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{{Short description|Biblical principles relating to ethics and worship}}
{{Twootheruses | a list of ten religious commandments| The 1956 film| The Ten Commandments (1956 film)}}
{{Other uses}}
] emulated the 1675 Decalogue at ] ].<ref></ref>]]
{{redirect|Decalogue}}
<!--Template:Bibleverse must be used in a footnote, not inline per WP:EXTLINKS-->
{{Use Oxford spelling|date=August 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Ten Commandments series}}
], a prolific Jewish eighteenth-century scribe in Amsterdam. The Hebrew words are in two columns separated between, and surrounded by, ornate flowery patterns.|This 1768 ] by ] emulated the 1675 Ten Commandments at the ] ]]]


The '''Ten Commandments''' ({{langx|hbo|{{Script/Hebrew|עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים}}|ʿĂsereṯ haDəḇārīm|The Ten Words}}), or the '''Decalogue''' (from ] {{lang|la|decalogus}}, from ] {{langx|grc|δεκάλογος|dekálogos|label=none}}, {{literally|ten words}}), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the ], are given by ] to ]. The text of the Ten Commandments was dynamic in ancient Israel and appears in three markedly distinct versions in the Bible:<ref name="Coo2014" /> at ] {{bibleverse-nb||Exodus|20:2–17|HE}}, ] {{bibleverse-nb||Deuteronomy|5:6–21|HE}}, and the "]" of Exodus {{bibleverse-nb||Exodus|34:11–26|HE}}.
The '''Ten Commandments''', or '''Decalogue''', are a list of religious and moral imperatives which, according to some religious traditions, were written by ] and given to ] on ] in the form of two stone tablets. They feature prominently in ] and ].
The phrase "Ten Commandments" generally refers to the broadly identical passages in ] {{bibleverse-nb|Exodus||20:2-17|HE}} and ] {{bibleverse-nb|Deuteronomy||5:6-21|HE}}, but is used by some to refer to the so-called "]" from Exodus 34. This article refers only to the former.


According to the Book of Exodus in the ], the Ten Commandments were revealed to ] at ], told by Moses to the Israelites in and inscribed by the ] on two ].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ten Commandments {{!}} Description, History, Text, & Facts|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ten-Commandments|access-date=2021-02-03|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref>
==Text of the Ten Commandments==


Scholars disagree about when the Ten Commandments were written and by whom, with some modern scholars drawing comparisons between the Decalogue and ] and ] laws and treaties.<ref name="Rom-Shiloni">{{cite book |title=The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Law |last=Rom-Shiloni |first=Dalit |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-0-19-939266-7 |pages=135–155 |editor-last=Barmash |editor-first=Pamela |chapter=The Decalogue |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=emOtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA135}} “Three main dating schemes have been proposed: (1) it was suggested that the
The Ten Commandments are given in two passages of the Bible. For the ] see below.
Decalogue was the earliest legal code given at Sinai, with Moses as author, and the Amphictyony confederation as its setting (Albright 1939, 1949, Buber 1998, and others); (2)
{| class="wikitable"
the Decalogue was considered a product of the pre-exilic monarchic period, well embedded in the deuteronomistic writings, but presumed to reflect earlier periods of evolution (and possibly to be of northern origin; Carmichael 1985, Reventlow 1962, and Weinfeld 1990, 1991, 2001, among others); (3) the Decalogue has been understood as a postexilic product shaped primarily by deuteronomistic and priestly currents in the eighth century BCE and forward, and secondarily by prophetic and or wisdom influences. Among the features that seem to point to the lateness of the collection are its gradual literary evolution and its place within the Sinai traditions (Aaron 2006, Blum 2011, Hölscher 1988, and others). Harrelson (1962, who accepted this third dating suggestion) was cautious enough to admit that there were no good arguments to substantiate firmly any of these general frameworks”</ref>
! align="left" | {{bibleverse||Exodus|20:2-17|NRSV}}
! align="left"| {{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|5:6-21|NRSV}}
|-
| <sup>2</sup>I am the <small>]</small> your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;
| <sup>6</sup>I am the <small>]</small> your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;
|-
| <sup>3</sup>you shall have no other gods before me.
| <sup>7</sup>you shall have no other gods before me.
|-
| <sup>4</sup>You shall not make for yourself an image, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
| <sup>8</sup>You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
|-
| <sup>5</sup>You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, <sup>6</sup>but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
| <sup>9</sup>You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me, <sup>10</sup>but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
|-
| <sup>7</sup>You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
| <sup>11</sup>You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
|-
| <sup>8</sup>Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. <sup>9</sup>Six days you shall labor and do all your work. <sup>10</sup>But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. <sup>11</sup>For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
| <sup>12</sup>Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. <sup>13</sup>For six days you shall labour and do all your work. <sup>14</sup>But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. <sup>15</sup>Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.
|-
| <sup>12</sup>Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
| <sup>16</sup>Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
|-
| <sup>13</sup>You shall not murder.
| <sup>17</sup>You shall not murder.
|-
| <sup>14</sup>You shall not commit adultery.
| <sup>18</sup>Neither shall you commit adultery.
|-
| <sup>15</sup>You shall not steal.
| <sup>19</sup>Neither shall you steal.
|-
| <sup>16</sup>You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
| <sup>20</sup>Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbour.
|-
| <sup>17</sup>You shall not covet your neighbor’s house;
| <sup>21</sup>Neither shall you covet your neighbour’s wife.
|-
| you shall not ] your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
| Neither shall you desire your neighbour’s house, or field, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
|}


==History== ==Terminology==
], containing the oldest extant copy of the Decalogue. It is dated to the early ] period, between 30 and 1 BC.]]
In ], the commandments are termed עשרת הדברים (] Aseret ha-Dvarîm) and in ] עשרת הדברות (] Aseret ha-Dibrot), both translatable as "the ten statements." The name "Decalogue" is derived from the ] name δεκάλογος or "dekalogos" ("ten statements") found in the ] ({{bibleverse||Exodus|34:28}}, {{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|10:4}}), which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name.
The Ten Commandments, called
{{Script/Hebrew|עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים}}
(] {{lang|he-Latn|aséret haddevarím}}) in ], are mentioned at ] {{bibleverse-nb||Exodus|34:28|HE}},<ref name="ex34-28" /> ] {{bibleverse-nb||Deuteronomy|4:13|HE}}<ref>{{Cite web|title=Deuteronomy 4:13 – multiple versions and languages|url=https://studybible.info/compare/Deuteronomy%204:13|access-date=2021-03-14|website=studybible.info}}</ref> and ] {{bibleverse-nb||Deuteronomy|10:4|HE}}.<ref>{{cite web|title=Deuteronomy 10:4 – multiple versions and languages|url=https://studybible.info/compare/Deuteronomy%2010:4|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111021123919/http://studybible.info/compare/Deuteronomy%2010:4|archive-date=21 October 2011|access-date=9 December 2012|publisher=Studybible.info}}</ref> In all sources, the terms are translatable as "the ten words", "the ten sayings", or "the ten matters".<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1WUzUAdWRVUC&pg=PA3|title=The Ten Commandments: Ethics for the Twenty-First Century|first=Mark|last=Rooker|year=2010|publisher=B&H Publishing Group|location=Nashville, Tennessee|page=3|isbn=978-0-8054-4716-3|access-date=2 October 2011|quote=The Ten Commandments are literally the 'Ten Words' (''ăśeret hadděbārîm'') in Hebrew. In ], they are called {{Script/Hebrew|עשרת הדברות}} (transliterated {{lang|he-Latn|aseret ha-dibrot}}). The use of the term ''dābār'', 'word,' in this phrase distinguishes these laws from the rest of the commandments (''mişwâ''), statutes (''hōq''), and regulations (''mišpāţ'') in the Old Testament.}}</ref> In ] they are called עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְּרוֹת, ''aséret haddiberót'', a precise equivalent.{{Efn|Nouns often underwent this shift in gender and stem type between Biblical and Mishnaic Hebrew without any shift in meaning. Compare, for example, BH ''ohalim'' and MH ''ahilot''.}}


In the ], the ] translation of the Hebrew Bible, the phrase was translated as {{lang|grc|δεκάλογος}}, ''dekálogos'' or "ten words"; this Greek word became ''decalogus'' in ], which entered the ] as "Decalogue", providing an alternative name for the Ten Commandments.<ref>{{OEtymD|Decalogue|accessdate=2023-03-29}}</ref> The ] and ] English biblical translations used "ten verses". The ] used "ten commandments", which was followed by the ] and the ] (the ]) as "ten commandments". Most major English versions use the word "commandments".<ref name="ex34-28">{{cite web |url=http://studybible.info/compare/Exodus%2034:28 |title=Exodus 34:28 – multiple versions and languages |publisher=Studybible.info |access-date=9 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928011335/http://studybible.info/compare/Exodus%2034:28 |archive-date=28 September 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>
] (])]]
According to ] text, the commandments represent the utterances of God on ]. There are biblical passages that also refer to ten commandments being written by God on stone, and it is widely held that these were the ten commandments of this article (but not without controversy, see "]"). These are called"]"<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus||24:12|HE}}</ref>, also referred to as "tables of testimony"<ref>Exodus {{bibleverse-nb|Exodus||31:18|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb|Exodus||32:15|HE}}</ref> or "tables of the covenant"<ref>{{bibleverse|Deuteronomy||9|HE}} verses 9, 11, 15</ref>, which he gave to Moses. Moses then gave them to the people of Israel in the third month after their ] from Egypt. Israel's receipt of the commandments occurred on the third day of preparations at the foot of the mount.<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus||19|HE}}</ref>


The stone tablets, as opposed to the ten commandments inscribed on them, are called
The arrangement of the commandments on the two tablets is interpreted in different ways. Rabbi ] says that each tablet contained five commandments, "but the Sages say ten on one tablet and ten on the other".<ref>{{cite book |title=] |author=Rabbi Ishmael |editor=Horowitz-Rabin (ed.) |pages=233, Tractate ''de-ba-Hodesh'', 5}}</ref> Because the commandments establish a covenant, it is likely that they were duplicated on both tablets. This can be compared to diplomatic treaties of ], in which a copy was made for each party.<ref>{{cite web |title=What was Written on the Two Tablets? |url=http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/kitisa/mar.html |last=Margaliot |first=Dr. Meshulam |year=2004 |month=July |publisher=Bar-Ilan University |accessdate=2006-09-20}}</ref>
{{Script/Hebrew|לוּחוֹת הַבְּרִית}}, ''lukhót habberít'' "tablets of the ]", or לֻחֹת הָעֵדֻת, ''lukhot ha'edut'' "tablets of the testimony".


