Exodus 20:6 Meaning and Explanation
“And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →A single conjunction changes the weight of the whole commandment. Verse 5 ends on hatred and four generations; verse 6 opens with 'and shewing mercy' and counts in thousands. Anyone who has read the second commandment and felt only its severity has stopped one line early. The proportion built into these two verses says something permanent about how God deals with people.
The sentence that warned about generations of hatred finishes with mercy extended to thousands who love God and keep his commandments. Love and obedience stand together, and the promise runs far wider than the warning.
The Context of Exodus 20:6
This half-verse completes the sentence begun in verse 4 and continued in verse 5, all of it spoken by God at Sinai in the hearing of the whole nation. The commandment against images runs from the prohibition itself, through the reason and warning, to this closing promise. Deuteronomy 5:10 records the same words when Moses rehearses the commandments to the next generation on the plains of Moab. Verse 7 then moves on to the name of the LORD, and verse 8 to the sabbath. Israel had been out of Egypt roughly three months when these words were spoken.
What Does Exodus 20:6 Mean?
'Shewing mercy' translates a Hebrew expression for covenant kindness in action, something done rather than merely felt. The recipients are 'thousands,' a word set deliberately against the third and fourth generation of the previous line. Deuteronomy 7:9 fills in what is implied here by speaking of a thousand generations, which stretches the promise past any horizon a listener could measure. Two descriptions follow, joined without a gap: 'them that love me, and keep my commandments.' Love comes first and obedience second, and the verse treats them as one description of one kind of person. Keeping the commandments is what love looks like when it has hands.
The asymmetry is the point of placing these lines side by side. Warning reaches three or four generations; mercy reaches thousands. The whole Decalogue rests on the announcement of verse 2, that this God brought Israel out of Egypt before asking anything of them, so the commandments arrive as the shape of a rescued life. Later Scripture keeps returning to this pairing. Exodus 34:6 and 7 recite God's abundant goodness and truth before naming the visiting of iniquity. The Psalms celebrate mercy that endures forever. Israel is being taught to expect far more kindness from the LORD than judgment, while taking the judgment seriously.
Jesus joins the same two words in the upper room when he says that whoever loves him will keep his commandments, and that the one who has his commandments and keeps them is the one who loves him. He is quoting the grammar of Sinai back to his disciples. He also identifies the greatest commandment as loving God with heart, soul, and mind, which is the first half of this verse given the highest place in the law. The mercy shown to thousands runs forward in Scripture until it reaches a cross, where the covenant kindness promised here is extended at a cost God himself absorbs.
Exodus 20:6 in the Original Language
chesed (חֶסֶד), 'mercy' -- the noun behind 'shewing mercy' names loyal covenant kindness, the steady goodness a partner shows because of a bond already made. English 'mercy' catches the generosity of it; the Hebrew adds faithfulness over time, which is why the promise here is counted in thousands.
Bible Verses Related to Exodus 20:6
“Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;”
- Deuteronomy 7:9
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
- John 14:15
“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.”
- Exodus 34:7
“But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;”
- Psalm 103:17
Where Exodus 20:6 Echoes in Scripture
Deuteronomy 7:9 takes up this promise and makes its scale explicit, describing the LORD as the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations. Moses is arguing from the character of God at the moment Israel stands before nations larger than itself. The verse borrows the exact pairing of love and obedience found here and answers the question the Sinai wording leaves open, namely how far thousands actually reaches.
How to Apply Exodus 20:6 Today
Households pass on more than property. The promise here suggests that faithfulness practiced now has a reach we will never see, arriving in lives we have never met. That reframes ordinary faithfulness, the kind that shows up as keeping a promise, telling the truth about money, or praying with a child at bedtime. It also offers relief to anyone carrying a difficult family history, since the line of mercy runs longer than the line of trouble. Loving God and keeping his commandments belong together in daily practice, so a good starting place is one commandment we have been quietly setting aside.
Reflection & Prayer
Whose faithfulness are we living downstream from, and have we ever thanked God for it out loud? A prayer to borrow: Lord, your mercy reaches further than I can count, and I have received more of it than I know. Teach me to love you in the ordinary decisions of this week, and let that love reach people whose names I will never learn.