# The Ten Commandments for Kids Source: https://www.tinykiwiapp.com/bible-stories-for-kids/the-ten-commandments Ages 3 to 12. From Exodus 19-34. Last reviewed 2026-10-31. The Ten Commandments are the ten rules God gave his people at Mount Sinai and wrote on two tables of stone (Exodus 20). Here is the whole story for kids, with all 10 commandments in words children understand. Read it aloud, listen to it narrated, or open the picture storybook, with the Bible's own words beside it. ## Where it is in the Bible - Bible passages: Exodus 19, 20, 24, 32 and 34. The commandments themselves are Exodus 20:1-17, and again in Deuteronomy 5. - Who is in it: Moses, his brother Aaron, and the children of Israel - Where it happens: Mount Sinai, in the wilderness of Sinai - When: In the third month after God brought Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 19:1) - Key verse: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3, King James Version) ## The 60-second version Long ago, God rescued his people from Egypt and led them through the desert to a mountain called Sinai. The mountain was covered in smoke and fire, and God spoke ten commandments to his people: some about how to love God, and some about how to treat each other. The people promised, all together: all that the Lord hath spoken we will do. God wrote his words on two stones. But while Moses was up the mountain, the people made a golden calf, and the stones were broken. So God wrote his words again, on two new stones. ## The 10 Commandments in words kids understand From Exodus 20:1-17, each in plain words with the King James line beside it. Churches number them in slightly different ways; this is the order most Protestant churches use. 1. **Love God first.** Have no other gods but God. King James Version: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3) 2. **Don't worship idols.** Don't make statues or pictures to bow down to and worship. King James Version: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image" (Exodus 20:4) 3. **Treat God's name with respect.** Don't use God's name in a careless or empty way. King James Version: "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain" (Exodus 20:7) 4. **Keep the Sabbath day special.** Work for six days, and rest on the seventh, a day kept special for God. King James Version: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." (Exodus 20:8) 5. **Honour your father and mother.** Listen to them, respect them and care for them. King James Version: "Honour thy father and thy mother" (Exodus 20:12) 6. **Don't kill.** Every person's life belongs to God. King James Version: "Thou shalt not kill." (Exodus 20:13) 7. **Keep your marriage promise.** A husband and wife stay faithful to each other. King James Version: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." (Exodus 20:14) 8. **Don't steal.** Don't take what belongs to someone else. King James Version: "Thou shalt not steal." (Exodus 20:15) 9. **Don't lie about others.** Tell the truth about other people. King James Version: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." (Exodus 20:16) 10. **Don't covet.** Don't long for things that belong to someone else, wishing they were yours. King James Version: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house" (Exodus 20:17) ## The story This story is true. It is in the Bible, in the book of Exodus. Have you ever made a big promise? In this story, a whole crowd of people make a promise to God, all together, in one big voice. Listen for what they say. ### Carried on eagles' wings (Exodus 19:1-8) God's people, the children of Israel, had been slaves in Egypt. Then God set them free, and brought them out into the wide, dry desert. After three months, they came to a great mountain called Mount Sinai. They put up their tents at the bottom of the mountain. Their leader, Moses, climbed up to meet God. And God gave Moses a message for the people: > "how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself." (Exodus 19:4, King James Version) Bare means carried. God had carried his people, the way an eagle carries its young. If they would listen to his voice, God said, they would be his own special treasure. Moses came down and told the people everything God had said. And all the people answered together: > "All that the LORD hath spoken we will do." (Exodus 19:8, King James Version) King James Version, Exodus 19:1-8: [1] In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai. [2] For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount. [3] And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; [4] Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. [5] Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: [6] And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. [7] And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him. [8] And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD. ### The mountain of smoke and fire (Exodus 19:9-20) God told Moses that in three days, he would come down onto the mountain, where all the people could see. So the people got ready. They washed their clothes. Moses marked a line all the way around the mountain, and the people stayed back behind it. On the third day, in the morning, there was thunder and lightning. A thick cloud sat on the mountain. A trumpet sounded, very loud, and the people in the camp trembled. Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God. The whole mountain was covered in smoke, because the Lord had come down on it in fire. The smoke rose up like smoke from a great oven. The trumpet grew louder and louder. Then God called Moses to the very top of the mountain. And Moses went up. King James Version, Exodus 19:9-20: [9] And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD. [10] And the LORD said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes, [11] And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. [12] And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death: [13] There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. [14] And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. [15] And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives. [16] And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. [17] And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. [18] And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. [19] And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. [20] And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. ### God speaks ten words (Exodus 20:1-17) Then God spoke, and all the people heard. First he told them who he was: the Lord their God, who had brought them out of Egypt. Then God gave ten commandments. A commandment is something God tells us to do. > "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3, King