Exodus20:1–17

The two tablets, twice given — Exodus 20 ↔ Deuteronomy 5 verbal / quotation — confirmed

The entire Decalogue is repeated in Deuteronomy 5:6–21, with the small, telling variations the older voices catalogue (Keil lists them all: šāmôr for zāḵôr in the Sabbath command, the Exodus deliverance replacing creation as its ground, the wife placed before the house in the tenth). The verifier's strongest reading is on the jealous-God sanction (Ex 20:5 / Deut 5:9), which shares the rare ribbêaʻ (4 vv), qannâ’ (5 vv), and shillêsh (5 vv) — among the rarest lexemes in the Hebrew Bible, occurring in only a handful of verses: a clean verbal quotation, not a loose echo, and the verifier returns it as verbal. The preface (Ex 20:2 / Deut 5:6) shares the common ’ānōḵî, Miṣrayim, and ‘eḇeḏ — high-frequency words, so the verifier rates that pair only structural; but the two passages are manifestly the same text re-given, and the rare-lexeme overlap in the sanction carries the verbal badge for the whole. Keil's verdict is to take "the text of Exodus... as the original, which is not to be altered."

Exodus 20:2-17 · Deuteronomy 5:6-21

basis: Verifier on Ex 20:5 ↔ Deut 5:9 returns verbal: rare shared lexemes H7256 ribbêaʻ (4 vv), H7067 qannâʼ (5 vv), H8029 shillêsh (5 vv). The preface Ex 20:2 ↔ Deut 5:6 (H595 ’ânôkîy, H4714 Mitsrayim, H5650 ‘eḇeḏ) is only structural on its own — those lexemes are common — but the whole is the same Decalogue re-given; the verbal tier rests on the rare-lexeme overlap in the sanction

The Name proclaimed at the second giving — Exodus 20:5–6 ↔ Exodus 34:6–7; Numbers 14:18 verbal / quotation — confirmed

The jealous-God formula — "visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations" — is the very language YHWH proclaims of Himself after the golden calf (Exodus 34:7) and that Moses pleads back to Him at Kadesh (Numbers 14:18). The verifier finds the same rare ordinal ribbêaʻ (4 vv) and shillêsh (5 vv) with ‘āvôn (iniquity) and pāqad (visiting) in all three. Cambridge notes the definition here is "based upon Exodus 34:7... only with the two clauses transposed, so as to give the warning the first place, as the context here demands" — judgment foregrounded in the command, mercy foregrounded in the proclamation. The same God, the same words, weighted differently for two different purposes.

Exodus 20:5-6 · Exodus 34:6-7 · Numbers 14:18

basis: Verifier on Ex 20:5 ↔ Ex 34:7 and Num 14:18: shared rare lexemes H7256 ribbêaʻ (4 vv), H8029 shillêsh (5 vv) with H5771 ‘āvôn, H6485 pāqad — the same self-revelation of the Name

The Sabbath grounded in creation — Exodus 20:8–11 ↔ Genesis 2:2–3 structural / thematic — confirmed

The fourth command roots itself in the seventh day of creation: "For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth... and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy" (v. 11) — language drawn straight from Genesis 2:2–3. The verifier records the shared shəḇî‘î ("seventh"), qādash ("hallow"), and bārak ("bless"). This is a structural-thematic grounding rather than a quotation claim: the command does not cite Genesis so much as rest its authority on the pattern Genesis records. Keil draws the line forward, too: the Sabbath is "a foretaste of the blessedness into which the people of God are at last to enter" (Hebrews 4:9–10) — creation-rest pointing on to redemption-rest. (Deuteronomy 5:14–15 grounds the same command instead in the Exodus; the commentators hold both reasons compatible.)

