Bible Strands
Exodus 20:1
And God spoke all these words:
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses the Israelite assembly at Mount Sinai immediately before delivering the Decalogue, following their departure from Egypt.
The words — וַיְדַבֵּר (va/y.da.Ber) means "and he spoke," and כָּל־הַדְּבָרִים (kol-/ha./de.va.Rim) translates to "all the words," establishing the immediate context as a direct divine utterance.
The thread — This event of God speaking to the whole assembly recurs in Deuteronomy 4:36, Deuteronomy 5:4, and Deuteronomy 5:22, where the text emphasizes the voice emerging from fire, cloud, and darkness.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to treat the subsequent commandments as direct divine speech rather than human instruction.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And God spake all these words, saying,
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 5:22 The LORD spoke these commandments in a loud voice to your whole assembly out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
- Deuteronomy 5:4 The LORD spoke with you face to face out of the fire on the mountain.
- Deuteronomy 4:36 He let you hear His voice from heaven to discipline you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire.
- Deuteronomy 4:33 Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived?
- Acts 7:38 He was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. And he received living words to pass on to us.
- Acts 7:53 you who received the law ordained by angels, yet have not kept it.”