Exodus 20:1
in Exodus 20And God spoke all these words:
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And God spake all these words, saying,
KJV
And God spake all these words, saying,
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This verse in Exodus 20
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The Hebrew name which is rendered in our King James Version as the ten commandments occurs in Exo 34:28; Deu 4:13; Deu 10:4. It literally means “the Ten Words.” The Ten Commandments are also called the law, even the commandment Exo 24:12, the words of the covenant Exo 34:28, the tables of the covenant Deu 9:9, the covenant Deu 4:13, the two tables Deu 9:10, Deu 9:17, and, most frequently, the testimony (e. g. Exo 16:34; Exo 25:16), or the two tables of the testimony (e. g. Exo 31:18).
This site's exposition
And God spake all these words
on Exodus 20:1-2
God speaks these words to the whole nation at once, and Deuteronomy 5:4 says he talked with them face to face out of the midst of the fire. The law opens with a rescue already finished rather than with a demand, since the house of bondage is behind them before a single commandment is given. The Hebrew root behind bondage is the one Exodus 1:13 and 1:14 use five times over for the slave labour, and the same root carries the service of the tabernacle at the end of the book.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
We should also know that the ten commandments of the law are also fulfilled by the two gospel precepts, love of God and love of neighbor. For the three commandments which were written on the first tablet pertain to the love of God, while on …
The Reformation1 voice
And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep and do them.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
They were not only spoken audibly (so he owned the Redeemer by a voice from heaven, Matt. iii. 17 ), but with a great deal of dreadful pomp. This law God had given to man before (it was written in his heart by nature); but sin had so defaced that writing that it was necessary, in this manner, to revive the knowledge of it.
And God spake all these words,....
They were not only spoken audibly (so he owned the Redeemer by a voice from heaven, Matt. iii. 17 ), but with a great deal of dreadful pomp. This law God had given to man before (it was written in his heart by nature); but sin had so defaced that writing that it was necessary, in this manner, to revive the knowledge of it.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
But He was speaking to those who were at the same time fallen and sinful creatures, and a corresponding change was required in the manner of God's procedure, in order to give a suitable impression of the character and sanctions of the law revealed from heaven (Ro 11:5-9).
All these words - Houbigant supposes, and with great plausibility of reason, that the clause את כל הדברים האלה eth col haddebarim haelleh, “all these words,” belong to the latter part of the concluding verse of Exodus 19, which he thinks should be read thus: And Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto them All These Words; i.e., delivered the solemn charge relative to their not attempting to come up to that part of the mountain on which God manifested himself in his glorious majesty, lest he should break forth upon them and consume them. For how could Divine justice and purity suffer a people so defiled to stand in his immediate presence? When Moses, therefore, had gone down and spoken all these words, and he and Aaron had re-ascended the mount, then the Divine Being, as supreme legislator, is majestically introduced thus: And God spake, saying. This gives a dignity to the commencement of this chapter of which the clause above mentioned, if not referred to the speech of Moses, deprives it. The Anglo-Saxon favors this emendation: God spoke Thus, which is the whole of the first verse as it stands in that version. Some learned men are of opinion that the Ten Commandments were delivered on May 30, being then the day of pentecost. The laws delivered on Mount Sinai have been variously named. In Deu 4:13, they are called עשרת הדברים asereth haddebarim, The Ten Words. In the preceding chapter, Exo 19:5, God calls them את בריתי eth berithi, my Covenant, i.e., the agreement he entered into with the people of Israel to take them for his peculiar people, if they took him for their God and portion. If ye will obey my voice indeed, and Keep my Covenant, Then shall ye be a peculiar treasure unto me. […]
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר | vaydaber | and he spoke | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| אֱלֹהִ֔ים | ʾelohim | God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| אֵ֛ת | ʾet | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַדְּבָרִ֥ים | hadevarim | the words | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| הָאֵ֖לֶּה | haeleh | <the> these | H428 → | 746 times |
| לֵאמֹֽר׃ ס | lemor | <to> saying | H559 → | 5305 times |
וַיְדַבֵּ֣רand he spoke
vaydaberH1696 →1141 times
אֱלֹהִ֔יםGod
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
אֵ֛ת<obj.>
ʾetH853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הַדְּבָרִ֥יםthe words
hadevarimH1697 →1440 times
הָאֵ֖לֶּה<the> these
haelehH428 →746 times
לֵאמֹֽר׃ ס<to> saying
lemorH559 →5305 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 4:36He let you hear His voice from heaven to discipline you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire.
it leads to
- Exodus 19:9
The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you, and they will always put their trust in…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 19:9
Through
Deuteronomy 5:4The LORD spoke with you face to face out of the fire on the mountain.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 4:33
Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 4:36
He let you hear His voice from heaven to discipline you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Exodus 19:18–19
Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.
- Deuteronomy 4:33
Through
Acts 7:38He was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. And he received living words to pass on to us.
it leads to
- Romans 3:2
Much in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
- Hebrews 5:12
Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to reteach you the basic principles of God’s word. You need milk, not solid food!
- Romans 3:2
Through
Deuteronomy 5:22The LORD spoke these commandments in a loud voice to your whole assembly out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. And He wrote them…
it leads to
- Exodus 24:12
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay here, so that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commandments I have written…
- Exodus 31:18
When the LORD had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
- Exodus 24:12
Where this verse is studied
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 100A.12; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.