The 10 Commandments Sin Inventory and Study -
Exodus 20:1-17
1 Do Not Worship any other gods besides ME
Idolatry – to worship or serve anything above the one true God ( People, things, nature, etc.)
2 Do Not make idols of any kind
Factions – being in a group that excludes other people who are different (Secret orders, clicks)
Witchcraft
Occult practices (sorcery, tarot cards, new age, horoscopes, etc)
Controlling or manipulating others (intimidation)
Debate – arguing to prove your opinion right and others wrong
Drunkenness – using chemicals to alter your behavior for the sake of pleasure (drugs, alcohol,
pills)
Graven images – keeping articles, souvenirs, and statues of heathen cultures or religions
3 Do Not misuse the name of the LORD your God
Cursing – swearing, using God’s name irreverently or commonly, foul language, expletives.
Arguments – using thoughts or words to build a case against God, His will, or authorities.
4 Remember observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy
Unfaithfulness – inconsistency in Church attendance; using the Lord’s day selfishly
Restlessness – inability to honor God’s provision for your family’s enjoyment of rest.
Worldliness – inappropriate forms of entertainment as rest.
Workaholism – hiding behind over-working to escape dealing with real issues, strongholds,
arguments
5 Honor your father and mother
Rebellion – resistance to authority ( God, parents, husband, leaders, government officials, etc.)
Sedition – calculated strategy to undermine authority established by God
Heresies – embracing your personal beliefs over the word of God
Dissensions – disagreement in opinion causing relationship problems, strife, quarreling.
6 Do Not murder
Hatred – great dislike or someone; harsh. (Racism, sexism, religious hatred, prejudice, etc.)
Unforgiveness – refusing to forgive and release anger; desiring to punish, judgmental attitude
Fits of rage – losing control of your anger, verbally or physically violent and abusive
Murders – desire or rage to end someone’s life (Abortion, wishing death, violence with weapon
or force)
Evil thoughts – wrong thinking you dwell on: lust, suicide, negativity, self-condemnation, criticism.
Maliciousness – doing mean things on purpose to cause hurt; cruelty; vindictiveness
7 Do Not commit Adultery
Adultery – sexual relations with or lustful thoughts about someone other than your spouse.
Sexual immorality – sexual behavior outside proper biblical boundaries (Pornography,
masturbation)
Fornication – Sexual intercourse outside the blessing of marriage
Uncleanness – moral impurity; impure humor, media, language (Dirty jokes, cursing, gossip)
Lasciviousness – getting sexually aroused with no way of Godly resolution.
Concupiscence – getting someone aroused (stirred-up) without a Godly way to resolve it; flirting.
Orgies – participating in or watching multiple partner sex (TV, video, internet)
Perversions – using something for the wrong purpose; homosexuality; unnatural imaginations.
8 Do Not Steal
Stealing – taking without permission, property you do not own; (Shoplifting, taxes, items not
returned)
Robbing God – failure to tithe according to God’s Word and in the giving of offerings.
9 Do not testify falsely against your neighbor
Gossip – communicating information about someone that damages their reputation; backbiting.
Deceit – intentionally misleading people through distortion of truth
Boasting – to brag; exalt one’s self; prideful exhibitions of accomplishments for comparisons.
Lying – communicating things that are not true as the truth; exaggeration
10 Do not covet your neighbor’s house, spouse, or anything else your neighbor owns
Jealousy – insecurity in a relationship; fear of losing what you have; constant comparisons born
of rejection
Covetousness – wanting what someone else has; judging the motives of others.
Self-ambition – putting things & your personal success above the value of people
The bible study related below came from the Bible Gateway. You can go there and find some great
stuff there: www.biblegateway.com
The preface to the ten commandments.
God speaks many ways to the children of men; by conscience, by providences, by his voice, to all which
we ought carefully to attend; but he never spake at any time so as he spake the TEN OMMANDMENTS.
This law God had given to man before; it was written in his heart; but sin so defaced it, that it was
necessary to revive the knowledge of it. The law is spiritual, and takes knowledge of the secret
thoughts, desires, and dispositions of the heart. Its grand demand is love, without which outward
obedience is mere hypocrisy. It requires perfect, unfailing, constant obedience; no law in the world
admits disobedience to itself. Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is
guilty of all, Jas 2:10. Whether in the heart or the conduct, in thought, word, or deed, to omit or to vary
any thing, is sin, and the wages of sin is death. (Ex 20:3-11)
The commandments of the first table.