==Biblical narrative==
The tablets "were written on both their sides,"<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus||32:15|HE}}</ref> with the carving going through the full thickness of the tablets. The stones in the center part of letters were not connected to the rest of the tablet, but they did not fall out. The writing was also legible from both sides; it was not a mirror image on the back. These two miracles are explained in the ].<ref>'']''. tractate Shabbat 104a.</ref>
]
The biblical narrative of the revelation at Sinai begins in Exodus 19 after the arrival of the children of Israel at ] (also called ]). On the morning of the third day of their encampment, "there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud", and the people assembled at the base of the mount. After "the {{LORD}}<ref>When {{LORD}} is printed in small caps, it typically represents the so-called '']'', a Greek term representing the four Hebrews YHWH which indicates the divine name. This is typically indicated in the preface of most modern translations. For an example, see {{citation|author=Crossway Bibles|title=Holy Bible: English Standard Version|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=co2PZwEACAAJ|access-date=19 November 2012|date=28 December 2011|publisher=Crossway|location=Wheaton|isbn=978-1-4335-3087-6|page=IX|chapter=Preface|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130612030255/http://books.google.com/books?id=co2PZwEACAAJ|archive-date=12 June 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> came down upon mount Sinai", ] went up briefly and returned to prepare the people, and then in Exodus 20 "God spoke" to all the people the words of the covenant, that is, the "ten commandments"<ref>{{Bibleref2|Deuteronomy 4:13; 5:22| |9|Deuteronomy 4:13, 5:22|multi=yes}}</ref> as it is written. Modern biblical scholarship differs as to whether {{Bibleref|Exodus|19–20}} describes the people of Israel as having directly heard all or some of the decalogue, or whether the laws are only passed to them through Moses.<ref>Somer, Benjamin D. ''Revelation and Authority: Sinai in Jewish Scripture and Tradition'' (The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library). pp = 40.</ref>


The people were afraid to hear more and moved "afar off", and Moses responded with "Fear not." Nevertheless, he drew near the "thick darkness" where "the presence of the Lord" was<ref>{{Bibleref|Exodus|20:21|}}</ref> to hear the additional statutes and "judgments",<ref>{{Bibleref2|Exodus|21–23|9|Exodus 21–23}}</ref> all which he "wrote"<ref>{{Bibleref2|Exodus|24:4|9}}</ref> in the "]"<ref>{{Bibleref2|Exodus|24:7|9}}</ref> which he read to the people the next morning, and they agreed to be obedient and do all that the {{LORD}} had said. Moses escorted a select group consisting of ], ], and "seventy of the elders of Israel" to a location on the mount where they worshipped "afar off"<ref>{{Bibleref2|Exodus|24:1,9|9}}</ref> and they "saw the God of Israel" above a "paved work" like clear sapphire stone.<ref>{{Bibleref2|Exodus|24:1–11|9}}</ref>
After receiving the commandments and returning to Mount Sinai, Moses saw that the Israelites had "defiled themselves", and that his brother, ], had made a ] and an altar in front of it. Moses, in terrible anger, broke the tablets.<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus||32:19|HE}}</ref> God later had Moses carve two other tablets, to replace the ones he smashed.<ref>Exodus {{bibleverse-nb|Exodus||34:1|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb|Exodus||34:27-28|HE}}</ref> God himself appears as the writer.<ref>Deuteronomy {{bibleverse-nb|Deuteronomy||4:13|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb|Deuteronomy||5:18|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb|Deuteronomy||9:10|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb|Deuteronomy||10:4|HE}}</ref> This second set, brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses,<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus||34:29|HE}}</ref> was placed in the ],<ref>Exodus {{bibleverse-nb|Exodus||25:16|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb|Exodus||25:21|HE}}, {{bibleverse-nb|Exodus||40:20|HE}}</ref> hence designated as the "Ark of the Testimony."<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus||25:22|HE}}, {{bibleverse|Numbers||4:5|HE}}; cf. {{bibleverse|1|Kings|8:9|HE}}</ref>


{{blockquote|1=And the {{LORD}} said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tablets of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. <sup>13</sup> And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.|2=First mention of the tablets in {{bibleref2|Exodus|24:12–13}}}}
The Bible also makes other references to the commandments. References to them and the consequences for not following them are found throughout the book of ]. ] refers to the commandments in several verses,<ref>i.e. {{bibleverse||Matthew|19:16-19}}</ref> and condenses them into two general commands:
<blockquote>"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like unto it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.<ref>{{bibleverse|Matthew||22:34-40|}}; cf. ]</ref></blockquote>


The mount was covered by the cloud for six days, and on the seventh day Moses went into the midst of the cloud and was "in the mount ]."<ref>{{Bibleref2|Exodus|24:16–18|9}}</ref> And Moses said, "the {{LORD}} delivered unto me two tablets of stone written with the ]; and on them was written according to all the words, which the {{LORD}} spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly."<ref>{{Bibleref2|Deuteronomy|9:10|9}}</ref> Before the full forty days expired, the children of Israel collectively decided that something had happened to Moses, and compelled Aaron to fashion a ], and he "built an altar before it"<ref>{{Bibleref2|Exodus|32:1–5|9|Ex. 32:1–5}}</ref> and the people "worshipped" the calf.<ref>{{Bibleref2|Exodus|32:6–8|9|Ex. 32:6–8}}</ref>
==Variations between Exodus and Deuteronomy==
As was seen above, there are differences between the two Biblical expressions of the ten commandments, that found in Exodus and that found in {{bibleverse|Deuteronomy||5:1-22|HE}}. One difference is the commandment of Sabbath. In Exodus it says to "Remember (Hebrew: ''zachor'') the Sabbath day", and in Deuteronomy it says to "Safeguard (Hebrew: ''shamor'') the Sabbath day". Other differences include the last word in the third commandment, and the ninth commandments. The Talmud observes that the words ''zachor'' and ''shamor'' were spoken simultaneously; the fact that both could be heard was a miracle.<ref>''Talmud''. tractate Shevuot 20b</ref> The ] observes that the Talmud is silent on all other textual differences, and concludes that the added words in Deuteronomy are elaborations and explanations, in keeping with the character of Deuteronomy (''Mishneh Torah'', "a repetition of the Torah").<ref>]. ''Tifereth Yisrael'' chapter 43.</ref>


]'' (1659) by ]]]
==Division of the commandments==
After the full forty days, Moses and Joshua came down from the mountain with the ]: "And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount."<ref>{{Bibleref2|Exodus|32:19|9|Ex.32:19}}</ref> After the events in chapters 32 and 33, the {{LORD}} told Moses, "Hew thee two tablets of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tablets the words that were in the first tablets, which thou brakest."<ref>{{Bibleref2|Exodus|34:1|9|Ex. 34:1}}</ref> "And he wrote on the tablets, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the {{LORD}} spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the {{LORD}} gave them unto me."<ref>{{Bibleref2|Deuteronomy|10:4|9}}</ref> These tablets were later placed in the ].<ref>{{Bibleverse|Deuteronomy|4:10–13|HE}}, {{Bibleverse-nb|Deut.|5:22|HE}}, {{Bibleverse-nb|Deut.|9:17|HE}}, {{Bibleverse-nb|Deut.|10:1–5|HE}}</ref>
The commandments passage in Exodus contains more than ten imperative statements, totaling 14 or 15 in all. However, the Bible itself assigns the count of "10", using the Hebrew phrase ''ʻaseret had'varim''—translated as ''the 10 words'', ''statements'' or ''things.''<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus||34:28|HE}}, {{bibleverse|Deuteronomy||4:13|HE}}, {{bibleverse|Deuteronomy||10:4|HE}}</ref> Religious groups have divided these statements in different ways. The table below highlights those differences using the NRSV translation. While ] also has 10 basic commandments which mostly deal with the same issues, these do not map 1:1 on the Ten Commandments; numbers in brackets denote approximate equivalents.