Exodus 20:8-11 · Genesis 2:2-3 · Deuteronomy 5:12-15

basis: Verifier on Ex 20:11 ↔ Gen 2:3: shared H7637 shəḇî‘î, H6942 qādash, H1288 bārak, H3117 yôm — the command grounds the Sabbath in the creation pattern; no quotation claim

The covenant-breaker's catalogue — Exodus 20:13–15 ↔ Jeremiah 7:9; Hosea 4:2 structural / thematic — confirmed

Jeremiah indicts Judah by reciting the second table back to it: "Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and swear falsely...?" (Jeremiah 7:9) — and Hosea 4:2 does the same ("swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery"). The verifier links each command to Jeremiah 7:9 by a shared verb — rāṣaḥ (murder, 40 vv) with v. 13, nā’ap̄ (adultery, 26 vv) with v. 14, gānaḇ (steal, 36 vv) with v. 15 — and Hosea 4:2 to v. 13 by rāṣaḥ. Held honestly: these verbs are moderately, not exceptionally, rare, and the prophets reorder and recast the list rather than quoting a fixed string; the verifier therefore returns each pair as structural / thematic, not a verbal quotation, and so it is tiered here. The point stands either way: the prophets are not coining new charges but holding up the Decalogue as the standard the nation has shattered — the law functioning exactly as the grand commentary's "mirror." Cambridge points to both passages as the prophetic echo of these commands.

Exodus 20:13-15 · Jeremiah 7:9 · Hosea 4:2

basis: Verifier on Ex 20:13/14/15 ↔ Jer 7:9 returns structural/thematic for each pair: shared verbs H7523 rāṣaḥ (40 vv), H5003 nā’ap̄ (26 vv), H1589 gānaḇ (36 vv) — moderately rare, no fixed-string quotation; Hosea 4:2 ↔ Ex 20:13 shares only H7523 rāṣaḥ. Downgraded from 'verbal' to match the verifier's own tier

"Honor your father and mother" → the first command with promise — Exodus 20:12 ↔ Deuteronomy 5:16; Ephesians 6:2–3 structural / thematic — confirmed

The fifth command and its promise are repeated in Deuteronomy 5:16 (with the added clause "that it may go well with thee"), sharing the rare verb ’ārak ("prolong," 34 vv) and ’ăḏāmāh ("land"). Paul then lifts it into the New Covenant — "Honor your father and mother (this is the first commandment with a promise), that it may be well with you and that you may live long" (Ephesians 6:2–3) — quoting, notably, the Deuteronomy form with its extra clause. Held honestly: the Hebrew↔Greek link to Ephesians cannot rest on shared Strong's numbers (different languages); it is a confirmed NT citation tiered as structural, with the verbal force carried within the OT pair Exodus 20:12 ↔ Deuteronomy 5:16. The provenance of the exact wording (Deut, not Ex) is itself the interesting datum, recorded openly rather than smoothed over.

Exodus 20:12 · Deuteronomy 5:16 · Ephesians 6:2-3

basis: Verifier on Ex 20:12 ↔ Deut 5:16: shared H748 ’ārak (34 vv), H3513 kābad, H517 ’ēm, H127 ’ăḏāmāh. Ephesians 6:2–3 is a Greek↔Hebrew citation — cannot share Strong's, tiered structural; Paul quotes the Deut form (with 'that it may be well')

"The third generation" — a rare word's quiet thread — Exodus 20:5 ↔ Genesis 50:23 structural / thematic — confirmed

The ordinal shillêsh ("of the third generation," H8029) occurs in only five verses in the entire Hebrew Bible. Four of them are the jealous-God formula (Exodus 20:5; 34:7; Numbers 14:18; Deuteronomy 5:9); the fifth is the gentle close of Genesis — "Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation" (Genesis 50:23). The same rare word that measures the reach of judgment in the Decalogue measures the reach of a blessing in Joseph's old age. Held honestly: the verifier returns this pair as verbal on the strength of that lone rare lexeme, but there is no quotation, no borrowed phrase, nothing the one verse takes from the other — only a single shared ordinal across two utterly different sentences. So it is deliberately under-claimed here as a thematic resonance, not a verbal link, and weighed lightly: a reading offered, not a citation recorded.

