumerations, 20:19–26 here) uses slightly different verse numbering across traditions.
God spoke all these words, saying,
The introductory formula 'God spoke all these words' tracks MT. The 'all' (pantas) signals the totality of the Decalogue as a single divine speech-act — not ten separate sayings.
"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery' (egō eimi kyrios ho theos sou) — the Decalogue's self-identification formula. The egō eimi formula of John's Gospel (John 8:24, 28, 58, 18:5–6) draws on this LXX self-identification.
You must not have any other gods besides Me.
The first commandment 'you shall not have other gods besides me' (plēn emou) tracks MT. The 'beside/except me' (plēn emou) is the LXX's vocabulary preserved at 1 Corinthians 8:4 ('there is no God but one').
You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
The prohibition of images and likenesses tracks MT. LXX's eidōlon ('idol, image') supplies the NT's standard anti-idolatry vocabulary (1 Cor 10:14, 1 John 5:21).
You 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,
Masoretic (WLC)
אֵל קַנָּא פֹּקֵד עֲוֺן אָבֹת עַל־בָּנִים
a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children
Septuagint (LXX)
θεὸς ζηλωτὴς ἀποδιδοὺς ἁμαρτίας πατέρων ἐπὶ τέκνα
a jealous God, paying back sins of fathers upon children
Hebrew qanna ('jealous') is rendered zēlōtēs ('zealous, jealous one') — the same root as zēlos ('zeal'). The 'zealous/jealous God' language carries into 2 Corinthians 11:2 ('I am jealous for you with a divine jealousy,' theou zēlō), James 4:5 ('the spirit he made to dwell in us yearns jealously'), and Acts 22:3 (Paul self-describes as zēlōtēs theou).
The 'visiting iniquity to the third and fourth generation' formulation is among the OT's most troubling divine-justice statements. Ezekiel 18 and Jeremiah 31:29–30 critically engage it. The LXX preserves the formulation intact.
but showing faithful love to thousands of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
'Showing faithful love to thousands' (poiōn eleos eis chiliadas) tracks MT. The asymmetry between 3–4 generations of judgment and 1,000 generations of mercy is preserved — a theological datum that NT theology (Rom 5:20 'where sin increased, grace abounded all the more') develops further.
You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold guiltless anyone who takes His name in vain.
The third commandment on divine-name use tracks MT. The LXX's epi mataiō ('in vain, for nothing') is the same word-field as the 'vanities of the gentiles' (Acts 14:15 apo toutōn tōn mataiōn) — the tie between misusing God's name and idolatry.
Keep the Sabbath day in remembrance and set it apart as holy.
The Sabbath commandment's 'remember' verb tracks MT. MT Exodus reads zakhor ('remember'); Deuteronomy 5:12 reads shamor ('keep'). Jewish tradition harmonizes: 'remember and keep were spoken in one utterance' (Mekhilta).
Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
The six-days-of-labor frame tracks MT. This framing underlies the NT's week-structure assumptions (John 5:17 Jesus' Sabbath theology, Heb 4:9–11 Sabbath-rest typology).
but 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.
The Sabbath's extension to children, servants, animals, and sojourners tracks MT. The inclusiveness of the Sabbath prohibition — reaching outside Israel to sojourners and animals — became the basis for Jewish humanitarian halakhah and for Christian reflection on universal rest (Matt 11:28–30).
For 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.
The creation-rationale for Sabbath ('for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth') tracks MT. Deuteronomy 5:15 gives a different rationale (slavery-in-Egypt deliverance); both are preserved in LXX. Hebrews 4:4 cites LXX Genesis 2:2 ('God rested on the seventh day') — the backing of both Decalogue Sabbath and the NT Sabbath-rest theology.
Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
Masoretic (WLC)
כַּבֵּד אֶת־אָבִיךָ וְאֶת־אִמֶּךָ לְמַעַן יַאֲרִכוּן יָמֶיךָ עַל הָאֲדָמָה
Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land
Septuagint (LXX)
τίμα τὸν πατέρα σου καὶ τὴν μητέρα ἵνα εὖ σοι γένηται καὶ ἵνα μακροχρόνιος γένῃ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς
Honor your father and your mother, that it may be well with you and that you may be long-lived on the earth
Ephesians 6:2–3 quotes this verse explicitly as 'the first commandment with a promise': 'Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise), that it may go well with you and that you may live long on the earth.'
Paul's citation matches the LXX exactly — hina eu soi genētai kai hina makrochronios genē — not the MT, which lacks the 'that it may go well with you' clause. The LXX's expanded form (matching Deut 5:16 LXX) is what Paul cites.