== {{anchor|Numbering schemes|Numbering}}Commandments text and numbering ==<!-- Do not change translation without discussion in Talk -->
<center>

{| class="wikitable"
=== Religious traditions ===
! align="left" | Commandment
Although both the ] and the ] have the passages of Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 divided into ten specific commandments formatted with space between them corresponding to the Lutheran counting in the chart below,<ref>Mechon Mamre, {{Bibleverse|Exodus|20|HE}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/explore-the-archive/image/B-314643 |title=Dead Sea Scrolls Plate 981, Frag 2, B-314643 ManuScript 4Q41-4Q Deut |access-date=31 August 2020}}</ref> many ] give the appearance of more than ten imperative statements in each passage.
! width="80" | Jewish

! width="80" | Protestant
Different religious traditions categorize the seventeen verses of Exodus 20:1–17<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|20:1–17}}</ref> and their parallels in Deuteronomy 5:4–21<ref>{{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|5:4–21}}</ref> into ten commandments in different ways as shown in the table. Some suggest that the number ten is a choice to aid memorization rather than a matter of theology.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes |publisher=] |last=Chan |first=Yiu Sing Lúcás |year=2012 |location=Lantham, MA |pages=38, 241 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ITxsMU-7sIC&pg=PA37 |isbn=9781442215542 |access-date=20 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424074528/https://books.google.com/books?id=4ITxsMU-7sIC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA37 |archive-date=24 April 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Block />
! width="80" | Catholic / Lutheran* / New Church

! width="80" | Islam
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
|+ The Ten Commandments
| I am your Lord and God
! rowspan=2 | {{abbr|LXX|Septuagint}}
| align="center" | 1
| rowspan="2" align="center" | 1 ! rowspan=2 | {{abbr|P|Philo}}
| rowspan="3" align="center" | 1 ! rowspan=2 | {{abbr|R|Reformed Christianity}}
! rowspan=2 | {{abbr|T|Talmud}}
|-
! rowspan=2 | {{abbr|S|Samaritan}}
|You shall have no other gods before Me
| rowspan="2" align="center" | 2 ! rowspan=2 | {{abbr|A|Augustine}}
! rowspan=2 | {{abbr|C|Catholicism}}
| align="center" | 1
! rowspan=2 | {{abbr|L|Lutheranism}}
|-
! rowspan=2 | Commandment (])
|You shall not make for yourself an idol
! colspan=2 | {{bibleref|Exodus|20:1–17|KJV}}
| align="center" | 2
! colspan=2 | {{bibleref|Deuteronomy|5:4–21|KJV}}
|- |-
! Verses !! Text !! Verses !! Text
|You shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| align="center" | 3
| —
| align="center" | 3
| —
| align="center" | 2
| style="background:#f99;"| (0)
|-
| style="background:#f99;"| 1
|Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
| —
| align="center" | 4
| —
| align="center" | 4
| align="center" | 3 | style="background:#f99;"| 1
| —
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | ]
|Honor your parents
| 2 || <ref name="I am the Lord">I am the {{Lord}} your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.</ref>
| align="center" | 5
| 6 || <ref name="I am the Lord" />
| align="center" | 5
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| align="center" | 4
| align="center" | 2 | style="background:#f99;"| 1
| style="background:#f99;"| 1
|-
| style="background:#f99;"| 1
|You shall not murder
| align="center" | 6 | style="background:#fc9;"| 2
| align="center" | 6 | style="background:#f99;"| 1
| align="center" | 5 | style="background:#f99;"| 1
| align="center" | (4/6) | style="background:#f99;"| 1
| style="background:#f99;"| 1
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | ]
|You shall not commit adultery
| 3 || <ref name="No other gods">You shall have no other gods before me.</ref>
| align="center" | 7
| 7 || <ref name="No other gods" />
| align="center" | 7
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| align="center" | 6
| align="center" | 5 | style="background:#fc9;"| 2
| style="background:#fc9;"| 2
|-
| style="background:#fc9;"| 2
|You shall not steal
| align="center" | 8 | style="background:#fc9;"| 2
| align="center" | 8 | style="background:#f99;"| 1
| align="center" | 7 | style="background:#f99;"| 1
| align="center" | (7/8) | style="background:#f99;"| 1
| style="background:#f99;"| 1
|-
| style="text-align:left;" | ]
|You shall not bear false witness
| 4–6 || <ref name="Dont make carved image">You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the {{Lord}} your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.</ref>
| align="center" | 9
| 8–10 || <ref name="Dont make carved image" />
| align="center" | 9
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| align="center" | 8
| style="background:#ff9;"| 3
|-
| style="background:#ff9;"| 3
|You shall not covet your neighbor's wife
| style="background:#ff9;"| 3
| rowspan="2" align="center" | 10
| style="background:#ff9;"| 3
| rowspan="2" align="center" | 10
| align="center" | 9 | style="background:#fc9;"| 2
| style="background:#fc9;"| 2
|-
| style="background:#fc9;"| 2
|You shall not covet your neighbor's house...
| align="center" | 10 | style="background:#fc9;"| 2
| style="text-align:left;" | ]
| 7 || <ref name="Dont take the name">You shall not take the name of the {{Lord}} your God in vain, for the {{Lord}} will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.</ref>
| 11 || <ref name="Dont take the name"/>
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| style="background:#cf9;"| 4
| style="background:#cf9;"| 4
| style="background:#cf9;"| 4
| style="background:#cf9;"| 4
| style="background:#ff9;"| 3
| style="background:#ff9;"| 3
| style="background:#ff9;"| 3
| style="background:#ff9;"| 3
| style="text-align:left;" | ]
| 8–11 || <ref>Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the {{Lord}} your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave, or your female slave, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the {{Lord}} made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the {{Lord}} blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.</ref>
| ||
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| style="background:#cf9;"| 4
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| style="background:#ff9;"| 3
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| style="background:#ff9;"| 3
| style="text-align:left;" | ]
| ||
| 12–15 || <ref>Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the {{Lord}} your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the {{Lord}} your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male slave or your female slave, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male slave and your female slave may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the {{Lord}} your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the {{Lord}} your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.</ref>
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| style="background:#9fa;"| 5
| style="background:#9fa;"| 5
| style="background:#9fa;"| 5
| style="background:#9fa;"| 5
| style="background:#cf9;"| 4
| style="background:#cf9;"| 4
| style="background:#cf9;"| 4
| style="background:#cf9;"| 4
| style="text-align:left;" | ]
| 12 || <ref>Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the {{Lord}} your God is giving you.</ref>
| 16 || <ref>Honor your father and your mother, as the {{Lord}} your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the {{Lord}} your God is giving you.</ref>
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| style="background:#9ff;"| 6
| style="background:#b9f;"| 8
| style="background:#9ff;"| 6
| style="background:#9ff;"| 6
| style="background:#9fa;"| 5
| style="background:#9fa;"| 5
| style="background:#9fa;"| 5
| style="background:#9fa;"| 5
| style="text-align:left;" | ]
| 13 || <ref name="You shall not murder">You shall not murder.</ref>
| 17 || <ref name="You shall not murder" />
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| style="background:#9cf;"| 7
| style="background:#9ff;"| 6
| style="background:#9cf;"| 7
| style="background:#9cf;"| 7
| style="background:#9ff;"| 6
| style="background:#9ff;"| 6
| style="background:#9ff;"| 6
| style="background:#9ff;"| 6
| style="text-align:left;" | ]
| 14 || <ref>You shall not commit adultery.</ref>
| 18 || <ref>And you shall not commit adultery.</ref>
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| style="background:#b9f;"| 8
| style="background:#9cf;"| 7
| style="background:#b9f;"| 8
| style="background:#b9f;"| 8
| style="background:#9cf;"| 7
| style="background:#9cf;"| 7
| style="background:#9cf;"| 7
| style="background:#9cf;"| 7
| style="text-align:left;" | ]
| 15 || <ref>You shall not steal.</ref>
| 19 || <ref>And you shall not steal.</ref>
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| style="background:#f9f;"| 9
| style="background:#f9f;"| 9
| style="background:#f9f;"| 9
| style="background:#f9f;"| 9
| style="background:#b9f;"| 8
| style="background:#b9f;"| 8
| style="background:#b9f;"| 8
| style="background:#b9f;"| 8
| style="text-align:left;" | ]
| 16 || <ref>You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.</ref>
| 20 || <ref>And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.</ref>
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9f;"| 9
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9f;"| 9
| style="text-align:left;" | ] thy neighbour's house
| 17a || <ref>You shall not covet your neighbor's house</ref>
| ||
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9f;"| 9
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9f;"| 9
| style="text-align:left;" | ] thy neighbour's house
| ||
| 21b || <ref>And you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field,</ref>
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9f;"| 9
| style="background:#f9f;"| 9
| style="background:#f9f;"| 9
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="text-align:left;" | Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife
| 17b || <ref>You shall not covet your neighbor's wife …</ref>
| 21a || <ref>And you shall not covet your neighbor's wife.</ref>
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9f;"| 9
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| style="text-align:left;" | or his slaves, or his animals, or anything of thy neighbour
| 17c || <ref>… or his male slave, or his female slave, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.</ref>
| 21c || <ref>… or his male slave, or his female slave, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.</ref>
|- style="vertical-align: top;"
| —
| —
| —
| —
| style="background:#f9a;"| 10
| —
| —
| —
| style="text-align:left;" | You shall set up these stones, which I command you today, on ]. (Tsedaka)
| 14c || <ref name="ReferenceB">And when you have passed over the Yaardaan you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, in Aargaareezem .</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Tsedaka |first1=Benyamin |date=2013 |title=The Israelite Samaritan Version of the Torah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-wn8ABo-Fz0C&pg=PA173 |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=W. B. Eerdmans |pages=173–174 |isbn=978-0-8028-6519-9 }}</ref>
| 18c || <ref name="ReferenceB"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Tsedaka |first1=Benyamin |date=2013 |title=The Israelite Samaritan Version of the Torah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-wn8ABo-Fz0C&pg=PA420 |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=W. B. Eerdmans |pages=420–21 |isbn=978-0-8028-6519-9 }}</ref>
|} |}
</center>


=== Categorization ===
* The Finnish Lutheran church uses a slightly different division of the ninth and tenth commandments: 9. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's ''house''; 10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's ''wife or…'' <ref> Catechism Christian Doctrine of the Evangelical
{{See also|Textual variants in the Book of Exodus#Exodus 20|Textual variants in the Book of Exodus#Exodus 34|Textual variants in the Hebrew Bible#Deuteronomy 5}}
Lutheran Church of Finland (Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland Church Council Helsinki 2000)
There are two major approaches to categorizing the commandments. One approach distinguishes the prohibition against other gods (verse 3) from the prohibition against images (verses 4–6):
</ref>


* '''LXX''': ] (3rd century BC), generally followed by ].
==Jewish understanding==
* '''P''': ] (1st century), has an extensive homily explaining the order, with the prohibition on adultery "the greatest of the commands dealing with persons", followed by the prohibitions against stealing and then killing.<ref>{{cite book |author=Philo |title=The Decalogue, IX.(32)-(37)}}</ref>
{{Jew}}
* '''R''': ]s follow ]'s '']'' (1536) which follows the Septuagint; this system is also in the ] '']''.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last1=Fincham |editor-first1=Kenneth |editor-last2=Lake |editor-first2=Peter |date=2006 |title=Religious Politics in Post-reformation England |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ozTiFBvdDTIC&pg=PA42 |location=Woodbridge, Suffolk |publisher=The Boydell Press |page=42 |isbn=1-84383-253-4}}</ref>


Another approach combines verses 3–6, the prohibition against images and the prohibition against other gods, into a single command while still maintaining ten commandments. ] and Jewish traditions include another commandment, whereas Christian traditions will divide coveting the neighbor's wife and house.
=== Significance of the Decalogue ===
The ''Torah'' includes ], including the ten from the Decalogue. Therefore, when compared to the whole canon of Jewish law, the Ten Commandments are not given any greater significance in observance or special status. When undue emphasis was being placed on them, their daily communal recitation was discontinued.<ref>''Talmud''. tractate Berachot 12a.</ref> Jewish tradition does, however, recognize them as the ideological basis for the rest of the commandments; a number of works (starting with Rabbi ]) have made groupings of the commandments according to their links with the Ten Commandments.


