Êxodo 20

ARC · Chapter 20/40

1Então fallou Deus todas estas palavras, dizendo:

2Eu sou o Senhor teu Deus, que te tirei da terra do Egypto, da casa da servidão.

3Não terás outros deuses diante de mim.

4Não farás para ti imagem d'esculptura, nem alguma similhança do que ha em cima nos céus, nem em baixo na terra, nem nas aguas debaixo da terra.

5Não te encurvarás a ellas nem as servirás: porque eu, o Senhor teu Deus, sou Deus zeloso, que visito a maldade dos paes nos filhos, até á terceira e quarta geração d'aquelles que me aborrecem,

6E faço misericordia em milhares, aos que me amam, e aos que guardam os meus mandamentos.

7Não tomarás o nome do Senhor teu Deus em vão: porque o Senhor não terá por innocente o que tomar o seu nome em vão.

8Lembra-te do dia do sabbado, para o sanctificar.

9Seis dias trabalharás, e farás toda a tua obra,

10Mas o setimo dia é o sabbado do Senhor teu Deus: não farás nenhuma obra, nem tu, nem teu filho, nem tua filha, nem o teu servo, nem a tua serva, nem a tua besta, nem o teu estrangeiro, que está dentro das tuas portas.

11Porque em seis dias fez o Senhor os céus e a terra, o mar e tudo que n'elles ha, e ao setimo dia descançou: portanto abençoou o Senhor o dia do sabbado, e o sanctificou,

12Honra a teu pae e a tua mãe, para que se prolonguem os teus dias na terra que o Senhor teu Deus te dá.

13Não matarás.

14Não adulterarás.

15Não furtarás.

16Não dirás falso testemunho contra o teu proximo.

17Não cubiçarás a casa do teu proximo, não cubiçarás a mulher do teu proximo, nem o seu servo, nem a sua serva, nem o seu boi, nem o seu jumento, nem coisa alguma do teu proximo.

18E todo o povo viu os trovões e os relampagos, e o sonido da buzina, e o monte fumegando: e o povo, vendo isso retirou-se e poz-se de longe.

19E disseram a Moysés: Falla tu comnosco, e ouviremos: e não falle Deus comnosco, para que não morramos.

20E disse Moysés ao povo: Não temaes, que Deus veiu para provar-*vos, e para que o seu temor esteja diante de vós, para que não pequeis.

21E o povo estava em pé de longe: Moysés, porém, se chegou á escuridade, onde Deus estava.

22Então disse o Senhor a Moysés: Assim dirás aos filhos d'Israel: Vós tendes visto que eu fallei comvosco desde os céus.

23Não fareis outros deuses commigo; deuses de prata ou deuses de oiro não fareis para vós.

24Um altar de terra me farás, e sobre elle sacrificarás os teus holocaustos, e as tuas offertas pacificas, as tuas ovelhas, e as tuas vaccas: em todo o logar, onde eu fizer celebrar a memoria do meu nome, virei a ti, e te abençoarei.

25E se me fizeres um altar de pedras, não o farás de pedras lavradas: se sobre elle levantares o teu buril, profanal-o-has.

26Não subirás tambem por degraus ao meu altar, para que a tua nudez não seja descoberta diante d'elles.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God gives the Ten Commandments directly to the people of Israel, establishing foundational principles for their relationship with God and with one another; the people, frightened by the divine manifestation, ask that Moses be their intermediary.

Explanation

This is one of the most influential chapters in all of human history: the Ten Commandments establish an ethical and spiritual foundation that would shape not only Israel but entire civilizations in the centuries that followed. The first commandments deal with the vertical relationship with God (exclusive worship, the prohibition of images, the reverent use of the divine name, keeping the Sabbath), while the last ones deal with horizontal relationships between people (honoring parents, and prohibitions against murder, adultery, theft, lying, and coveting) — showing that biblical ethics always connects love for God with love for one's neighbor. The people's fear at the divine manifestation, asking that God not speak to them directly ('Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die', v. 19), reveals both genuine reverence and an awareness that God's holiness is more intense than they can bear directly, cementing Moses' role as mediator between God and the people.