James Version) Do not make idols, statues to kneel down to and worship. Do not use God's name in a careless or empty way. Remember the Sabbath day. Work for six days, and rest on the seventh, a day kept special for God. > "Honour thy father and thy mother" (Exodus 20:12, King James Version) Do not kill. Husbands and wives, keep your promise to each other. Do not steal. Do not tell lies about other people. And do not covet. To covet is to want something that belongs to someone else, so much that you wish it were yours. Ten commandments. And God had spoken every one. King James Version, Exodus 20:1-17: [1] And God spake all these words, saying, [2] I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. [3] Thou shalt have no other gods before me. [4] Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: [5] Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; [6] And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. [7] Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. [8] Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. [9] Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: [10] But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: [11] For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. [12] Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. [13] Thou shalt not kill. [14] Thou shalt not commit adultery. [15] Thou shalt not steal. [16] Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. [17] Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. ### Come up to me (Exodus 24:3-18) Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Early in the morning, he built an altar at the bottom of the mountain, and set up twelve tall stones, one for each tribe of Israel. Then Moses took the book and spoke God's words out loud to all the people. And once more, the people promised: > "All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient." (Exodus 24:7, King James Version) Then God called Moses to come up the mountain. God would give him tables of stone, with the commandments written on them. Tables of stone are flat stones for writing on. So Moses went up the mountain, and a cloud covered it. From down below, the glory of the Lord looked like fire on the mountaintop. Moses went right into the cloud. And he stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights. King James Version, Exodus 24:3-18: [3] And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do. [4] And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. [5] And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD. [6] And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. [7] And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. [8] And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words. [9] Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel: [10] And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness. [11] And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink. [12] And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. [13] And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God. [14] And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them. [15] And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount. [16] And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud. [17] And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. [18] And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights. ### The golden calf (Exodus 32:1-20) Down in the camp, the people waited and waited. Where had Moses gone? The people went to Aaron, Moses' brother. They asked him to make them gods to go in front of them. So Aaron took their gold earrings, melted them, and shaped the gold into a calf. The people said the golden calf was the god that had brought them out of Egypt. The next day, they had a feast, and they danced. Up on the mountain, God told Moses what the people had done. And Moses prayed for them. Then Moses came down the mountain, with two tables of stone in his hands. They were written on both sides. > "the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables." (Exodus 32:16, King James Version) When Moses came near the camp, he saw the golden calf, and the dancing. Moses was very angry. He threw down the stones, and they broke at the bottom of the mountain. Then he burned the golden calf in the fire. King James Version, Exodus 32:1-20: [1] And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. [2] And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. [3] And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. [4] And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. [5] And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD. [6] And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. [7] And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: [8] They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. [9] And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: [10] Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. [11] And Moses besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? [12] Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. [13] Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. [14] And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. [15] And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written. [16] And the tables were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables. [17] And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said unto Moses, There is a noise of war in the camp. [18] And he said, It is not the voice of them that shout for mastery, neither is it the voice of them that cry for being overcome: but the noise of them that sing do I hear. [19] And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. [20] And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. ### Two new stones (Exodus 34:1-9) Then the Lord told Moses to cut two new stones, like the first ones. God would write the very same words on them again. So Moses cut two new stones. Early in the morning, he climbed Mount Sinai all alone, carrying the stones in his hands. The Lord came down in the cloud and stood with him there. Then the Lord passed by in front of Moses, and called out: > "The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth" (Exodus 34:6, King James Version) Merciful means God is kind when we do wrong. Longsuffering means he is very, very patient. Moses bent down low and worshipped. Then he asked God to go with the people and forgive them. King James Version, Exodus 34:1-9: [1] And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. [2] And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. [3] And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. [4] And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. [5] And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. [6] And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, [7] Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. [8] And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. [9] And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance. Do