* '''T''': Jewish ] ({{circa|200 CE}}), makes the "prologue" the first "saying" or "matter."
Traditional Rabbinical Jewish belief is that these commandments, among the 613, apply solely to the Jewish people, and that the laws incumbent on the rest of humanity are outlined in the seven ] (several of which overlap with the Ten Commandments). In the era of the ], transgressing 6 of the 10 commandments (exceptions being the first commandment, Honoring your father and mother, saying God's name in vain, and coveting) in a specific fashion theoretically carried the ]; though this was rarely enforced due to a large number of stringent evidentiary requirements imposed by the ].
* '''S''': ] ({{circa|120 BCE|lk=no}}), contains additional instruction to Moses about making a ] to Yahweh, which Samaritans regard as the 10th commandment.
* '''A''': ] (4th century), follows the Talmud in combining verses 3–6, but omits the prologue as a commandment and divides the prohibition on coveting into two commandments, following the word order of Deuteronomy 5:21 rather than Exodus 20:17.
* '''C''': ] largely follows Augustine, which was reiterated in the '']'' (1992) changing "the sabbath" into "the lord's day" and dividing Exodus 20:17, prohibiting covetousness, into two commandments, in order to fulfill the number 10, since the third commandment (Exodus 20:4-5) is missing.
* '''L''': ] follow ] (1529), which follows Augustine and Roman Catholic tradition but subordinates the prohibition of images to the sovereignty of God in the First Commandment<ref name="LC"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105033215/http://bookofconcord.org/lc-3-tencommandments.php|date=5 November 2013}} (1529)</ref> and uses the word order of Exodus 20:17 rather than Deuteronomy 5:21 for the ninth and tenth commandments.


==Religious interpretations==
===Traditional division and interpretation===
The Ten Commandments concern matters of fundamental importance in Judaism and Christianity: the greatest obligation (to worship only God), the greatest injury to a person (murder), the greatest injury to family bonds (adultery), the greatest injury to commerce and law (bearing false witness), the greatest inter-generational obligation (honour to parents), the greatest obligation to community (truthfulness), the greatest injury to movable property (theft).<ref name=Huffmon>Herbert Huffmon, "The Fundamental Code Illustrated: The Third Commandment," in ''The Ten Commandments: The Reciprocity of Faithfulness'', ed. William P. Brown., {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623175728/https://books.google.com/books?id=87hQ2AjcttEC&lpg=PA205&pg=PA205 |date=23 June 2016 }}. Westminster John Knox Press (2004). {{ISBN|0-664-22323-0}}</ref>
According to the Medieval ], the first four statements concern the relationship between God and humans, while the next six statements concern the relationships between people. ] holds that the ''Ten Statements'' in fact contain 14 or 15 distinct ].


The Ten Commandments are written with room for varying interpretation, reflecting their role as a summary of fundamental principles.<ref name="Block">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BImK1cN04pwC&pg=PA1 |title=The Decalogue Through the Centuries: From the Hebrew Scriptures to Benedict XVI |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |author=Block, Daniel I. |year=2012 |pages=1–27 |isbn=978-0-664-23490-4 |editor1-first=Jeffrey P. |editor1-last=Greenman |editor2-first=Timothy |editor2-last=Larsen |chapter=The Decalogue in the Hebrew Scriptures}}</ref><ref name=Huffmon/><ref name="Miller">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DX-1XPmz4GMC&pg=PA4 |title=The Ten Commandments |publisher=Presbyterian Publishing Corp. |author=Miller, Patrick D. |author-link=Patrick D. Miller |year=2009 |pages=4–12 |isbn=978-0-664-23055-5 |access-date=20 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512064030/https://books.google.com/books?id=DX-1XPmz4GMC&lpg=PR4&pg=PA4 |archive-date=12 May 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Milgrom">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6taHOn5Xk_QC&pg=PA70 |title=Etz Hayim Study Guide |publisher=Jewish Publication Society |author=Milgrom, Joseph |year=2005 |pages=70–74 |isbn=0-8276-0822-5 |chapter=The Nature of Revelation and Mosaic Origins |editor1-first=Jacob |editor1-last=Blumenthal |editor2-first=Janet |editor2-last=Liss|title-link=Etz Hayim Humash }}</ref> They are not as explicit<ref name=Huffmon /> or as detailed as rules<ref name=Barclay>], {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160503175855/https://books.google.com/books?id=jlwiXdFnaQEC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA5 |date=3 May 2016 }} Westminster John Knox Press (2001), originally ''The Plain Man's Guide to Ethics'' (1973). {{ISBN|0-664-22346-X}}</ref> or as many other biblical laws and commandments, because they provide guiding principles that apply universally, across changing circumstances. They do not specify punishments for their violation. Their precise import must be worked out in each separate situation.<ref name=Barclay />
# "I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me..."
#:This commandment is to believe in the existence of God and His influence on events in the world, and that the goal of the redemption from Egypt was to become His servants (]). It prohibits belief in or worship of any additional deities.
# "Do not make a sculpted image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above..."
#:This prohibits the construction or fashioning of "idols" in the likeness of created things (beasts, fish, birds, people) and worshipping them.
# "Do not swear falsely by the name of the LORD..."
#:This commandment is to never take the name of God in a vain, pointless or insincere oath.<ref name="Rashi">]</ref>
# "Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy" (the version in Deuteronomy reads ''shamor'', "observe")
#:The seventh day of the week is termed ] and is holy, just as God ceased creative activity during Creation. The aspect of ''zachor'' is performed by declaring the greatness of the day ('']''), by having three festive meals, and by engaging in ] and pleasurable activities. The aspect of ''shamor'' is performed by abstaining from productive activity ('']'') on the Shabbat.
# "Honor your father and your mother..."
#:The obligation to honor one's parents is an obligation that one owes to God and fulfills this obligation through one's actions towards one's parents.
# "Do not murder"
#:Murdering a human being is a capital sin.<ref>]</ref>
# "Do not commit adultery."
#:Adultery is defined as sexual intercourse between a man and a married woman who is not his wife.<ref name="Rashi" />
# "Do not steal."
#:This is not understood as stealing in the conventional sense, since theft of property is forbidden elsewhere and is not a capital offense. In this context it is to be taken as "do not kidnap."<ref name="Rashi" />
# "Do not bear false witness against your neighbor"
#:One must not bear false witness in a court of law or other proceeding.
# "Do not covet your neighbor's house"
#:One is forbidden to desire and plan how one may obtain that which God has given to another. ] makes a distinction in codifying the laws between the instruction given here in Exodus (''You shall not covet'') and that given in Deuteronomy (''You shall not desire''), according to which one does not violate the Exodus commandment unless there is a physical action associated with the desire, even if this is legally purchasing an envied object.''''''


The Bible indicates the special status of the Ten Commandments among all other ] laws in several ways:
==Samaritan understanding==
* They have a uniquely terse style.<ref name=ODay/>
The ] varies in the ten commandments passages, both in that their Deuteronomical version of the passage is much closer to that in Exodus, and in the addition of a commandment on the sanctity of ].
* Of all the biblical laws and commandments, the Ten Commandments alone<ref name=ODay>] and ], ''Theological Bible Commentary'', {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160616220229/https://books.google.com/books?id=rQWknj4ORJkC&pg=PA34#v=onepage&q=%22finger%20of%20God%22&f=false |date=16 June 2016 }}, Westminster John Knox Press (2009) {{ISBN|0-664-22711-2}}</ref> are said to have been "written with the finger of God" ({{bibleref|Exodus|31:18}}). <!--- The source provides one more item, which should go here. !--->
* The stone tablets were placed in the ] ({{bibleref|Exodus|25:21}}, {{bibleref|Deuteronomy|10:2,5}}).<ref name=ODay/>