Fun facts

  • The Ten Commandments are repeated, with minor variations, in Deuteronomy 5, and throughout history have been the basis of legal and ethical systems in many Western cultures, frequently cited in courts of law and legal documents into the modern era.
  • The chapter's final instruction, against using metal tools to shape the stones of the altar (v. 25), reflects a concern that worship of God remain simple and uncorrupted by human pride in art or technology — a principle that contrasts with the elaborate ornamentation later required for the tabernacle itself.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Êxodo 20:1Introduces God’s direct address to the people, opening the Ten Commandments, considered the core of the law given at Sinai.
  2. Êxodo 20:2Before any commandment, God identifies Himself by the concrete act He has already done: bringing the people out of slavery in Egypt, the historical foundation of the whole covenant.
  3. Êxodo 20:3The first commandment demands exclusivity: no other god may be placed beside or above the God of Israel.
  4. Êxodo 20:4Forbids making any carved image to represent God or any other deity, going against a common practice among Israel’s neighboring peoples.
  5. Êxodo 20:5“Visiting the iniquity” of the parents on the children to the third and fourth generation does not mean God punishes a child for the parent’s sin. In practice, as described in the Bible, one generation tends to repeat the same choices and habits of the one before it within a family — the text describes that recurring consequence more than a directly inherited punishment.
  6. Êxodo 20:6In contrast with the limited reach of the punishment in the previous verse, God’s mercy is described as far broader, extending to thousands of generations of those who love Him.
  7. Êxodo 20:7The ban on using God’s name “in vain” was more about swearing falsely or lending weight to a lie by invoking the divine name than about saying “God” as an everyday exclamation. The core idea is not to turn God’s name into a tool for manipulation or deceit.
  8. Êxodo 20:8The fourth commandment deals with the Sabbath, picking up the practice already introduced in practical form in chapter 16, even before it became formal law here.
  9. Êxodo 20:9Establishes the weekly work pattern: six days devoted to ordinary tasks before the day of rest on the seventh day.
  10. Êxodo 20:10The Sabbath commandment explicitly includes even the foreigners and the working animals living in the household. Rest was not a privilege reserved for the Israelite family alone, but extended to everyone under that roof, including those who were not part of the people.
  11. Êxodo 20:11Ties Sabbath rest directly to the account of creation in Genesis, in which God likewise rested on the seventh day after six days of work.
  12. Êxodo 20:12The fifth commandment is the first directed at human relationships, tying the honoring of parents to a promise of long life in the promised land.
  13. Êxodo 20:13One of the shortest and most direct commandments: it forbids taking another person’s life.
  14. Êxodo 20:14Forbids unfaithfulness within marriage, one of the central rules organizing family life in Israel.
  15. Êxodo 20:15Forbids taking possession of what belongs to another person without consent.
  16. Êxodo 20:16Forbids lying about another person, especially in legal settings, where false testimony could change the outcome of a trial.
  17. Êxodo 20:17Desiring what belongs to your neighbor — the house, the wife, the possessions — is different from simply admiring what someone else has: it is desire that already aims at how to take it for oneself. It is the only one of the Ten Commandments dealing with an inner feeling rather than a visible action, which is why it is the hardest to spot from the outside.
  18. Êxodo 20:18After hearing the commandments, the people react with fear at the phenomena accompanying God’s presence, drawing back from the mountain.
  19. Êxodo 20:19The people ask Moses to serve as a go-between with God, afraid that hearing God directly could be fatal.
  20. Êxodo 20:20Moses explains that the purpose behind that overwhelming display was to test the people and instill a healthy fear that would keep them from sin.
  21. Êxodo 20:21While the people stay at a distance, Moses draws near the thick darkness where God was, a contrast that marks his unique role as mediator.
  22. Êxodo 20:22God reinforces that the people themselves witnessed the communication coming directly from heaven, validating the authority of the laws now being given.
  23. Êxodo 20:23Repeats the ban on other gods, this time specifically calling out idols made of silver or gold, valuable materials used in religious images.
  24. Êxodo 20:24Gives the first practical instruction about worship after the Ten Commandments: a simple altar of earth, tied to the promise of blessing wherever God’s name is remembered.
  25. Êxodo 20:25The ban on using hewn stones, that is, stones cut and polished with tools, on the altar kept it from becoming a piece of decorated sculpture, similar to the ornamented altars of other peoples with carved religious images. The altar had to be simple, made of earth or rough stone, so attention stayed on the sacrifice, not on the craftsmanship itself.
  26. Êxodo 20:26Forbids going up to the altar by steps, to avoid improper exposure of the priest’s body during the ritual, a practical concern repeated later in the book.

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