Exodus 20:15
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
You shall not steal.
American King James Version (AKJV)
You shall not steal.
American Standard Version (ASV)
Thou shalt not steal.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
Do not take the property of another.
Webster's Revision
Thou shalt not steal.
World English Bible
"You shall not steal.
English Revised Version (ERV)
Thou shalt not steal.
Clarke's Exodus 20:15 Bible Commentary
Thou shalt not steal - All rapine and theft are forbidden by this precept; as well national and commercial wrongs as petty larceny, highway robberies, and private stealing: even the taking advantage of a seller's or buyer's ignorance, to give the one less and make the other pay more for a commodity than its worth, is a breach of this sacred law. All withholding of rights and doing of wrongs are against the spirit of it. But the word is principally applicable to clandestine stealing, though it may undoubtedly include all political injustice and private wrongs. And consequently all kidnapping, crimping, and slave-dealing are prohibited here, whether practiced by individuals or by the state. Crimes are not lessened in their demerit by the number, or political importance of those who commit them. A state that enacts bad laws is as criminal before God as the individual who breaks good ones.
It has been supposed that under the eighth commandment, injuries done to character, the depriving a man of his reputation or good name, are included, hence those words of one of our poets: -
Good name in man or woman
Is the immediate jewel of their souls.
Who steals my purse steals trash, -
But he that filches from me my good name,
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed.
Barnes's Exodus 20:15 Bible Commentary
The right of property is sanctioned in the eighth commandment by an external rule: its deeper meaning is involved in the tenth commandment.
Wesley's Exodus 20:15 Bible Commentary
20:15 Thou shalt not steal — This command forbids us to rob ourselves of what we have, by sinful spending, or of the use and comfort of it by sinful sparing; and to rob others by invading our neighbour's rights, taking his goods, or house, or field, forcibly or clandestinely, over-reaching in bargains, not restoring what is borrowed or found, with-holding just debts, rents or wages; and, which is worst of all, to rob the public in the coin or revenue, or that which is dedicated to the service of religion.