The first four of the ten commandments, commonly called the FIRST table, tell our duty to God. It was fit
that those should be put first, because man had a Maker to love, before he had a neighbour to love. It
cannot be expected that he should be true to his brother, who is false to his God. The first
commandment concerns the object of worship, JEHOVAH, and him only. The worship of creatures is
here forbidden. Whatever comes short of perfect love, gratitude, reverence, or worship, breaks this
commandment. Whatsoever ye do, do all the glory of God.
The second commandment refers to the worship we are to render to the Lord our God. It is forbidden to
make any image or picture of the Deity, in any form, or for any purpose; or to worship any creature,
image, or picture. But the spiritual import of this command extends much further. All kinds of
superstition are here forbidden, and the using of mere human inventions in the worship of God.
The third commandment concerns the manner of worship, that it be with all possible reverence and
seriousness. All false oaths are forbidden. All light appealing to God, all profane cursing, is a horrid
breach of this command. It matters not whether the word of God, or sacred things, all such-like things
break this commandment, and there is no profit, honour, or pleasure in them. The Lord will not hold him
guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
The form of the fourth commandment, to ?Remember, to ? shows that it was not now first given, but was
known by the people before. One day in seven is to be kept holy. Six days are allotted to worldly
business, but not so as to neglect the service of God, and the care of our souls. On those days we
must do all our work, and leave none to be done on the sabbath day. Christ allowed works of necessity,
charity, and piety; for the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath, Mr 2:27; but all
works of luxury, vanity, or self-indulgence in any form, are forbidden. Trading, paying wages, settling
accounts, writing letters of business, worldly studies, trifling visits, journeys, or light conversation, are
not keeping this day holy to the Lord. Sloth and indolence may be a carnal, but not a holy rest. The
sabbath of the Lord should be a day of rest from worldly labour, and a rest in the service of God. The
advantages from the due keeping of this holy day, were it only to the health and happiness of mankind,
with the time it affords for taking care of the soul, show the excellency of this commandment. The day is
blessed; men are blessed by it, and in it. The blessing and direction to keep holy are not limited to the
seventh day, but are spoken of the sabbath day. (Ex 20:12-17)
Of the second table.
The laws of the SECOND table, that is, the last six of the ten commandments, state our duty to
ourselves and to one another, and explain the great commandment, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself, Lu 10:27. Godliness and honesty must go together. The fifth commandment concerns the
duties we owe to our relations. Honour thy father and thy mother, includes esteem of them, shown in
our conduct; obedience to their lawful commands; come when they call you, go where they send you,
do what they bid you, refrain from what they forbid you; and this, as children, cheerfully, and from a
principle of love. Also submission to their counsels and corrections. Endeavouring, in every thing, to
comfort parents, and to make their old age easy; maintaining them if they need support, which our
Saviour makes to be particularly intended in this commandment, Mt 15:4 to 6. Careful observers have
noted a peculiar blessing in temporal things on obedient, and the reverse on disobedient children.
The sixth commandment requires that we regard the life and the safety of others as we do our own.
Magistrates and their officers, and witnesses testifying the truth, do not break this command. Self-
defence is lawful; but much which is not deemed murder by the laws of man, is such before God.
Furious passions, stirred up by anger or by drunkenness, are no excuse: more guilty is murder in
duels, which is a horrible effect of a haughty, revengeful spirit. All fighting, whether for wages, for
renown, or out of anger and malice, breaks this command, and the bloodshed therein is murder. To
tempt men to vice and crimes which shorten life, may be included. Misconduct, such as may break the
heart, or shorten the lives of parents, wives, or other relatives, is a breach of this command. This
command forbids all envy, malice, hatred, or anger, all provoking or insulting language. The destruction
of our own lives is here forbidden. This commandment requires a spirit of kindness, longsuffering, and
forgiveness.
The seventh commandment concerns chastity. We should be as much afraid of that which defiles the
body, as of that which destroys it. Whatever tends to pollute the imagination, or to raise the passions,
falls under this law, as impure pictures, books, conversation, or any other like matters.
The eighth commandment is the law of love as it respects the property of others. The portion of worldly
things allotted us, as far as it is obtained in an honest way, is the bread which God hath given us; for
that we ought to be thankful, to be contented with it, and, in the use of lawful means, to trust Providence
for the future. Imposing upon the ignorance, easiness, or necessity of others, and many other things,
break God's law, though scarcely blamed in society. Plunderers of kingdoms though above human
justice, will be included in this sentence. Defrauding the public, contracting debts without
prospect of paying them, or evading payment of just debts, extravagance, all living upon charity when
not needful, all squeezing the poor in their wages; these, and such things, break this command; which
requires industry, frugality, and content, and to do to others, about worldly property, as we would they
should do to us.
