The Ten Commandments in Order (Simple List)

Most people can name six or seven of the Ten Commandments and then stall. Here is the whole list in its biblical order — first in the short form most of us learned, then, further down, with the full wording from Exodus 20 and a line on what each command is guarding.

1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.

That is the order of Exodus 20:3–17, following the count used by most Protestant churches. The words are the same in every Bible; only the numbering shifts between traditions, and the reasons are explained below. For what each command means in depth, see The Ten Commandments: What Each One Means.

The first four commandments face upward. Each one is about taking God seriously — his uniqueness, his freedom, his name, and his day.

1. You shall have no other gods before me

Exodus 20:3. The shortest possible statement of loyalty. “Before me” means “in my presence” — no rival is to stand in the room. The command protects the one relationship every other relationship depends on.

2. You shall not make for yourself an idol

You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them.

Exodus 20:4–5

Not a ban on art — the tabernacle was full of carved cherubim — but a ban on shrinking God to something that can be carried, bargained with, or controlled. It protects God's freedom to be who he is rather than who we would prefer him to be.

3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain

Exodus 20:7. “In vain” means emptily, for nothing. False oaths, careless swearing, and using God as a stamp of approval on plans he never blessed all fall under it. It protects the trustworthiness of the name his people carry into the world.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God.

Exodus 20:8–10

The longest commandment, and the only one about time. Work stops one day in seven — for the householder, the children, the servants, the animals, and the foreigner in town. It protects rest as something owed to everyone, because the Creator rested too (v. 11).

The list then turns toward the neighbor: six fences around the things a community cannot survive without.

5. Honor your father and your mother

Exodus 20:12. The first command with a promise attached — “that your days may be long in the land.” It is addressed to grown children at least as much as to small ones, and it protects the family as the place where every other loyalty is first learned.

6. You shall not murder

Exodus 20:13. Two words in Hebrew. The verb is specific — unlawful killing, not every taking of life — and Jesus later traced it back to the anger where it starts (Matthew 5:21–22). It protects the most basic good of all.

7. You shall not commit adultery

Exodus 20:14. A fence around marriage — the ground that spouses, children, and whole communities stand on. Faithfulness is treated here as a public good, not a private preference.

8. You shall not steal

Exodus 20:15. Wider than burglary: wages withheld, scales tipped, hours billed and never worked. It protects the link between a person's work and what that work earns.

9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor

Exodus 20:16. Courtroom language first — a community whose witnesses lie cannot do justice — and from there it reaches everyday speech, where reputations are made and ruined by words alone. It protects truth as the thing trust is built from.

10. You shall not covet

You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's.

Exodus 20:17

The only commandment aimed entirely at the heart. It protects contentment — and by guarding desire it quietly guards the previous nine, since nobody steals a thing they never wanted. There is a full article on what “you shall not covet” means.

The order is not random. The first four commandments concern God; the last six concern people. Jesus later compressed the two halves into two loves — love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37–40) — and said that everything else hangs on those. The list also moves from the outside in: from acts anyone could witness, to words, to a desire no one can see. It ends inside the human heart, which is where the Bible says the trouble begins.

One more thing the order tells you: none of it starts with a rule. Verse 2 comes first — “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” — a rescue already accomplished before a single command is given. The ten describe the shape of a freedom that has already been handed over.

If you learned the list in a Catholic or Lutheran church, your numbering will not match the one above — and neither matches the traditional Jewish count. Nothing is missing from anyone's Bible. Exodus 20:2–17 is the same text everywhere; the traditions simply draw the lines between the ten in different places.

Whichever numbering you grew up with, the list is the same list. The difference only matters when someone says “the fourth commandment” and you need to know whether they mean the Sabbath or honoring your parents.

Are the Ten Commandments listed in order of importance?

Not as a ranking — the Bible never says the first is weightier than the tenth. But the order is meaningful. God comes before neighbor because what you worship shapes how you treat people, and the list moves from public acts to private desire. When Jesus was asked for the greatest commandment he did not pick one of the ten; he gave the two loves that the two halves of the list are built on.

What is the first commandment?

In the count used by most Protestant churches, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). Jewish tradition counts the opening declaration, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,” as the first word. Catholics and Lutherans combine no other gods and no idols into a single first commandment.

What is the shortest commandment?

“You shall not murder” and “You shall not steal” are each only two words in Hebrew. The longest is the Sabbath commandment, which runs to four verses and explains itself — one of only two commandments in the list that give a reason.

Where are the Ten Commandments in the Bible?

Twice: first in Exodus 20:1–17, spoken at Mount Sinai, and again in Deuteronomy 5:6–21, where Moses repeats them to the next generation forty years later. Exodus 34:28 is where they are called “the ten words,” which is where the older name Decalogue comes from.

Are the two lists in Exodus and Deuteronomy the same?

The same ten, with small differences in wording. Deuteronomy says “observe” the Sabbath rather than “remember” it, and grounds the day in the rescue from Egypt instead of in creation. It also puts the neighbor's wife before his house in the tenth commandment. The commands themselves do not change.