===Judaism===
The text of the commandment follows:
{{See|Law given to Moses at Sinai}}
]
<!-- Judaism footer, instead of overly large sidebar -->
The Ten Commandments form the basis of ],<ref name=solomon>Norman Solomon, ''Judaism'', {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603114814/https://books.google.com/books?id=zmPiTksnUE8C&lpg=PA17&pg=PA17#v=onepage&q=%22basis%20of%20Jewish%20law%22&f=false |date=3 June 2016 }}. Sterling Publishing Company (2009) {{ISBN|1-4027-6884-2}}</ref> stating God's universal and timeless standard of right and wrong – unlike the rest of the ] which Jewish interpretative tradition claims are in the Torah, which include, for example, various duties and ceremonies such as various halachich ] dietary laws, and the rituals to be performed by priests in the ].<ref name=dosick>Wayne D. Dosick, ''Living Judaism: The Complete Guide to Jewish Belief, Tradition, and Practice'', {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426134440/https://books.google.com/books?id=bpXUYUO7cg8C&lpg=PA31&pg=PA31#v=snippet&q=%22ten%20commandments%22&f=false |date=26 April 2016 }}. HarperCollins (1995). {{ISBN|0-06-062179-6}} "There are 603 more Torah commandments. But in giving these ten – with their wise insight into the human condition – God established a standard of right and wrong, a powerful code of behavior, that is universal and timeless."</ref> Jewish tradition considers the Ten Commandments the theological basis for the rest of the commandments. ], in his four-book work ''The Special Laws'', treated the Ten Commandments as headings under which he discussed other related commandments.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/text/philo/book27.html|title=Philo: The Special Laws, I|website=www.earlyjewishwritings.com|access-date=2 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190809050738/http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/text/philo/book27.html|archive-date=9 August 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> Similarly, in ''The Decalogue'' he stated that "under many other commands are conveyed by implication, such as that against seducers, that against practisers of unnatural crimes, that against all who live in debauchery, that against all men who indulge in illicit and incontinent connections."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/text/philo/book26.html|title=Philo: The Decalogue|website=www.earlyjewishwritings.com|page=XXXII. (168)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190721154846/http://earlyjewishwritings.com/text/philo/book26.html|archive-date=21 July 2019|url-status=live|access-date=2 August 2019}}</ref> Others, such as Rabbi ], have also made groupings of the commandments according to their links with the Ten Commandments.<ref>אלכסנדר קליין, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807043728/https://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/yitro/cla.html |date=7 August 2020 }}</ref>


According to ] Rabbi ], Ten Commandments are virtually entwined, in that the breaking of one leads to the breaking of another. Echoing an earlier rabbinic comment found in the commentary of Rashi to the Songs of Songs (4:5) Ginzberg explained—there is also a great bond of union between the first five commandments and the last five. The first commandment: "I am the Lord, thy God," corresponds to the sixth: "Thou shalt not kill," for the murderer slays the image of God. The second: "Thou shalt have no strange gods before me," corresponds to the seventh: "Thou shalt not commit adultery," for conjugal faithlessness is as grave a sin as idolatry, which is faithlessness to God. The third commandment: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain," corresponds to the eighth: "Thou shalt not steal," for stealing results in a false oath in God's name. The fourth: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," corresponds to the ninth: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor," for he who bears false witness against his neighbor commits as grave a sin as if he had borne false witness against God, saying that He had not created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day (the holy Sabbath). The fifth commandment: "Honor thy father and thy mother," corresponds to the tenth: "Covet not thy neighbor's wife," for one who indulges this lust produces children who will not honor their true father, but will consider a stranger their father.<ref>Ginzberg, Louis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180807032722/https://philologos.org/__eb-lotj/vol3/p03.htm#THE%20UNITY%20OF%20THE%20TEN%20COMMANDMENTS |date=7 August 2018 }}, (Translated by Henrietta Szold), Johns Hopkins University Press: 1998, {{ISBN|0-8018-5890-9}}</ref>
:And it shall come to pass when the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land of the Canaanites whither thou goest to take possession of it, thou shalt erect unto thee large stones, and thou shalt cover them with lime, and thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this Law, and it shall come to pass when ye cross the Jordan, ye shall erect these stones which I command thee upon ''Mount Gerizim'', and thou shalt build there an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones, and thou shalt not lift upon them iron, of perfect stones shalt thou build thine altar, and thou shalt bring upon it burnt offerings to the Lord thy God, and thou shalt sacrifice peace offerings, and thou shalt eat there and rejoice before the Lord thy God. That mountain is on the other side of the Jordan at the end of the road towards the going down of the sun in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah facing Gilgal close by Elon Moreh facing Shechem.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Samaritan Tenth Commandment |url=http://www.the-samaritans.com/html_articles/tenth_command.htm |last=Gaster |first=Moses |work=The Samaritans, Their History, Doctrines and Literature |publisher=The Schweich Lectures |year=1923}}</ref>


The traditional Rabbinical Jewish belief is that the observance of these commandments and the other ''mitzvot'' are required solely of the Jewish people and that the laws incumbent on humanity in general are outlined in the seven ], a concept that is not found anywhere in the Tanakh, several of which overlap with the Ten Commandments. In the era of the ] transgressing any one of six of the Ten Commandments theoretically carried the ], the exceptions being the First Commandment, honouring your father and mother, saying God's name in vain, and coveting, though this was rarely enforced due to a large number of stringent evidentiary requirements imposed by the ].<ref>Talmud Makkos 1:10</ref>
==Christian understanding==
] believe that ''']''' is the mediator of the ] (see ). His famous ] representing ] is considered by many Christian scholars to be the ] <ref>See also ].</ref> of the proclamation of the Ten Commandments (]) by ] from ].]]
{{Portalpar | Christianity | Heart2.jpg | 35}}
{{Christianity}}


====Two tablets====
===Roman Catholic, Lutheran & Anglican Christianity===
{{Main|Tablets of Stone}}
The Anglican, Lutheran and Roman Catholic division of the commandments both follow the one established by ], following the then current synagogue scribal division. The first three commandments govern the relationship between God and humans, the fourth through eighth govern public relationships between people, and the last two govern private thoughts. For additional information on the Catholic understanding of the Ten Commandments, see the '']'' (1994), sections . References to the Catechism are provided below for each commandment as well as the interpretation used by Lutherans and Catholics. The following text is from {{bibleverse||Deuteronomy|5:6-5:21|NRSV}} ]:
The arrangement of the commandments on the two tablets is interpreted in different ways in the classical Jewish tradition. Rabbi Hanina ben Gamaliel says that each tablet contained five commandments, "but the Sages say ten on one tablet and ten on the other", that is, that the tablets were duplicates.<ref>{{cite book|title=Mekhilta |author=Rabbi Ishmael |editor=Horowitz-Rabin |pages=233, Tractate ''de-ba-Hodesh'', 5|title-link=Mekhilta de-Rabbi Ishmael }}</ref> This can be compared to diplomatic treaties of the ancient Near East, in which a copy was made for each party.<ref>{{cite web |title=What was Written on the Two Tablets? |url=http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/kitisa/mar.html |last=Margaliot |first=Dr. Meshulam |date=July 2004 |publisher=Bar-Ilan University |access-date=20 September 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060426185437/http://www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/kitisa/mar.html |archive-date=26 April 2006 |url-status=live }}</ref>


According to the ], the compendium of traditional ] law, tradition, and interpretation, one interpretation of the biblical verse "the tablets were written on both their sides",<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus||32:15}}</ref> is that the carving went through the full thickness of the tablets, yet was miraculously legible from both sides.<ref>'']'', tractate ] 104a.</ref>
# "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments."
#: Catholic teaching distinguishes between '']''—paying honor to God through contemplation of objects such as paintings and statues—and '']''—adoration directed to God alone. (See .)
# "You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name."
#: This commandment prohibits not just swearing but the misappropriation of religious language in order to commit a crime, participating in occult practices, and blaspheming against places or people that are holy to God. (See .)
# "Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as well as you. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day."
# "Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you."
#: This commandment emphasizes the family as part of God's design, as well as an extended metaphor that God uses for his relationship with his creation. (See .)
# "You shall not murder."
#: The right of states to execute criminals is recognized when necessary to preserve the safety of citizens. However, other methods of protecting society (], ]) are increasingly available. Catholics (along with many Protestants) also consider abortion sinful and a violation of this commandment. ], if rigorous conditions of moral legitimacy are met (that is, the "use of arms must not produce evils and disorders graver than the evil to be eliminated"), is not a violation because "governments cannot be denied the right of lawful self-defense, once all peace efforts have failed." (See .)
# "Neither shall you commit ]."
#: Adultery is the breaking of the holy bond between husband and wife, and is thus a sacrilege. This commandment includes not just the act of adultery, but lust as well. (See .)
# "Neither shall you steal."
#: (See .)
# "Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor."
#: This commandment forbids misrepresenting the truth in relations with others. This also forbids lying. (See .)
# "Neither shall you covet your neighbor's wife."
#: (See .)
# "Neither shall you desire your neighbor's house, or field, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
#: (See .)


====Use in Jewish ritual====
The Commandments are seen as general "subject headings" for moral theology, in addition to being specific commandments in themselves. Thus, the commandment to honor father and mother is seen as a heading for a general rule to respect legitimate authority, including the authority of the state. The commandment not to commit adultery is traditionally taken to be a heading for a general rule to be sexually pure, the specific content of the purity depending, of course, on whether one is married or not. In this way, the Ten Commandments can be seen as dividing up all of morality.
]
The ] records that during the period of the ], the Ten Commandments were recited daily,<ref name=Glustrom /> before the reading of the ] (as preserved, for example, in the ], a Hebrew manuscript fragment from 150 to 100 BC found in Egypt, containing a version of the Ten Commandments and the beginning of the Shema); but that this practice was abolished in the synagogues so as not to give ammunition to heretics who claimed that they were the only important part of Jewish law,<ref>Yerushalmi Berakhot, Chapter 1, fol. 3c. See also Rabbi David Golinkin, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090615182833/http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Shavuot/In_the_Community/Torah_Reading_and_Haftarah/The_Ten_Commandments/In_Liturgy.shtml |date=15 June 2009 }}</ref><ref>''Talmud''. tractate {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612151250/https://www.sefaria.org/Berakhot.12a |date=12 June 2018 }}</ref> or to dispel a claim by early Christians that ''only'' the Ten Commandments were handed down at Mount Sinai rather than the whole Torah.<ref name=Glustrom />


In later centuries rabbis continued to omit the Ten Commandments from daily liturgy in order to prevent confusion among Jews that they are ''only'' bound by the Ten Commandments, and not also by many other biblical and Talmudic laws, such as the requirement to observe holy days other than the sabbath.<ref name=Glustrom />
===Protestant Christianity===
There are many different ] of Protestantism, and it is impossible to generalize in a way that covers them all. However, this diversity arose historically from fewer sources, the various teachings of which can be summarized, in general terms.


