Ten Commandments Bible Study Questions

This is a study guide for a small group, a class or a family, built on one idea: go through the Ten Commandments slowly, one per session, and ask questions that stay with the text. It needs a Bible, a pen and about an hour. You do not need a leader who is an expert, only someone who will read the passage aloud and let people think before answering.

How it works: each session has a short reading, three questions, and a link to a longer article if the group wants more. Ten sessions cover one commandment each, with an eleventh to bring them together. For a shorter study, pair them: sessions 1–2, 3–4, and so on, and spend two weeks on each pair.

Begin the first meeting with the sentence that comes before the commandments. Read it aloud and give people a minute of silence:

I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

Exodus 20:2

• Why do you think God begins with a rescue before he gives any rules?
• How would these commandments sound different if the first sentence were missing?
• What does it mean to treat the commandments as the rules of a free people, not a master’s orders?

A note on numbering. This guide uses the numbering most Protestant and Orthodox churches use. Catholics and Lutherans join the first two and split coveting in two, and Jewish tradition counts the opening line as the first. The same text is covered either way; see Catholic vs Protestant Ten Commandments and The Ten Commandments: What Each One Means.

Session 1: No other gods (Exodus 20:3)

Read Exodus 20:3 and Deuteronomy 6:4–5. Further reading: What Does ‘No Other Gods Before Me’ Mean?

• Few of us bow to statues. What takes the place of God in your world: money, approval, work, family, security?
• What is the difference between a good thing and a god?
• Where in your week do you give God your first and best, and where do you give him what is left?

Session 2: No idols (Exodus 20:4–6)

Read Exodus 20:4–6 and Psalm 115:4–8. Further reading: What Is Idolatry?

• Why would God forbid an image of himself, even a respectful one?
• Psalm 115 says people become like what they worship. What have you seen that to be true of?
• How do we keep our ideas about God from becoming a smaller god we have made?

Session 3: God’s name (Exodus 20:7)

Read Exodus 20:7 and Matthew 5:33–37. Further reading: What Does Taking the Lord’s Name in Vain Mean?

• The Hebrew behind “misuse” means “to carry.” What does it mean to carry God’s name well?
• When have you heard someone say “God told me” to end an argument?
• What would change in your speech this week if you took your words as seriously as Jesus asks?

Session 4: The Sabbath (Exodus 20:8–11)

Read Exodus 20:8–11 and Deuteronomy 5:12–15. Further reading: Remember the Sabbath: What It Means Today

• Exodus gives creation as the reason for rest and Deuteronomy gives the rescue from slavery. Why might both matter?
• Who in your life cannot rest, and what would it cost you to give them a day?
• What is one realistic change that would make one day a week different?

Session 5: Parents (Exodus 20:12)

Read Exodus 20:12, Ephesians 6:1–3 and Mark 7:9–13. Further reading: What ‘Honor Your Father and Mother’ Means

• How is honoring a parent different from obeying one?
• In Mark 7, Jesus criticizes people who used religion to avoid caring for their parents. What might that look like today?
• How should this commandment be heard by someone whose parents hurt them?

Session 6: Murder (Exodus 20:13)

Read Exodus 20:13 and Matthew 5:21–24. Further reading: Thou Shalt Not Kill — or Murder?

• Jesus traces murder back to anger and contempt. Where do you see that path in everyday life?
• Christians disagree about war, self-defense and the death penalty. How can a group discuss them without turning it into a fight?
• What does it look like to protect life, and not only to avoid taking it?

Session 7: Adultery (Exodus 20:14)

Read Exodus 20:14 and Matthew 5:27–28. Further reading: You Shall Not Commit Adultery: What It Means

• Why does the Bible treat faithfulness in marriage as a matter between a person and God, not only between two people?
• Jesus speaks of the look that becomes desire. What helps people guard their hearts in a culture saturated with images?
• What can the group do for people who have been hurt by betrayal, or who have failed here?

Session 8: Stealing (Exodus 20:15)

Read Exodus 20:15, Ephesians 4:28 and James 5:4. Further reading: What Does ‘You Shall Not Steal’ Mean?

• James counts unpaid wages as theft. What are modern versions of that: delayed pay, unfair contracts, pirated work?
• Ephesians 4:28 says the thief should work “that he may have something to give.” What does that add to a simple ban?
• Is there something you have taken, kept or not repaid that you should address?

Session 9: False witness (Exodus 20:16)

Read Exodus 20:16 and Proverbs 12:17–22. Further reading: Bearing False Witness: Is All Lying a Sin?

• The commandment names testimony about a neighbor. Why is the damage of a rumor often greater than the damage of a lie to oneself?
• When is it hard to tell the truth, and when is it hard to tell it kindly?
• What is one thing you could stop passing on this week?

Session 10: Coveting (Exodus 20:17)

Read Exodus 20:17 and Romans 7:7. Further reading: What Does ‘You Shall Not Covet’ Mean?

• This is the only commandment about what happens inside a person. Why might God have placed it last?
• How do advertising and social media train us to want things? How do you recognize it in yourself?
• Paul said coveting was what showed him his own sin. What does it show you?

Use the last meeting to look back at all ten. Jesus was asked which commandment is the greatest, and his answer ties them together:

Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

Matthew 22:37–40

Paul draws the same line: the commandments about adultery, murder, stealing and coveting “are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Romans 13:9). Love, he says, “is the fulfillment of the law.” See What Is the Greatest Commandment? and Do Christians Have to Keep the Ten Commandments?

Questions for the last session:

• Which commandment was the most surprising to study, and which was the hardest to hear?
• How did the first four shape your reading of the last six, or the other way round?
• Which one will you practice for the next month, and who will ask you about it?

End by reading Psalm 119:105 aloud together: “Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light for my path.”

How long should a Ten Commandments Bible study be?

Ten weeks gives one commandment per session, plus an eleventh to review. A shorter version can pair commandments, for example 1–2, 3–4, 5–6, 7–8 and 9–10, over five weeks. Allow about an hour per session.

Which Bible translation works best?

Any translation the group can read comfortably. The King James Version is traditional and in the public domain, and plainer modern translations help newcomers. Having two versions open often starts a good conversation about a word.

Can this study be used with teenagers or children?

Yes, for teenagers with little change. For younger children, use the shorter explanations in The Ten Commandments for Kids and keep to one question per commandment.

How should we count the commandments in a mixed group?

Pick one numbering and say so at the start. The text is the same in every tradition, only the divisions differ. How Many Commandments Are in the Bible? and Catholic vs Protestant Ten Commandments explain the differences.

What should a leader prepare?

Read the passage and the linked article beforehand, decide which of the three questions suits your group, and be ready for silence. Some commandments, especially the fifth and seventh, touch painful experiences, so make clear that people can pass on a question.