Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Bearpecs AT aol.com]

See the excellent discussion on versification of Exodus in:  Mynatt, Daniel 
S., The Sub Loco Notes of the Torah in BHS, Fort Worth: Bibal Press, 1994.
Especially:  Appendix B, pp 251ff, and Note 154, pp 133-4.

According to the Western Massoretic tradition, Exodus contains 1209 verses.   
According to the Eastern tradition, there are 1207 verses.  The difference is 
in Chapter 20, where the Western (Palestinian) tradition counts 22 verses 
(counting 12 verses in the Ten Commandments), while the Eastern (Babylonian) 
tradition counts 20 verses (counting one verse for each of the 10 
commandments).  
Most modern editions have 23 verses, following the Western tradition except 
for verses 2-3 which were combined in the Western tradition.  If we consider 
all 
the different traditional verse divisions, there are 26 verses.

It's likely that the reason the first two commandments were consolidated in 
the Western tradition was that these two were considered by tradition to be 
spoken directly to the people by G-d, whereas the rest were mediated by Moses.