However, some rabbinic authorities still recommend reading the Ten Commandments privately as part of unscheduled, non-communal prayer.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Beit Yosef, Orach Chaim 1:14:1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Beit_Yosef,_Orach_Chaim.1.14.1?vhe=Tur_Orach_Chaim,_Vilna,_1923&lang=bi |access-date=2024-06-20 |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 1:5 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Shulchan_Arukh,_Orach_Chayim.1.5?vhe=Torat_Emet_363&lang=bi |access-date=2024-06-20 |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Mishnah Berurah 1:16 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Mishnah_Berurah.1.16?lang=bi |access-date=2024-06-20 |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref> The Ten Commandments are included in some prayerbooks for this purpose.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Siddur Ashkenaz, Weekday, Shacharit, Post Service, Ten Commandments 1 |url=https://www.sefaria.org/Siddur_Ashkenaz,_Weekday,_Shacharit,_Post_Service,_Ten_Commandments.1?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en |access-date=2024-06-20 |website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref>
Lutherans, Reformed and Anglicans, and Anabaptists all taught, and their descendants still predominantly teach, that the Ten Commandments have both an explicitly negative content, and an implied positive content. Besides those things that ought not to be done, there are things which ought not to be left undone. So that, besides not transgressing the prohibitions, a faithful abiding by the commands of God includes keeping the obligations of love. The ethic contained in the Ten Commandments and indeed in all of Scripture is, "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and mind, and soul, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself", and, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."


Today, the Ten Commandments are heard in the synagogue three times a year: as they come up during the readings of Exodus and Deuteronomy, and during the festival of ].<ref name=Glustrom /> The Exodus version is read in '']t ]'' around late January–February, and on the festival of Shavuot, and the Deuteronomy version in ''parashat ]'' in August–September. In some traditions, worshipers rise for the reading of the Ten Commandments to highlight their special significance<ref name=Glustrom>Simon Glustrom, ''The Myth and Reality of Judaism'', . Behrman House (1989). {{ISBN|0-87441-479-2}}</ref> though many rabbis, including ], have opposed this custom since one may come to think that the Ten Commandments are more important than the rest of the ].<ref> {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524100757/http://oldweb.chiefrabbi.org/ReadArtical.aspx?id=1872 |date=24 May 2015 }} Chief Rabbi. Retrieved 24 May 2015</ref>
]s theorize that there is an ] between these two sides of the ], the positive and the negative. ] and gratitude is a guide to those under the ], and the prohibitions are for unbelievers and profane people. This antithesis between ] runs through every ethical command, according to Lutheran understanding.


In printed ], as well as in those in manuscript form, the Ten Commandments carry two sets of ] marks. The ''ta'am 'elyon'' (upper accentuation), which makes each Commandment into a separate verse, is used for public Torah reading, while the ''ta'am tachton'' (lower accentuation), which divides the text into verses of more even length, is used for private reading or study. The verse numbering in Jewish Bibles follows the ''ta'am tachton''. In Jewish Bibles the references to the Ten Commandments are therefore {{bibleverse|Exodus||20:2–14}} and {{bibleverse|Deuteronomy||5:6–18}}.
The ]s have held that the commandments of God are the content of the covenant established through Christ: faith is faithfulness, and thus, ] is essentially the same thing as ].


====Samaritan====
] and ]s have taught the abiding validity of the commandments, and call it a summation of the "moral law", binding on all people. However, they emphasize the union of the believer with Christ - so that the will and power to perform the commandments does not arise from the commandment itself, but from the gift of the Holy Spirit. Apart from this grace, the commandment is only productive of condemnation, according to this family of doctrine.
The ] varies in the Ten Commandments passages, both in that the Samaritan Deuteronomical version of the passage is much closer to that in Exodus, and in that Samaritans count as nine commandments what others count as ten. The Samaritan tenth commandment is on the sanctity of ].


The text of the Samaritan tenth commandment follows:<ref>{{cite web |title=The Samaritan Tenth Commandment |url=http://shomron0.tripod.com/update12.19.2002o.html |last=Gaster |first=Moses |work=The Samaritans, Their History, Doctrines and Literature |publisher=The ] |year =1923 |author-link=Moses Gaster |access-date=26 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727202827/http://shomron0.tripod.com/update12.19.2002o.html |archive-date=27 July 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref>
Modern ], under the influence of ], commonly denies that the commandments have any abiding validity as a requirement binding upon Christians; however, they contain principles which are beneficial to the believer. Dispensationalism is particularly emphatic about the dangers of ], and thus, in a distinctive way de-emphasizes the ] (see also ]). Somewhat analogously, ] and the ] typically emphasizes the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the freedom of the Christian from outward commandments, sometimes in antithesis to the letter of the Law. ]s and ] have historically set themselves against the Law as a form of commandment binding on Christians, and have emphasized the inner guidance and liberty of the believer, so that the law is fulfilled not merely by avoiding what the Law prohibits, but by carrying out what the Spirit of God urges upon their conscience.


{{blockquote|And it shall come to pass when the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land of the Canaanites whither thou goest to take possession of it, thou shalt erect unto thee large stones, and thou shalt cover them with lime, and thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this Law, and it shall come to pass when ye cross the Jordan, ye shall erect these stones which I command thee upon ''Mount Gerizim'', and thou shalt build there an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones, and thou shalt not lift upon them iron, of perfect stones shalt thou build thine altar, and thou shalt bring upon it burnt offerings to the Lord thy God, and thou shalt sacrifice peace offerings, and thou shalt eat there and rejoice before the Lord thy God. That mountain is on the other side of the Jordan at the end of the road towards the going down of the sun in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah facing Gilgal close by Elon Moreh facing Shechem.}}
===Typical Protestant view===


===Christianity===
For those Christians who believe that the Ten Commandments continue to be binding for Christians (see also ] and ]), their negative and positive content can be summarized as follows.
{{See also|Christian views on the Old Covenant|Law and Gospel}}


Most traditions of Christianity hold that the Ten Commandments have divine authority and continue to be valid, though they have different interpretations and uses of them.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Braaten |first1=Carl E. |author1-link=Carl Braaten |last2=Seitz |first2=Christopher |chapter=Preface |title=I Am the Lord Your God |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=] |year=2005 |chapter-url=https://www.questia.com/read/119916248/i-am-the-lord-your-god-christian-reflections-on |page=x |access-date=15 September 2017 |archive-date=8 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708183205/https://www.questia.com/read/119916248/i-am-the-lord-your-god-christian-reflections-on |url-status=dead }}</ref> The ], which implore believers to "always remember the ten commands of God," reveal the importance of the Decalogue in the ].<ref name="Roberts2007">{{cite book|last=Roberts|first=Alexander|title=The Ante-Nicene Fathers|volume=VII|year= 2007|publisher=Cosimo, Inc.|language=en |isbn=978-1602064829|page=413}}</ref> Through most of Christian history the decalogue was considered a summary of God's law and standard of behaviour, central to Christian life, piety, and worship.<ref>{{cite book |last=Turner |first=Philip |editor-last1=Braaten |editor-first1=Carl E. |editor1-link=Carl Braaten |editor-last2=Seitz |editor-first2=Christopher |chapter=The Ten Commandments in the Church in a Postmodern World |title=I Am the Lord Your God |location=Grand Rapids, MI |publisher=] |year=2005 |chapter-url=https://www.questia.com/read/119916248/i-am-the-lord-your-god-christian-reflections-on |page=3 |access-date=15 September 2017 |archive-date=8 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170708183205/https://www.questia.com/read/119916248/i-am-the-lord-your-god-christian-reflections-on |url-status=dead }}</ref>
{{bibleverse||Exodus|20|NRSV}}:


Distinctions in the order and importance of said order continues to be a theological debate,<ref>{{cite book |last=Heiser |first=Michael |title=I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible |year= 2015 |publisher=Lexham Press |isbn=978-1577995395}}</ref> with texts within the New Testament {{Bibleverse|Romans|13:9}} confirming the more traditional ordering, which follows the ] of adultery, murder and theft, as opposed to the currently held order of the ] of murder, adultery, theft.
:Preface: vs 1-2<br />''Implies'' the obligation to keep all of the commandments of God, in gratitude because of the abundance of his mercy.<br />''Forbids'' ingratitude to God and denial that he is our God.