The ninth commandment concerns our own and our neighbour's good name. This forbids speaking
falsely on any matter, lying, equivocating, and any way devising or designing to
deceive our neighbour. Speaking unjustly against our neighbour, to hurt his reputation. Bearing false
witness against him, or in common conversation slandering, backbiting, and tale-bearing; making what
is done amiss, worse than it is, and in any way endeavouring to raise our reputation upon the ruin of
our neighbour's. How much this command is every day broken among persons of all ranks!
The tenth commandment strikes at the root; Thou shalt not covet. The others forbid all desire of doing
what will be an injury to our neighbour; this forbids all wrong desire of having what will gratify ourselves.
(Ex 20:18-21)
Exodus 20:1-17 (Amplified Bible)
Exodus 20
1THEN GOD spoke all these words:
2I am the Lord your God, Who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3You shall have no other gods before or besides Me.
4You shall not make yourself any graven image [to worship it] or any likeness of anything that is in the
heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
5You shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate
Me,(A)
6But showing mercy and steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My
commandments.
7You shall not use or repeat the name of the Lord your God in vain [that is, lightly or frivolously, in false
affirmations or profanely]; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8[Earnestly] remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (withdrawn from common employment and
dedicated to God).
9Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your
son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your domestic animals, or the sojourner within
your gates.
11For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested
the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it [set it apart for His
purposes].
12Regard (treat with honor, due obedience, and courtesy) your father and mother, that your days may
be long in the land the Lord your God gives you.
13You shall not commit murder.
14You shall not commit [a]adultery.(B)
15You shall not steal.(C)
16You shall not witness falsely against your neighbor.(D)
17You shall not covet your neighbor's house, your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his
maidservant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.(E)
Footnotes:
a. Exodus 20:14 Observe here the expansion of the meaning of the seventh commandment in
many catechisms to include whoredom in all its forms, as well as unchastity [premarital relations, sexual
impurity, and lustful desire under whatever name] (J.P. Lange, A Commentary). Not only is adultery
forbidden here, but also fornication and all kinds of mental and sensual uncleanness. All impure books,
songs, pictures, etc., which tend to inflame and debauch the mind are against this law (Adam Clarke,
The Holy Bible with A Commentary).
Exodus 20:1-17
1 Do Not Worship any other gods besides ME
Idolatry – to worship or serve anything above the one true God ( People, things, nature, etc.)
2 Do Not make idols of any kind
Factions – being in a group that excludes other people who are different (Secret orders, clicks)
Witchcraft
Occult practices (sorcery, tarot cards, new age, horoscopes, etc)
Controlling or manipulating others (intimidation)
Debate – arguing to prove your opinion right and others wrong
Drunkenness – using chemicals to alter your behavior for the sake of pleasure (drugs, alcohol,
pills)
Graven images – keeping articles, souvenirs, and statues of heathen cultures or religions
3 Do Not misuse the name of the LORD your God
Cursing – swearing, using God’s name irreverently or commonly, foul language, expletives.
Arguments – using thoughts or words to build a case against God, His will, or authorities.
4 Remember observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy
Unfaithfulness – inconsistency in Church attendance; using the Lord’s day selfishly
Restlessness – inability to honor God’s provision for your family’s enjoyment of rest.
Worldliness – inappropriate forms of entertainment as rest.
Workaholism – hiding behind over-working to escape dealing with real issues, strongholds,
arguments
5 Honor your father and mother
Rebellion – resistance to authority ( God, parents, husband, leaders, government officials, etc.)
Sedition – calculated strategy to undermine authority established by God
Heresies – embracing your personal beliefs over the word of God
Dissensions – disagreement in opinion causing relationship problems, strife, quarreling.
6 Do Not murder
Hatred – great dislike or someone; harsh. (Racism, sexism, religious hatred, prejudice, etc.)
Unforgiveness – refusing to forgive and release anger; desiring to punish, judgmental attitude
Fits of rage – losing control of your anger, verbally or physically violent and abusive
Murders – desire or rage to end someone’s life (Abortion, wishing death, violence with weapon
or force)
Evil thoughts – wrong thinking you dwell on: lust, suicide, negativity, self-condemnation, criticism.
Maliciousness – doing mean things on purpose to cause hurt; cruelty; vindictiveness
7 Do Not commit Adultery
Adultery – sexual relations with or lustful thoughts about someone other than your spouse.
