The Ten Commandments were based on the worship of one god while the neighboring people's laws were based on the worship of many gods and man-made images.
Jews believe that God revealed the Ten Commandments to a prophet, or messenger of God, called Moses. According to the Torah, Moses led the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
At the top of Mt. Sinai in the desert, Moses received the Ten Commandments. These rules differed from the laws of neighboring peoples because they were based on the worship of one god. The Israelites were to give their loyalty only to Yahweh. They were not to worship other gods or human-made images. Also, all people—whether rich or poor—were to be treated fairly.
The Bible gives two versions of the Ten Commandments, in essential content identical, one in Exodus and another in Deuteronomy. The enumeration of the commandants (which is number one, which is two etc.) are traditional and neither contained in the texts nor obvious.
The Catholic Church has traditionally used the Deuteronomy account and followed the division of the text given in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Scriptures made by second century BC Jews in Egypt and used by the early Church as its Old Testament. The Anglican Church and the Lutheran Church also use this account. The other Reformation churches use the Exodus listing, and adopted the Jewish enumeration of the Hebrew text.
See comparison of the full text (Catholic v Protestant) at Ewtn.com.