Protestantism, under which there are several denominations of Christianity, in general gives ] and ]. Magisterial Protestantism takes the Ten Commandments as the starting point of Christian moral life.<ref name="Sedgwick">], ''The Christian Moral Life: Practices of Piety'', {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505085708/https://books.google.com/books?id=HFVg2jBgL3IC&pg=PA9|date=5 May 2016}}. Church Publishing (2008). {{ISBN|1-59627-100-0}}</ref> Different versions of Christianity have varied in how they have translated the bare principles into the specifics that make up a full ].<ref name="Sedgwick" />
# vs 3<br />''Enjoins'' that God must be known and acknowledged to be the only true God, and our God; and, to worship him and to make him known as he has been made known to us.<br />''Forbids'' not worshiping and glorifying the true God as God, and as our God; and forbids giving worship and glory to any other, which is due to him alone.
# vs 4-6<br />''Requires'' receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances as God has appointed; and zeal in resisting those who would corrupt worship; because of God's ownership of us, and interest in our salvation.<br />''Prohibits'' the worshiping of God by ], or by confusion of any creature with God, or any other way not appointed in his Word.
# vs 7<br />''Enjoins'' a holy and a reverent use of God’s names, titles, attributes, ordinances, Word, and works.<br />''Forbids ''all abuse of anything by which God makes Himself known. Some Protestants, especially in the tradition of ], read this Commandment as forbidding any and all oaths, including judicial oaths and oaths of allegiance to a government, noting that human weakness cannot foretell whether such oaths will in fact be vain.
# vs 8-11<br />''Requires'' setting apart to God such set times as are appointed in his Word. Many Protestants are increasingly concerned that the values of the marketplace do not dominate entirely, and deprive people of leisure and energy needed for worship, for the creation of civilized culture. The setting of time apart from and free from the demands of commerce is one of the foundations of a decent human society. See ].<br />''Forbids'' the omission, or careless performance, of the religious duties, using the day for idleness, or for doing that which is in itself sinful; and prohibits requiring of others any such omission, or transgression, on the designated day.
# vs 12<br />The only commandment with explicitly positive content, rather than a prohibition; it connects all of the temporal blessings of God, with reverence for and obedience to authority, and especially for father and mother.<br />''Forbids'' doing anything against, or failing to give, the honor and duty which belongs to anyone, whether because they possess authority or because they are subject to authority.
# vs 13<br />''Requires'' all lawful endeavors to preserve our own life, and the life of others.<br />'Forbids'' taking away of our own life, or the life of our neighbor, unjustly (Just taking of life includes self-defense, Capital Punishment on the grounds of the violation of the 6th commandment, and times of War.); and, anything that tends toward depriving life.
# vs 14<br />''Enjoins'' protection of our own and our neighbor’s chastity, in heart, speech, and behavior.<br />''Forbids'' all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.
# vs 15<br />''Requires'' a defense of all lawful things that further the wealth and outward estate of ourselves and others.<br />''Prohibits'' whatever deprives our neighbor, or ourselves, of lawfully gained wealth or outward estate.
# vs 16<br />''Requires ''the maintaining and promoting of truth between people, and of our neighbor’s good name and our own, especially in witness-bearing.<br />''Forbids'' whatsoever is prejudicial to truth, or injurious to our own, or our neighbor’s, good name.
# vs 17<br />'Enjoins'' contentment with our own condition, and a charitable attitude toward our neighbor and all that is his, being thankful for his sake that he has whatever is beneficial to him, as we are for those things that benefit us.<br />''Forbids'' discontent or envy, prohibits any grief over the betterment of our neighbor's estate, and all inordinate desires to obtain for ourselves, or scheming to wrest for our benefit, anything that is his.


====References in the New Testament====
===Latter-day Saints view===
{{See also|Matthew 5#Antitheses}}
]
During his ], Jesus explicitly referenced the prohibitions against murder and adultery. In {{bibleref|Matthew|19:16–19}} ] repeated five of the Ten Commandments, followed by that commandment called "the second" ({{bibleref|Matthew|22:34–40}}) after the ].


{{Blockquote|And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
] teaches the continued practice of keeping the Ten Commandments as listed in KJV Exodus 20:2-17, including the following connotations:
He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.|{{bibleref|Matthew|19:16–19|KJV}}}}
* All mankind are the children of God and rightful beneficiaries of God's blessings through freely chosen obedience to the commandments.
* God should come first in our lives as the center of our worship, trust and gratitude.
* ''Work is a blessing''. The commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy brings many attendant blessings of the fruitfulness of the earth. A whole nation or community can be blessed with fruitfulness as its people choose to keep these commandments, as promised in many passages in Deuteronomy. Work allows for growth, joy and progress through trials of faith. (Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 2:11) Closely related blessings are available to communities that practice the ] (see Isaiah 58:6-14) through using donated monies or commodities to help the poor and needy.
* Parents have a primary, divinely given obligation to teach their children the Ten Commandments in a loving, non-controlling way (Deuteronomy 6:5-7). Children should continue to honor their aging family members through attentive care, where possible.
* The mainstream LDS Church teaches that communities and governments that foster or allow the general practice of abortion are violating the spirit of the sixth commandment, and thus diminish personal peace and prosperity. The same effect applies to violation of the seventh commandment, which are viewed as including pornography and pre-marital sexual relations.
* Personal, business/contractual and governmental integrity are vital to the strength of communities and nations, as implied in the eighth and ninth commandments.
* The LDS Church teaches that the blessings of freedom promised in Deuteronomy are available to whole nations as their people choose to follow the teachings of the Ten Commandments. While the separation of church and state is an important protection of the United States Constitution, "governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; ... for the good and safety of society..., such laws...framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life." (] 134:1,2)
* An important proclamation teaching God-given roles of parents and families relating to the Ten Commandments was announced publicly by LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley in September 1995, entitled ].


In his ], ] also mentioned five of the Ten Commandments and associated them with the neighbourly love commandment.
===Jehovah's Witnesses===
] hold that the commandments were given together with the Mosaic Law and the old covenant. While they understand the Bible as saying Christians are not bound by the Ten Commandments, ({{bibleverse|Colossians||2:13-14|}}) they recognize the importance the Bible places
on these principles for living a Christian life. ({{bibleverse|Galatians||6:2|}}; {{bibleverse|Matthew||22:35-40|}}) They believe that the Sabbatarian law is obsolete. ({{bibleverse|Colossians||2:16-17|}})


{{Blockquote|1=<poem>Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.</poem>|2={{bibleref|Romans|13:8–10|KJV}} KJV}}
The first four commandments define the correct relationship between God and man.
* ''First -'' Jehovah exacts exclusive devotion; He tolerates no rivalry with other gods. (Ex. 20:3)
* ''Second -'' Images are never to be used in worship - all forms of idolatry are an open affront to Jehovah. (Vs.4-6)
* ''Third -'' The use of God’s name is to be dignified, never used disrespectfully.
When the Israelites became unfaithful they, as representatives of Jehovah by bearing his name, "took it up" or "carried" it "in vain"(Vs.7)
* ''Fourth -'' The Sabbath day was reserved for reflection on spiritual things, a day of rest from work so that the Israelites could meditate on Jehovah's Laws without distraction. (Vs.8-10) In modern times, Jehovah's Witnesses are still commanded to follow this principle, though not keeping any explicit weekday holy.


==== Anglicanism ====
* ''Fifth-'' This commandment can be seen as the linking together of the first four (defining man's proper relationship with God) and the final six, (showing the proper relationships between humans) It is the obedience children owe their parents. This is a relationship which extends beyond childhood. To respect one’s parents is to show respect for the ultimate parent – Jehovah God.(Vs.12)
In ], the ], revised and altered by the ], in the year 1643 state that "no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral. By the moral law, we understand all the Ten Commandments taken in their full extent."<ref name="Neal1843">{{cite book |last=Neal |first=Daniel |title=The History of the Puritans, Or Protestant Non-conformists |publisher=Harper |year=1843 |page=3 |language=en}}</ref>


====Baptists====
* ''Sixth through Ninth -'' Murder, Adultery, Stealing and Lying are very pointed thus leaving no room for interpretation. These things are not to be practiced. (Vs.13-16)
] believe The Ten Commandments are a summary of the requirements of a works covenant (called the "Old Covenant"), given on Mount Sinai to the nascent nation of Israel.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Book of the Covenant |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Book-of-the-Covenant |access-date=2021-03-13 |website=www.britannica.com}}</ref> The Old Covenant is fulfilled by Christ at the cross. Unbelievers are still under the Law. The law reveals man's sin and need for the salvation that is Jeshua. Repentance from sin and faith in Christ for salvation is the point of the entire Bible.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schreiner |first=Thomas |title=The Old Covenant Is Over. The Old Testament Is Authoritative. |url=https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/old-covenant-response-andy-stanley/ |access-date=2021-03-13 |website=The Gospel Coalition |date=November 2018 |language=en-US}}</ref> They do reflect the eternal character of God, and serve as a paragon of morality.<ref>, pp. 1, 4</ref>
* ''Tenth –'' This makes it clear that not only were the Israelites not to practice the things mentioned in the previous nine commands, but that they were also to not allow a desire for these things to take root in their hearts and minds. (Vs.17)


====Catholicism====
==Muslim understanding==
{{Main|Ten Commandments in Catholic theology}}
{{Islam}}
In Catholicism it is believed that Jesus freed Christians from the rest of ], but not from their obligation to keep the Ten Commandments.<ref name=Kreeft>Jan Kreeft, ''Catholic Christianity: A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church'', . Ignatius Press (2001). {{ISBN|0-89870-798-6}}</ref> It has been said that they are to the moral order what the creation story is to the natural order.<ref name=Kreeft />
In ] ]/Musa is venerated as one of the greatest prophets of God; however, ] also teaches that the texts of the ] and the ] have been corrupted from their divine originals over the years, due to carelessness or self-interest. Despite this purported corruption, however, messages from the ] and the ] still coincide closely with certain verses in the ]. This is by-and-large the case with the Ten Commandments. Consequently, despite the Ten Commandments not being explicitly mentioned in the ] they are substantially similar to the following verses in the ] (using Jewish numbering of the Commandments):


