Exodus 20:12 (YLT)

Passage

`Honour thy father and thy mother, so that thy days are prolonged on the ground which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee.

Nearby Context

Exodus 20:10 and the seventh day <FI>is<Fi> a Sabbath to Jehovah thy God; thou dost not do any work, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy man-servant, and thy handmaid, and thy cattle, and thy sojourner who is within thy gates, --

Exodus 20:11 for six days hath Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that <FI>is<Fi> in them, and resteth in the seventh day; therefore hath Jehovah blessed the Sabbath-day, and doth sanctify it.

Exodus 20:12 `Honour thy father and thy mother, so that thy days are prolonged on the ground which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee.

Exodus 20:13 `Thou dost not murder.

Exodus 20:14 `Thou dost not commit adultery.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "honour", "father", "mother", "days", "prolonged", "ground", "jehovah", and "giving". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "honour" and "father", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 11's "for six days hath Jehovah made the..." into verse 13's "Thou dost not murder...", so "honour" and "father" belong inside that flow. In Exodus context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "honour" and "father" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.