The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan describes each commandment at Sinai the same way — as a living body of fire. The second word traveled exactly as the first. "Like storms, and lightnings, and flames of fire. A burning light was on His right hand and on His left and was borne through the air of the heavens, returned, and was made manifest unto the camp of Israel; it returned, and was engraven on the tables of the covenant, and was turned in them from side to side. Then called He, and said, House of Israel, My people, Thou shalt have no other God beside Me" (Exodus 20:3).
The Targum wants you to feel the repetition. Each commandment is its own creature, its own flight, its own engraving. The Israelites did not hear ten sentences — they saw ten angels of fire descend one after another.
And the second word is the hinge of the whole covenant. If the first word (I am the Lord) is identity, the second word is exclusivity. God is not one of several. He is the only. The Aramaic rendering no other God beside Me closes every door — no household idol, no patron deity, no astral power, no hedging loyalty.
Notice what the Targumist calls the audience: House of Israel, My people. A second word that commands exclusivity is delivered in the language of intimacy. My people. The jealousy of the covenant is the jealousy of a lover, not a tyrant.
The takeaway: to accept the second word is to refuse the easy comfort of many small gods in favor of one difficult, demanding, incomparable Presence.