Sexual immorality – sexual behavior outside proper biblical boundaries (Pornography,
masturbation)
Fornication – Sexual intercourse outside the blessing of marriage
Uncleanness – moral impurity; impure humor, media, language (Dirty jokes, cursing, gossip)
Lasciviousness – getting sexually aroused with no way of Godly resolution.
Concupiscence – getting someone aroused (stirred-up) without a Godly way to resolve it; flirting.
Orgies – participating in or watching multiple partner sex (TV, video, internet)
Perversions – using something for the wrong purpose; homosexuality; unnatural imaginations.
8 Do Not Steal
Stealing – taking without permission, property you do not own; (Shoplifting, taxes, items not
returned)
Robbing God – failure to tithe according to God’s Word and in the giving of offerings.
9 Do not testify falsely against your neighbor
Gossip – communicating information about someone that damages their reputation; backbiting.
Deceit – intentionally misleading people through distortion of truth
Boasting – to brag; exalt one’s self; prideful exhibitions of accomplishments for comparisons.
Lying – communicating things that are not true as the truth; exaggeration
10 Do not covet your neighbor’s house, spouse, or anything else your neighbor owns
Jealousy – insecurity in a relationship; fear of losing what you have; constant comparisons born
of rejection
Covetousness – wanting what someone else has; judging the motives of others.
Self-ambition – putting things & your personal success above the value of people
The bible study related below came from the Bible Gateway. You can go there and find some great
stuff there: www.biblegateway.com
The preface to the ten commandments.
God speaks many ways to the children of men; by conscience, by providences, by his voice, to all which
we ought carefully to attend; but he never spake at any time so as he spake the TEN OMMANDMENTS.
This law God had given to man before; it was written in his heart; but sin so defaced it, that it was
necessary to revive the knowledge of it. The law is spiritual, and takes knowledge of the secret
thoughts, desires, and dispositions of the heart. Its grand demand is love, without which outward
obedience is mere hypocrisy. It requires perfect, unfailing, constant obedience; no law in the world
admits disobedience to itself. Whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is
guilty of all, Jas 2:10. Whether in the heart or the conduct, in thought, word, or deed, to omit or to vary
any thing, is sin, and the wages of sin is death. (Ex 20:3-11)
The commandments of the first table.
The first four of the ten commandments, commonly called the FIRST table, tell our duty to God. It was fit
that those should be put first, because man had a Maker to love, before he had a neighbour to love. It
cannot be expected that he should be true to his brother, who is false to his God. The first
commandment concerns the object of worship, JEHOVAH, and him only. The worship of creatures is
here forbidden. Whatever comes short of perfect love, gratitude, reverence, or worship, breaks this
commandment. Whatsoever ye do, do all the glory of God.
The second commandment refers to the worship we are to render to the Lord our God. It is forbidden to
make any image or picture of the Deity, in any form, or for any purpose; or to worship any creature,
image, or picture. But the spiritual import of this command extends much further. All kinds of
superstition are here forbidden, and the using of mere human inventions in the worship of God.
The third commandment concerns the manner of worship, that it be with all possible reverence and
seriousness. All false oaths are forbidden. All light appealing to God, all profane cursing, is a horrid
breach of this command. It matters not whether the word of God, or sacred things, all such-like things
break this commandment, and there is no profit, honour, or pleasure in them. The Lord will not hold him
guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
The form of the fourth commandment, to ?Remember, to ? shows that it was not now first given, but was
known by the people before. One day in seven is to be kept holy. Six days are allotted to worldly
business, but not so as to neglect the service of God, and the care of our souls. On those days we
must do all our work, and leave none to be done on the sabbath day. Christ allowed works of necessity,
charity, and piety; for the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath, Mr 2:27; but all
works of luxury, vanity, or self-indulgence in any form, are forbidden. Trading, paying wages, settling
accounts, writing letters of business, worldly studies, trifling visits, journeys, or light conversation, are
not keeping this day holy to the Lord. Sloth and indolence may be a carnal, but not a holy rest. The
sabbath of the Lord should be a day of rest from worldly labour, and a rest in the service of God. The
advantages from the due keeping of this holy day, were it only to the health and happiness of mankind,
with the time it affords for taking care of the soul, show the excellency of this commandment. The day is
blessed; men are blessed by it, and in it. The blessing and direction to keep holy are not limited to the
seventh day, but are spoken of the sabbath day. (Ex 20:12-17)
Of the second table.
