The Ten Commandments are among the most famous words in the whole Bible, yet their old-fashioned wording can make them hard to follow. If you have ever wondered what are the 10 commandments in simple terms, you are in the right place. This guide explains where the commandments come from, what each one means in plain language, why churches number them slightly differently, and why they still matter today.
Where Do the Ten Commandments Come From?
The Ten Commandments are found in Exodus 20, near the beginning of the Old Testament. God had just rescued the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt and brought them to Mount Sinai in the desert. There He made a covenant, a solemn agreement, with them, and gave Moses the commandments on two tablets of stone. Moses later repeated them in Deuteronomy 5, shortly before Israel entered the promised land.
In the Hebrew language, they are literally called “the ten words,” which is a helpful reminder that these are not just rules on a list. They are God’s own words to His people, showing them how to live as the nation He had set free. The first four commandments teach us how to love God, and the last six teach us how to love other people.
What Is a Commandment?
Before we list them, it helps to ask: what is a commandment? A commandment is an instruction that comes with authority behind it. It is stronger than a suggestion or a piece of advice. When God gives a commandment, He is not offering an opinion; He is telling His people what is right, good, and required of them.
Even so, the commandments are not cold or cruel. Behind every commandment is a loving purpose: to protect people, to build a fair and kind community, and to keep God’s people close to Him. Understanding that purpose makes each commandment much easier to understand.
What Are the 10 Commandments in Simple Terms?
Here is the full list, one by one. The wording of each heading follows the traditional Protestant numbering, which is the numbering used in the Ten Commandments KJV (King James Version) text of Exodus 20. After each commandment, you will find a short explanation in everyday language. Whether you are looking up the 1st commandments in the list or the last one, each is explained in the same order you will find in Exodus 20.
1. Put God First (No Other Gods)
The 1st commandment says: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3, KJV). In simple terms, God alone is God, and He deserves first place in our lives. Nothing — not money, success, family, or even good things — should take the place that belongs to Him. Every other commandment flows from this one: when God is first, everything else finds its proper place.
2. Do Not Worship Idols
God forbids making carved images and bowing down to them as gods (Exodus 20:4-6). In simple terms, we must worship God as He truly is, not shrink Him down into a statue, a lucky charm, or an image we can control. Today, an idol can also be anything we trust or love more than God.
3. Respect God’s Name
The third commandment says: “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain” (Exodus 20:7, KJV). In simple terms, God’s name is holy and must never be used carelessly — as a swear word, a joke, or an empty phrase. It also means not using God’s name to excuse wrongdoing or to pretend a devotion we do not really have.
4. Keep a Day of Rest
God commanded His people to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy (Exodus 20:8-11). In simple terms, one day in seven is set apart for rest and worship, following God’s own pattern of resting after creation. It is a gift, not a burden: a weekly reminder that we are loved by God, not valued only for what we produce. Most Christians today set aside Sunday, the day of Jesus’ resurrection, for worship and rest.
5. Honor Your Father and Mother
“Honour thy father and thy mother” (Exodus 20:12, KJV) is the first commandment about how we treat other people. In simple terms, we should respect, thank, listen to, and care for our parents throughout their lives. This commandment even carries a promise of blessing. Our guide to the honor your father and mother Bible verse explores this commandment and its promise in much more depth.
6. Do Not Murder
The sixth commandment protects human life: “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13, KJV), a command that most modern translations express as “You shall not murder.” In simple terms, every human life is precious because every person is made in God’s image. Jesus deepened this commandment further, teaching that hatred and contempt toward another person are matters of the heart that God also takes seriously (Matthew 5:21-22).
7. Be Faithful in Marriage
The seventh commandment says: “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14, KJV). In simple terms, marriage is a covenant to be kept: husbands and wives are to be faithful to each other in action and in heart. This commandment protects families and teaches that love involves loyalty, honesty, and self-control.
