DID YOU KNOW?
The answer
Not in the Bible. Exodus 20 gives the words with no numbers and never calls them ten. The name comes later. Exodus 34:28 and Deuteronomy 4:13 say "the ten commandments." The New Oxford Annotated Bible, a study Bible, notes that the Hebrew there literally means the ten words. The passage holds more than ten statements, and the Bible never says where one ends and the next begins.
Why it’s interesting
Most Jewish traditions make "I am the Lord your God" (Exodus 20:2) the first word. Catholic and Lutheran churches split the last verse, on coveting, into two. Most Protestant and Orthodox churches start at the ban on other gods (Exodus 20:3).
Scholarly consensus
Learn the Bible.
Not just the stories, but the history, authorship, and scholarship behind it.