This is a clear case where an NT quotation depends on a LXX plus absent from MT. Ephesians' whole household-code argument rests on LXX-Exodus 20:12.
You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Masoretic (WLC)
לֹא תִּרְצָח׃ לֹא תִּנְאָף׃ לֹא תִּגְנֹב׃ לֹא־תַעֲנֶה בְרֵעֲךָ עֵד שָׁקֶר
You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
Septuagint (LXX)
οὐ φονεύσεις οὐ μοιχεύσεις οὐ κλέψεις οὐ ψευδομαρτυρήσεις κατὰ τοῦ πλησίον σου μαρτυρίαν ψευδῆ
You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
LXX manuscript tradition varies on the order of the middle commandments (6–8). Codex Vaticanus reads: adultery, theft, murder (ou moicheuseis, ou klepseis, ou phoneuseis). Codex Alexandrinus and most modern LXX editions: adultery, murder, theft. Rahlfs' critical edition: murder, adultery, theft (matching MT).
Romans 13:9 follows the Vaticanus order: 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet.' Luke 18:20 and James 2:11 follow the adultery-first order. Matthew 19:18 follows the murder-first order.
The split NT citation-tradition reflects the live textual variation in 1st-century LXX manuscripts. Both Jesus and Paul cite 'the Decalogue' in forms that track specific LXX manuscript families.
Jesus' intensification of these commandments (Matt 5:21–22, 5:27–28) treats them as LXX-quoted texts: 'you have heard it was said … but I say to you.' The LXX is the textual substrate of the Sermon on the Mount.
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 belongs to your neighbor."
Masoretic (WLC)
לֹא תַחְמֹד בֵּית רֵעֶךָ
You shall not covet your neighbor's house
Septuagint (LXX)
οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις τὸν οἶκον τοῦ πλησίον σου
You shall not desire your neighbor's house
Hebrew chamad ('covet, desire, delight in') is rendered epithymeō — the same verb used throughout the NT for sinful desire. Romans 7:7 ("for I would not have known what coveting really is if the law had not said, 'do not covet'") cites this LXX-Exodus formulation as Paul's hermeneutical pivot on sin and law.
1 Corinthians 10:6 ('these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil things as they did,' mē einai hēmas epithymētas kakōn) also draws on this LXX Decalogue epithym- vocabulary.
Matthew 5:27–28 (Jesus: 'whoever looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart') uses the same epithym- root, intensifying the adultery commandment to coverage of desire.
Paul's whole flesh-vs-Spirit theology (Gal 5:16–17, Rom 8:5–8) depends on the epithym- vocabulary that LXX-Exodus 20:14 established.
All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance.
The people's response to the theophanic phenomena (thunder, lightning, trumpet, smoking mountain) tracks MT. Hebrews 12:18 cites the scene: 'a blazing fire, darkness, gloom, storm.'
They said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die."
The people's request for Moses as mediator — 'do not let God speak to us, or we will die' — tracks MT. Hebrews 12:21 cites this: "so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, 'I am trembling with fear.'" The mediator-of-the-old-covenant theme (Gal 3:19, 1 Tim 2:5, Heb 8:6) begins here.
Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that the fear of Him may be before you, that you may not sin."
Moses' reassurance and the testing-fear theology tracks MT. 'That the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin' establishes the canonical wisdom-formula: fear of the LORD preserves from sin (Prov 16:6).
The people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
Moses' approach to the 'thick darkness where God was' tracks MT. The gnophos ('thick darkness') is the standard LXX theophanic term that Hebrews 12:18 cites explicitly.
The LORD said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel: 'You yourselves have seen that I have spoken with you from heaven.
'Spoken with you from heaven' (ek tou ouranou) tracks MT. Divine-speech-from-heaven becomes the NT's motif for Jesus' baptism voice, the Transfiguration voice, and the Damascus-road voice (Acts 9:4).
You shall not make gods of silver alongside Me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold.
The renewal of the idol prohibition tracks MT. 'Gods of silver' and 'gods of gold' recurs in the golden-calf narrative of chapter 32 — the immediate violation of this fresh command.
An altar of earth you shall make 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.
The altar-of-earth command tracks MT. 'In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you' (en panti topō) anticipates the temple-transcendence language of John 4:21 and 1 Corinthians 10:25–26.
If you make for Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your chisel on it, you profane it.
The prohibition of cut-stone altars tracks MT. The 'uncut stones' requirement (no iron tool) preserves ancient altar-construction constraints that Joshua 8:30–31 narratively enacts.
You shall not go up by steps to My altar, so that your nakedness is not exposed on it."
The prohibition of step-altars (for modesty) tracks MT. The cultic-modesty emphasis continues into Numbers' priestly regulations.