8. Do Not Steal
The eighth commandment is short and clear: “Thou shalt not steal” (Exodus 20:15, KJV). In simple terms, we must respect what belongs to other people — their property, their time, and their honest earnings. Instead of taking, God’s people are called to work honestly and to be generous with what they have.
9. Always Tell the Truth
“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour” (Exodus 20:16, KJV) originally speaks about lying in court, where a false testimony could destroy an innocent person’s life. In simple terms, it covers all dishonesty: lying, deceiving, spreading false reports, and damaging someone’s reputation with our words. A community can only thrive where people tell the truth.
10. Be Content; Do Not Covet
The tenth commandment says: “Thou shalt not covet” (Exodus 20:17, KJV). To covet is to crave what belongs to someone else — their house, their spouse, their possessions, their life. In simple terms, God calls us to contentment and gratitude instead of envy. This commandment is unique because it deals not just with actions but with the hidden desires of the heart.
Why Do Catholic and Protestant Lists Number Them Differently?
If you compare a 10 commandments catholic list with the list above, you will notice the words are the same but the numbering is slightly different. This sometimes confuses people who look up the 10 commandments catholic church teaching and find that the order does not match their own Bible study notes. It is also why two Christians can both answer what are the 10 commandments in simple terms and still number them differently.
The roman catholic ten commandments follow an older arrangement associated with Saint Augustine. In the catholic church 10 commandments, the commands about having no other gods and making no idols are combined into the first commandment, and the command against coveting is divided into two: the ninth forbids coveting your neighbor’s wife, and the tenth forbids coveting your neighbor’s goods. So, for example, “honor your father and mother” is the fourth commandment in the Catholic list and the fifth in the Protestant list, while “you shall not kill” is the fifth in the Catholic list and the sixth in the Protestant list.
Lutherans number the commandments in the same way as Catholics, while the Jewish tradition counts “I am the LORD thy God” (Exodus 20:2) itself as the first of the ten words. The important point is that all of these traditions read the same passage, Exodus 20; they simply divide the ten differently. No words are added and none are removed.
Are There 12 Commandments?
Search online and you will find people asking about “12 commandments” — but the Bible never lists twelve. Sometimes the confusion comes from the extra instructions that surround the commandments in Exodus, sometimes from counting other famous commands, such as Jesus’ “new commandment” to love one another (John 13:34), and sometimes simply from misremembering.
Scripture itself settles the number. Exodus 34:28 describes what Moses received as “the words of the covenant, the ten commandments” (KJV). There are ten — no more, no less.
How Jesus Summarized the Ten Commandments
When Jesus was asked which commandment was the greatest, He summed up all ten with two: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart” and “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:37-39, KJV). The first four commandments show us how to love God; the last six show us how to love our neighbor. Love is not a replacement for the commandments — it is their heart and goal.
That is why our article on the biblical definition of love makes such a good companion to this one: the commandments describe love in action, and love gives the commandments their meaning.
Why the Ten Commandments Still Matter Today
Thousands of years after Mount Sinai, these ten words still shape laws, consciences, and everyday life. They reveal God’s character: He is holy, faithful, truthful, and just. They also act like a mirror, showing us honestly where we fall short and why we need God’s grace and forgiveness in Jesus Christ.
Christians do not keep the commandments in order to earn God’s love; we keep them because we already have it. Saved by grace, we are free to live God’s way — and His way is good. For more on putting these values into practice, read our guide to Christian ethics in everyday life.
If you want to read the commandments slowly in their full context, open your Bible at Exodus 20 this week. Our beginner-friendly guide on how to study the Bible for beginners will help you get the most from the passage. God’s ten words are short enough to memorize and deep enough to study for a lifetime.
Updated November 2026
This guide was refreshed in November 2026. The commandments shape everyday life, including life at home — our article on family values picks up that theme, while Jesus’ summary of the law is explored in our study of the Golden Rule. And because obedience flows from trust, our new guide on what it means to walk by faith makes a fitting companion read.
