Exodus 20:15
in Exodus 20You shall not steal.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou shalt not steal.
KJV
Thou shalt not steal.
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This verse in Exodus 20
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Apostolic ConstitutionsApostolic Constitutions (Book VII), Section 1, II · Written before 380.
"You shall not steal:" [Exodus 20:15] for Achan, when he had stolen in Israel at Jericho, was stoned to death; [Joshua 7:1] and Gehazi, who stole, and told a lie, inherited the leprosy of Naaman; [2 Kings 5:27] and Judas, who stole the poor's money, betrayed the Lord of glory to the Jews, [John 12:6] and repented, and hanged himself, and burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out; [Matthew 27:5; Acts 1:18] and Ananias, and Sapphira his wife, who stole their own goods, and "tempted the Spirit of the Lord," were immediately, at the sentence of Peter our fellow-apostle, struck dead. [Acts 5:1-11]
This site's exposition
Thou shalt not commit adultery
on Exodus 20:14-15
Adultery and theft guard the two things a household is built on, the marriage and the property. Jesus reads the seventh commandment inward at Matthew 5:27 and 5:28 the same way he reads the sixth, putting the look under the act. Paul quotes both of these commandments at Romans 13:9 and concludes that love worketh no ill to his neighbour, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church5 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The commandment which pertains to innocence must necessarily be multiplied, because it consists in this: that a man guard against giving offense to his neighbor. Now it happens that one offends his neighbor in three ways, namely in mind, word, and deed. Offense in deed …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 7 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The seventh plague was the destruction of temporal goods, by which thieves are struck, because he who takes what belongs to others deserves to lose what is his own. This was the plague of hail, which destroyed everything. It is remarkable that he who commits …
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 21 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
But we cannot possess these three in relation to others unless we have them first in relation to ourselves. Wherefore there are three more commandments: one that straightens all deeds, another that straightens all speech, and yet another that straightens all affective dispositions. That which …
The Lord specifically forbids injury to our neighbor in the Commandments. Thus, "You shall not kill" forbids us to injure our neighbor in his own person; "You shall not commit adultery" forbids injury to the person to whom one is bound in marriage; and now …
Theft is the handling of another's property, against the owner's will, out of greed. If it is done not out of greed, as the children of Israel by the Lord's command carried with them from Egypt vessels of silver and gold, or when someone takes …
4 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church1 voice
But because the neighbor is an image of the Trinity, and to him, insofar as he bears the image of the Holy Spirit, benignity is owed: with respect to benignity, to which cupidity and concupiscence are opposed, each of which can be in deed or …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Thou shall not steal. Which is to take away another man's property by force or fraud, without the knowledge, and against the will of the owner thereof.
Thou shall not steal. Which is to take away another man's property by force or fraud, without the knowledge, and against the will of the owner thereof.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Thou shalt not steal - All rapine and theft are forbidden by this precept; as well national and commercial wrongs as petty larceny, highway robberies, and private stealing: even the taking advantage of a seller’s or buyer’s ignorance, to give the one less and make the other pay more for a commodity than its worth, is a breach of this sacred law. All withholding of rights and doing of wrongs are against the spirit of it. But the word is principally applicable to clandestine stealing, though it may undoubtedly include all political injustice and private wrongs.
The words behind it
2 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹ֣֖א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִּֿגְנֹֽ֔ב׃ ס | tgeno | you must steal | H1589 → | 40 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
Romans 13:9The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
it leads to
- Exodus 20:12–17
Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 5:16–21
Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 22:39
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
- Mark 12:31
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
- Luke 10:27
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- Exodus 20:12–17
Through
Ephesians 4:28He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing good with his own hands, that he may have something to share with the one in need.
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 6:18
Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, and to be generous and ready to share,
- 1 Thessalonians 4:11–12
and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you.
- Galatians 6:10
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to the family of faith.
- 1 Timothy 6:18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies6
On this verse
About Exodus
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions (Book VII), Section 1, II; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 7; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 21; Bonaventure, Collationes de decem praeceptis, Collation 6 (Paris, Lent 1267); Bonaventure, Breviloquium, Part 5; John Calvin, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Explanation of the Ten Commandments.