you remember what the people said, all together? All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. Can you say it too? All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. They said it at the bottom of the mountain. Then they forgot. And God wrote his words again, on two new stones. The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. ## How to explain the Ten Commandments to a child Start with the rescue. Before God gave a single commandment, he reminded his people that he had already set them free (Exodus 20:2). So the commandments are not how children earn God's love; they show how people God loves can live. The first ones are about loving God, and the rest are about treating other people well, the way Jesus summed them up (Matthew 22:37-40). ## What this story shows about God - **God rescues first.** Before God gave a single commandment, he reminded his people that he had already set them free. The commandments were not how they earned his love. They were how a rescued people would live. (Exodus 20:2) - **God speaks so we can know him.** God came down and spoke to the people himself, and then wrote his words on stone so they would not be lost. (Exodus 20:1; Exodus 24:12) - **God is merciful.** When the people broke their promise, God gave his words again on two new stones, and named himself merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. (Exodus 34:1-7) ## Questions to ask after ### Ages 3 to 5 - What did all the people promise, together? - What did God write his words on? - What did Moses carry up the mountain the second time? ### Ages 6 to 9 - God told the people he had carried them like an eagle. What do you think that felt like? - Which of the ten commandments do you think is the hardest to keep? Why? - The people broke their promise, and God still wrote his words again. What does that tell you about God? ### Ages 10 to 12 - God reminded the people he had set them free before he gave them a single commandment. Why do you think he did it in that order? - The first commandments are about God and the rest are about other people. How are the two connected? - Why do you think the people found it so hard to wait for Moses? ## If your child asks ### Why are the Ten Commandments numbered differently in different churches? The Bible calls them "the ten commandments" (Exodus 34:28) but doesn't put numbers on them. Jewish, Catholic and Lutheran, and most Protestant traditions group the verses of Exodus 20 in slightly different ways, so the numbers shift. The words themselves are the same in every list. (Exodus 34:28) ### How do I explain "adultery" to a child? For little ones: adultery is when a husband or wife breaks their promise to love only each other. When people marry, they make that promise, and the seventh commandment says to keep it. Exodus 20:14 says it in four words: "Thou shalt not commit adultery." (Exodus 20:14) ### Why was Mount Sinai so scary in the Ten Commandments story? God was showing his people how great and holy he is. In Exodus 20:20, Moses told the frightened people, "Fear not: for God is come to prove you", so that they would take God's words seriously and not do wrong. The line around the mountain kept the people safe (Exodus 19:12). (Exodus 20:18-21) ### Do Christians still have to keep the Ten Commandments? Jesus said he did not come to destroy the law but to fulfil it (Matthew 5:17). When someone asked him for the greatest commandment, he said to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and to love your neighbour as yourself, and that all the law hangs on those two (Matthew 22:36-40). Churches explain how this applies to the Sabbath in different ways. (Matthew 5:17; Matthew 22:36-40) ### What happened to the people who made the golden calf? For grown-ups: Exodus 32:25-35 tells that about three thousand men died that day, and that God sent a plague on the people. Our Ten Commandments story leaves this out. With a young child you could say: doing wrong hurt many people, Moses prayed for them, and God forgave them and went with them (Exodus 34:9-10). (Exodus 32:25-35; Exodus 34:9-10) ## What we added and left out Every quoted line in this story is the King James Bible, word for word. What we added: - Plain explanations of old words, in the next breath: bare, commandment, tables of stone, covet, merciful, longsuffering. - The ten commandments in children's words inside the story. The Bible's own words for every one are in the scripture panel. - We say the people grew tired of waiting. The Bible says "the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount" (Exodus 32:1). What we left out: - The laws in Exodus 21 to 23 and the instructions for the tabernacle in Exodus 25 to 31. - The sacrifices and the sprinkled blood of the covenant (Exodus 24:5-8), and the elders' meal on the mountain (Exodus 24:9-11). - God's anger and Moses' long prayer for the people (Exodus 32:7-14), shortened to one sentence. - Moses making the people drink water with the ground-up calf in it (Exodus 32:20), the punishment that followed (Exodus 32:25-35), and Moses' shining face (Exodus 34:29-35). - Moses' second forty days on the mountain, when the new stones were written (Exodus 34:28). Not in the Bible, so not in our story: The Bible doesn't say the stones had rounded tops, as many pictures show, or how big they were. It says there were two tables of stone, written on both sides by God (Exodus 32:15-16). It doesn't put numbers on the commandments either: it calls them "the ten commandments" (Exodus 34:28) and leaves the grouping to us. ## Words from the story - **Commandment**: Something God tells us to do, or not to do. - **Bare**: An old word for carried. - **Tables of stone**: Flat, smooth pieces of stone, with words cut into them. Many people call them tablets. - **Sabbath**: The seventh day of the week, a day of rest kept special for God. - **Covet**: To want something that belongs to someone else, so much that you wish it were yours. - **Graven**: Cut or carved into something hard, like stone. - **Merciful**: Kind and forgiving to someone who has done wrong. - **Longsuffering**: Very, very patient. ## Sources - Bible passages: Exodus 19:1-8; Exodus 19:9-20; Exodus 20:1-17; Exodus 24:3-18; Exodus 32:1-20; Exodus 34:1-9. King James Version (public domain) and Berean Standard Bible (public domain). - Written by Tinykiwi with AI assistance and checked line by line against the Bible text. Illustrations are AI-generated; narration is an AI voice recorded ahead of time.