Exodus 20:5 · Genesis 50:23

basis: Verifier on Ex 20:5 ↔ Gen 50:23 returns verbal on the lone shared lexeme H8029 shillêsh (5 vv); downgraded to structural/thematic because a single rare word with no quotation or borrowed phrase is a resonance, not a verbal citation (under-claiming per the rule)

"Thou shalt not murder" deepened — Exodus 20:13–17 ↔ Matthew 5:21–28 structural / thematic — confirmed

Repeatedly the public-domain voices reach for the Sermon on the Mount as the true commentary on the second table — Barnes states flatly, "Matthew 5:21–32 is the best comment on these two verses," and Poole, Benson, and the Pulpit Commentary all cite Matthew 5 on murder-as-hatred and adultery-of-the-heart. Christ takes the outward prohibitions and presses them to the inward disposition the tenth command already implied. Held honestly: this is a cross-Testament link (Greek ↔ Hebrew); it cannot rest on shared Strong's numbers and is therefore tiered structural/thematic, not verbal. The Pulpit Commentary even cautions that in Matthew 5 our Lord may be "amplifying [the law] on his own authority" ("But I say unto you") rather than merely expounding it — a nuance left standing rather than resolved.

Exodus 20:13-17 · Matthew 5:21-28

basis: Cross-Testament (Greek↔Hebrew): no shared Strong's possible. Christ's interiorizing of the second table is thematic; the public-domain voices (Barnes, Poole, Pulpit) name Matthew 5 as the commentary — tiered structural, not verbal

The Lawgiver of Sinai and the Word made flesh widely-held

"God spoke all these words" (v. 1) — and the New Testament identifies that Speaker with the Son. The Pulpit Commentary, reconciling the statements that the law was given "by the ministration of angels" (Acts 7:53; Galatians 3:19; Hebrews 2:2) with the plain claim that God Himself spoke, does so "by regarding God the Son as the actual speaker." The same Voice that thundered the Ten Words from the fire is the Word who later said, on a different mountain, "But I say unto you" (Matthew 5:22) — not abolishing the law He had given, but fulfilling it (Matthew 5:17). The Lawgiver and the Law's interpreter are one Person.

Exodus 20:1 · Matthew 5:17-22 · John 1:1-3

The law as schoolmaster, the Redeemer as righteousness widely-held

JFB read the whole Decalogue as a verdict that drives to Christ: "'If a man do them he shall live in them.' But, ah! what an if for frail and fallen man... every one would be without hope were not 'the Lord our Righteousness' (John 1:17)." The law given on Sinai is, in Paul's phrase, the schoolmaster that leads to Christ (Galatians 3:24): holy and good, yet powerless to make holy the one who breaks it. Its very preface anticipates the gospel order — first redemption ("I... brought you out," v. 2), then commandment — which Benson applies directly: "Christ, having rescued us out of the bondage of sin, is entitled to the best service we can do for him." The one who could not be justified by the law is justified by the Redeemer who kept it.

Exodus 20:2 · Romans 8:3-4 · Galatians 3:24 · Jeremiah 23:6

The Sabbath rest that remains widely-held

The fourth command grounds the Sabbath in God's own rest after creation (v. 11), and the older voices already read that rest as a foreshadowing fulfilled in Christ. Ellicott calls each Sabbath "a type and foretaste of that eternal 'sabbatising'... which 'remaineth for the people of God' (Hebrews 4:9)." Keil makes the typology explicit: the Sabbath was "a foretaste of the blessedness into which the people of God are at last to enter," and Christ, "Lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew 12:8), having finished His redeeming work and rested, rose to make the day His own and to lead His people "to the rest of that eternal Sabbath." Creation-rest, Sabbath-rest, and the rest that remains in Christ are one unfolding promise (Hebrews 4:8–10).

Exodus 20:11 · Matthew 12:8 · Hebrews 4:8-10 · Colossians 2:16-17