The Ten Commandments (KJV)
The Ten Commandments as God spoke them at Mount Sinai, from Exodus 20:1-17 in the King James Version, set beside the second giving of the law in Deuteronomy 5:4-21 so the two accounts can be read against each other, commandment by commandment.
- 1.Have no other gods before meExodus 20:3 · Deuteronomy 5:7
- 2.Make no graven imageExodus 20:4-6 · Deuteronomy 5:8-10
- 3.Do not take the LORD's name in vainExodus 20:7 · Deuteronomy 5:11
- 4.Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holyExodus 20:8-11 · Deuteronomy 5:12-15
- 5.Honour thy father and thy motherExodus 20:12 · Deuteronomy 5:16
- 6.Thou shalt not killExodus 20:13 · Deuteronomy 5:17
- 7.Thou shalt not commit adulteryExodus 20:14 · Deuteronomy 5:18
- 8.Thou shalt not stealExodus 20:15 · Deuteronomy 5:19
- 9.Thou shalt not bear false witnessExodus 20:16 · Deuteronomy 5:20
- 10.Thou shalt not covetExodus 20:17 · Deuteronomy 5:21
The Ten Commandments in Full (KJV, Side by Side)
Exodus 20 on the left, Deuteronomy 5 on the right. Both open with the reason for keeping the law — the God who gives it is the God who brought Israel out of slavery — though Exodus has God speaking directly, while Moses is recalling the scene forty years on.
1. Have no other gods before me
The first four commandments govern Israel's duty toward God. This one claims exclusive allegiance: not that other gods exist and rank lower, but that the LORD who brought them out of Egypt will share his place with nothing.
2. Make no graven image
Where the first commandment names who is worshipped, the second governs how. Images made to be bowed down to are forbidden. The warning of judgment to the third and fourth generation is answered by mercy “unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”
3. Do not take the LORD's name in vain
The name stands for the person. Emptying it — in a false oath, a careless curse, a claim made in God's name that God never made — is the one commandment in the list whose penalty is stated as God's own refusal to hold the offender guiltless.
4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy
The longest of the ten, and the one the two accounts justify differently. In Exodus the reason is creation: God made heaven and earth in six days and rested the seventh. In Deuteronomy the reason is deliverance — remember that you were a servant in Egypt.
Where the accounts differ: Exodus says “Remember the sabbath day,” Deuteronomy “Keep the sabbath day.” Exodus grounds the rest in creation, Deuteronomy in the exodus from Egypt, and Deuteronomy adds the purpose “that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.”
5. Honour thy father and thy mother
The hinge of the list, turning from duty toward God to duty toward neighbour, and the only one that attaches a promise — long life in the land. Paul makes that point directly in Ephesians 6:2, calling it “the first commandment with promise.”
Where the accounts differ: Deuteronomy adds “as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee,” and widens the promise: not only that thy days may be prolonged, but “that it may go well with thee.”
6. Thou shalt not kill
Four words in the KJV. The Hebrew verb behind “kill” refers to unlawful killing rather than to every taking of life, which is why many later translations render the verse “Thou shalt not murder.”
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus quotes this commandment and presses it inward: whoever looks on a woman to lust after her “hath committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28).
8. Thou shalt not steal
A neighbour's property is protected as his neighbour's. Stated without qualification or exception, it assumes a settled community in which what a man has is genuinely his.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness
The wording is a courtroom's — bearing witness against a neighbour. Israel's justice rested on the testimony of witnesses, so a lie told under oath could cost an innocent man his life.
10. Thou shalt not covet
The last commandment reaches past conduct to desire. House, wife, servants, livestock — nothing of a neighbour's is to be wanted for one's own. It is the only one of the ten that no observer could see being broken.
Where the accounts differ: Exodus names the neighbour's house first and then his wife; Deuteronomy names the wife first, uses “desire” of her and “covet” of the house, and adds his field to the list.
Why the Commandments Are Given Twice
Exodus 20 records the words as God spoke them at Sinai. Forty years later, on the plains of Moab, Moses recites them again to a generation that had not been standing at the mountain — and he insists the covenant is theirs, not merely their parents’: “The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day” (Deuteronomy 5:3).
The wording is close but not identical. Three commandments differ in substance — the sabbath, the honouring of parents, and coveting — and each is marked above, beneath the column where the difference appears. Elsewhere the changes are of style: from the seventh commandment on, Deuteronomy chains the prohibitions together with “Neither shalt thou,” where Exodus begins each afresh with “Thou shalt not.”
Neither chapter numbers them. Scripture gives the commandments as continuous speech, which is why traditions divide the same text at different points. Nor does either chapter call these words the ten commandments. That phrase enters the King James Version three times elsewhere — at Exodus 34:28, Deuteronomy 4:13, and Deuteronomy 10:4 — always of the words written on the two tables of stone.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What are the Ten Commandments in the Bible?
The Ten Commandments are the laws God spoke to Israel at Mount Sinai, recorded in Exodus 20:1-17: have no other gods before me; make no graven image; do not take the LORD's name in vain; remember the sabbath day to keep it holy; honour thy father and thy mother; thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour; and thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, wife, or possessions. The first four concern duty toward God, the last six duty toward one's neighbour.
Where are the Ten Commandments in the KJV?
They are given twice. The first account is Exodus 20:1-17, spoken by God at Sinai. The second is Deuteronomy 5:6-21, where Moses repeats them to the next generation before they enter the land. The phrase “ten commandments” itself appears three times in the King James Version — at Exodus 34:28, Deuteronomy 4:13, and Deuteronomy 10:4 — each time describing the words written on the two tables of stone.
What is Exodus 20 in the KJV?
Exodus 20 is the chapter in which God speaks the Ten Commandments to Israel from Mount Sinai. Verses 1-2 introduce them (“I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt”), verses 3-17 contain the commandments themselves, and the remainder of the chapter records the people's terror at the thunder and lightning on the mountain and their plea that Moses speak with them instead of God.
What is Deuteronomy 5 in the KJV?
Deuteronomy 5 is Moses' retelling of Sinai to the generation about to enter Canaan. Verses 1-5 set the scene at Horeb, verse 6 repeats “I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt,” and verses 7-21 give the Ten Commandments a second time. The wording tracks Exodus 20 closely, but three commandments differ in substance: the sabbath is grounded in the deliverance from Egypt rather than in creation, the command to honour father and mother adds “that it may go well with thee,” and the tenth names the neighbour's wife before his house and adds his field.
Are the Ten Commandments the same in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5?
They are the same ten, in the same order, but not word for word. The largest difference is the fourth commandment: Exodus 20:11 grounds the sabbath in creation, while Deuteronomy 5:15 grounds it in the exodus from Egypt and adds that servants “may rest as well as thou.” Deuteronomy 5:16 expands the promise attached to honouring parents, and Deuteronomy 5:21 reverses the order of wife and house in the tenth commandment while adding the neighbour's field. From the seventh commandment onward Deuteronomy also links the prohibitions with “Neither shalt thou” instead of repeating “Thou shalt not.”
Why do some lists of the Ten Commandments number them differently?
Scripture gives the commandments as a continuous passage and never numbers them one through ten, so traditions divide the same text at different points. The Protestant and Eastern Orthodox reckoning followed here treats “no other gods” and “no graven image” as the first and second commandments, and the whole of the coveting verse as the tenth. The Catholic and Lutheran reckoning joins those first two and splits the coveting verse into a ninth and a tenth. The words are identical either way; only the divisions differ.