are there different versions of the 10 commandments ?

[Rev. Rye]

It's also worth noting that, strictly speaking, even the list in Exodus 20 doesn't actually break down into 10 commandments, either.

1. I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
   
2. Thou shalt have no other gods before me
   
3. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
   
4. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
   
5. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy
   
6. Honour thy father and thy mother
   
7. Thou shalt not kill
   
8. Thou shalt not commit adultery
   
9. Thou shalt not steal
   
10. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour
    
11. Thou shalt not covet (neighbour's house)
    
12. Thou shalt not covet (neighbour's wife)
    
13. Thou shalt not covet (neighbour's servants, animals, or anything else)
    

You will notice that the list in Exodus 20, as parsed above, contains more than ten commandments as well. While "I am the Lord thy God" doesn't seem like much of a commandment, it is counted as such in the Talmud. It's all in the way certain authorities parse it. If merging of separate commandments eliminates Exodus 34, so does Exodus 20.

And yes, I did re-read Exodus 19, and it does not use the term "Ten commandments" either. Indeed, neither word appears in the chapter, and the term "commanded" only appears with the word "And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him." The speech God commanded Moses give to the Israelites does appear to refer to the list in Exodus 20, but, it actually uses the term 'covenant', which, by the very standards you introduced, would seem to put it in the same category as Exodus 34, which you reject.

And I read Exodus 19 in several different translations, so it would seem that I must be missing something. Where does Exodus 19-20 state that that chapter is the Ten Commandments and not Exodus 34? I figure that since you brought this point up, I would ask you to explain where it does so since it must have escaped not only me, but virtually every Biblical translator. And no, I will not count editorial headings added by translators after the fact as scriptural proof.

After all, if you really want to explain that:

• Scripture does indeed call the list in Exodus 20:3-17 the Ten Commandments
  
• The fact that the term is used just after another list of commandments in Exodus 34, but not before then, is merely a coincidence
  
• The reason Exodus 20:3-17 is The Ten Commandments is because of scriptural authority and not simply tradition that caught on because the rules there were a lot more understandable as rules in 20 than 34.
  

You're going to have to do a lot better job than you've been doing.