The laws of the SECOND table, that is, the last six of the ten commandments, state our duty to
ourselves and to one another, and explain the great commandment, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself, Lu 10:27. Godliness and honesty must go together. The fifth commandment concerns the
duties we owe to our relations. Honour thy father and thy mother, includes esteem of them, shown in
our conduct; obedience to their lawful commands; come when they call you, go where they send you,
do what they bid you, refrain from what they forbid you; and this, as children, cheerfully, and from a
principle of love. Also submission to their counsels and corrections. Endeavouring, in every thing, to
comfort parents, and to make their old age easy; maintaining them if they need support, which our
Saviour makes to be particularly intended in this commandment, Mt 15:4 to 6. Careful observers have
noted a peculiar blessing in temporal things on obedient, and the reverse on disobedient children.
The sixth commandment requires that we regard the life and the safety of others as we do our own.
Magistrates and their officers, and witnesses testifying the truth, do not break this command. Self-
defence is lawful; but much which is not deemed murder by the laws of man, is such before God.
Furious passions, stirred up by anger or by drunkenness, are no excuse: more guilty is murder in
duels, which is a horrible effect of a haughty, revengeful spirit. All fighting, whether for wages, for
renown, or out of anger and malice, breaks this command, and the bloodshed therein is murder. To
tempt men to vice and crimes which shorten life, may be included. Misconduct, such as may break the
heart, or shorten the lives of parents, wives, or other relatives, is a breach of this command. This
command forbids all envy, malice, hatred, or anger, all provoking or insulting language. The destruction
of our own lives is here forbidden. This commandment requires a spirit of kindness, longsuffering, and
forgiveness.
The seventh commandment concerns chastity. We should be as much afraid of that which defiles the
body, as of that which destroys it. Whatever tends to pollute the imagination, or to raise the passions,
falls under this law, as impure pictures, books, conversation, or any other like matters.
The eighth commandment is the law of love as it respects the property of others. The portion of worldly
things allotted us, as far as it is obtained in an honest way, is the bread which God hath given us; for
that we ought to be thankful, to be contented with it, and, in the use of lawful means, to trust Providence
for the future. Imposing upon the ignorance, easiness, or necessity of others, and many other things,
break God's law, though scarcely blamed in society. Plunderers of kingdoms though above human
justice, will be included in this sentence. Defrauding the public, contracting debts without
prospect of paying them, or evading payment of just debts, extravagance, all living upon charity when
not needful, all squeezing the poor in their wages; these, and such things, break this command; which
requires industry, frugality, and content, and to do to others, about worldly property, as we would they
should do to us.
The ninth commandment concerns our own and our neighbour's good name. This forbids speaking
falsely on any matter, lying, equivocating, and any way devising or designing to
deceive our neighbour. Speaking unjustly against our neighbour, to hurt his reputation. Bearing false
witness against him, or in common conversation slandering, backbiting, and tale-bearing; making what
is done amiss, worse than it is, and in any way endeavouring to raise our reputation upon the ruin of
our neighbour's. How much this command is every day broken among persons of all ranks!
The tenth commandment strikes at the root; Thou shalt not covet. The others forbid all desire of doing
what will be an injury to our neighbour; this forbids all wrong desire of having what will gratify ourselves.
(Ex 20:18-21)
Exodus 20:1-17 (Amplified Bible)
Exodus 20
1THEN GOD spoke all these words:
2I am the Lord your God, Who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
3You shall have no other gods before or besides Me.
4You shall not make yourself any graven image [to worship it] or any likeness of anything that is in the
heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth;
5You shall not bow down yourself to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God,
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate
Me,(A)
6But showing mercy and steadfast love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My
commandments.
7You shall not use or repeat the name of the Lord your God in vain [that is, lightly or frivolously, in false
affirmations or profanely]; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8[Earnestly] remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (withdrawn from common employment and
dedicated to God).
9Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your
son, your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, your domestic animals, or the sojourner within
your gates.
11For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested
the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it [set it apart for His
purposes].
12Regard (treat with honor, due obedience, and courtesy) your father and mother, that your days may
be long in the land the Lord your God gives you.
13You shall not commit murder.
14You shall not commit [a]adultery.(B)
15You shall not steal.(C)
16You shall not witness falsely against your neighbor.(D)
17You shall not covet your neighbor's house, your neighbor's wife, or his manservant, or his
maidservant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.(E)
Footnotes:
a. Exodus 20:14 Observe here the expansion of the meaning of the seventh commandment in
many catechisms to include whoredom in all its forms, as well as unchastity [premarital relations, sexual
impurity, and lustful desire under whatever name] (J.P. Lange, A Commentary). Not only is adultery
forbidden here, but also fornication and all kinds of mental and sensual uncleanness. All impure books,
songs, pictures, etc., which tend to inflame and debauch the mind are against this law (Adam Clarke,
The Holy Bible with A Commentary).
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