According to the '']''—the official exposition of the ]'s Christian beliefs—the Commandments are considered essential for spiritual good health and growth,<ref name="Kreeft201">{{cite book |title=Catholic Christianity |last=Kreeft |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Kreeft |year=2001 |publisher=Ignatius Press |isbn=0-89870-798-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/catholicchristia00kree }} pp. 201–203 ()</ref> and serve as the basis for ].<ref name="Carmody">{{cite book |title=Reading the Bible |last=Carmody |first=Timothy R. |year=2004 |publisher=]|isbn=978-0-8091-4189-0}} p. 82</ref> Church teaching of the Commandments is largely based on the ] and ]s and the writings of the early ].<ref name="Cat">{{cite web|last=Paragraph number 2052–2074|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church|publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana|year=1994|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p3s2.htm|access-date=8 June 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226181028/http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p3s2.htm|archive-date=26 February 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' believes that in the New Testament, Jesus ] summarizing them into two "]."
# "There is no other god beside God."(47:19)
# "My Lord, make this a peaceful land, and protect me and my children from worshiping idols." (14:35)
# "Do not subject God's name to your casual swearing, that you may appear righteous, pious, or to attain credibility among the people." (2:224)
# "O you who believe, when the Congregational Prayer (Salat Al-Jumu`ah) is announced on Friday, you shall hasten to the commemoration of GOD, and drop all business." (62:9)<br /><small>The Sabbath was relinquished with the revelation of the Quran. Muslims are told in the Quran that the Sabbath was only decreed for the Jews. (16:124) God, however, ordered Muslims to make every effort and drop all businesses to attend the congregational (Friday) prayer. The Submitters may tend to their business during the rest of the day.</small>
# "....and your parents shall be honored. As long as one or both of them live, you shall never say to them, "Uff" (the slightest gesture of annoyance), nor shall you shout at them; you shall treat them amicably." (17:23)
# "....anyone who murders any person who had not committed murder or horrendous crimes, it shall be as if he murdered all the people." (5:32)
# "You shall not commit adultery; it is a gross sin, and an evil behavior." (17:32)
# "The thief, male or female, you shall mark their hands as a punishment for their crime, and to serve as an example from God. God is Almighty, Most Wise." (5:38 - 39)
# "Do not withhold any testimony by concealing what you had witnessed. Anyone who withholds a testimony is sinful at heart." (2:283)
# "And do not covet what we bestowed upon any other people. Such are temporary ornaments of this life, whereby we put them to the test. What your Lord provides for you is far better, and everlasting." (20:131)


The ] contain the Law of the Gospel, summed up in the ]. The Law of the Gospel is expressed particularly in the ].<ref name="Catechism 1">{{cite web|last=Paragraph number 1970 |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church|publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana|year=1994|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P6W.HTM |access-date=7 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226181028/http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p3s2.htm|archive-date=26 February 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' explains that, "the Law of the Gospel fulfills the commandments of the Law. The Lord's Sermon on the Mount, far from abolishing or devaluing the moral prescriptions of the Old Law, releases their hidden potential and has new demands arise from them: it reveals their entire divine and human truth. It does not add new external precepts, but proceeds to reform the heart, the root of human acts, where man chooses between the pure and the impure, where faith, hope, and charity are formed and with them the other virtues." The New Law "fulfills, refines, surpasses, and leads the Old Law to its perfection."<ref name="Catechism">{{cite web|last=Paragraph number 1967–1968|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church|publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana|year=1994|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P6W.HTM |access-date=7 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226181028/http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p3s2.htm|archive-date=26 February 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>
It can also be noted that in the 17th chapter, "Al-Israa" ("The Night Journey"), verses 22-37, the ] provides a set of moral stipulations which are "among the (precepts of) wisdom, which thy Lord has revealed to thee" that can be reasonably categorised as ten in number. It should be noted however, that these verses are not regarded by Islamic scholars as being somehow set apart from any other moral stipulations in the ], nor are they regarded as a substitute or replacement or abrogation of some other set of commandments as found in the ].
#'''Worship only God:''' Take not with Allah another object of worship; or thou (O man!) wilt sit in disgrace and destitution. (17:22)
#'''Be kind, honourable and humble to one's parents:''' Thy Lord hath decreed that ye worship none but Him, and that ye be kind to parents. Whether one or both of them attain old age in thy life, say not to them a word of contempt, nor repel them, but address them in terms of honour. (17:23) And, out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility, and say: "My Lord! bestow on them thy Mercy even as they cherished me in childhood." (17:24)
#'''Be neither miserly or wasteful in one's expenditure:''' And render to the kindred their due rights, as (also) to those in want, and to the wayfarer: But squander not (your wealth) in the manner of a spendthrift. (17:26) Verily spendthrifts are brothers of the Evil Ones; and the Evil One is to his Lord (himself) ungrateful. (17:27) And even if thou hast to turn away from them in pursuit of the Mercy from thy Lord which thou dost expect, yet speak to them a word of easy kindness. (17:28) Make not thy hand tied (like a niggard's) to thy neck, nor stretch it forth to its utmost reach, so that thou become blameworthy and destitute. (17:29)
#'''Do not engage in 'mercy killings' for fear of starvation:''' Kill not your children for fear of want: We shall provide sustenance for them as well as for you. Verily the killing of them is a great sin. (17:31)
#'''Do not commit adultery:''' Nor come nigh to adultery: for it is a shameful (deed) and an evil, opening the road (to other evils). (17:32)
#'''Do not kill unjustly:''' Nor take life - which Allah has made sacred - except for just cause. And if anyone is slain wrongfully, we have given his heir authority (to demand qisas or to forgive): but let him not exceed bounds in the matter of taking life; for he is helped (by the Law). (17:33)
#'''Care for orphaned children:''' Come not nigh to the orphan's property except to improve it, until he attains the age of full strength...(17:34)
#'''Keep one's promises:''' ...fulfil (every) engagement , for (every) engagement will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning). (17:34)
#'''Be honest and fair in one's interactions:''' Give full measure when ye measure, and weigh with a balance that is straight: that is the most fitting and the most advantageous in the final determination. (17:35)
#'''Do not be arrogant in one's claims or beliefs:''' And pursue not that of which thou hast no knowledge; for every act of hearing, or of seeing or of (feeling in) the heart will be enquired into (on the Day of Reckoning). (17:36) Nor walk on the earth with insolence: for thou canst not rend the earth asunder, nor reach the mountains in height. (17:37)


====Lutheranism====
==Views of other faiths==
], a Lutheran.]]
While other faiths do not generally recognize the Ten Commandments in their unity, many of them (], ], ], etc.) have comparable laws or principles .
The ] divide Mosaic Law into three components: the (1) moral law, (2) civil law, (3) ceremonial law.<ref name="WELS2015"/> Of these, the moral law as contained in the Ten Commandments remains in force today.<ref name="WELS2015">{{cite web |title=Old Testament Law |url=https://wels.net/faq/old-testament-law/ |publisher=] |access-date=1 December 2024 |language=English |date=9 March 2015}}</ref>
In ] ] the ] had many notions much resembling the Ten Commandments.


The Lutheran division of the commandments follows the one established by ], following the then current synagogue scribal division. The first three commandments govern the relationship between God and humans, the fourth through eighth govern public relationships between people, and the last two govern private thoughts. See Luther's Small Catechism<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927032351/http://www.bookofconcord.org/smallcatechism.php#tencommandments|date=27 September 2011}} (1529)</ref> and Large Catechism.<ref name="LC" />
==Controversies==
===Sabbath day===
{{main|Shabbat|Sabbath}}


====Methodism====
Most Christians believe that Sunday is a special day of worship and rest, every week commemorating the ] on the first day of the week on the Jewish calendar. Most Christian traditions teach that there is an analogy between the obligation of the Christian day of worship and the Sabbath-day ordinance, but that they are not literally identical - for a believer in Christ the Sabbath ordinance has not so much been removed as ], because God's very work of creation has been superseded by a "new creation" ({{bibleverse|2|Corinthians|5:17|}}), according to this Christian view. For this reason, most teach that the obligation to keep the Sabbath is not the same for Christians as in Judaism, and for support they point to examples in the New Testament, and other writings surviving from the first few centuries. Some conservative ], most of them within the ] tradition, are "sabbatarians", believing the first day of the week or ] to be the ] Sabbath (the 4th commandment never having been revoked and Sabbath-keeping being in any case a creation ordinance).
The moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, according to the founder of the ] movement ], was instituted from the beginning of the world and is written on the hearts of all people.<ref name="Rodes2014">{{cite book |last=Rodes |first=Stanley J. |title=From Faith to Faith: John Wesley's Covenant Theology and the Way of Salvation |publisher=James Clarke & Co |year=2014 |isbn=978-0227902202 |page=69 |language=en}}</ref>
As with the Reformed view,<ref name="Campbell2011">{{cite book |last=Campbell |first=Ted A. |title=Methodist Doctrine: The Essentials, 2nd Edition |publisher=Abingdon Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-1426753473 |pages=40, 68–69 |language=en}}</ref> Wesley held that the moral law, which is contained in the Ten Commandments, stands today:<ref name="Utter1913">{{cite book |title=The Sabbath Recorder, Volume 75 |publisher=George B. Utter |year=1913 |page=422 |language=en |quote=The moral law contained in the Ten Commandments and enforced by the prophets, he (Christ) did not take away. It was not the design of his coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken. It stands fast as the faithful witness in heaven.}}</ref>


{{quotation|Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind in all ages, as not depending either on time or place, nor on any other circumstances liable to change; but on the nature of God and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other" (Wesley's ''Sermons'', Vol. I, Sermon 25).<ref name="Utter1913"/>}}
Still others believe that the Sabbath remains as a day of rest on the Saturday, reserving Sunday as a day of worship. In reference to Acts 20:7, the disciples came together on the first day of the week (Sunday) to break bread and to hear the preaching of the apostle Paul. This is not the first occurrence of Christians assembling on a Sunday; Jesus appeared to the Christians on the "first day of the week" while they were in hiding. One can maintain this argument in that Jesus himself maintained the Sabbath, although not within the restrictions that were mandated by Jewish traditions; the Pharisees often tried Jesus by asking him if certain tasks were acceptable according to the Law (see: Luke 14:5). This would seem to indicate that while the Sabbath was still of importance to the Jews, Sunday was a separate day for worship and teaching from Scriptures.


In keeping with ], "while the ceremonial law was abolished in Christ and the whole Mosaic dispensation itself was concluded upon the appearance of Christ, the moral law remains a vital component of the covenant of grace, having Christ as its perfecting end."<ref name="Rodes2014" /> As such, in Methodism, an "important aspect of the pursuit of ] is the careful following" of the Ten Commandments.<ref name="Campbell2011" />
The ], ], ], ], ] and some other churches disagree with some of these views. They argue that the custom of meeting for worship on Sunday originated in ], specifically ] and ] (in which ] worship took place on Sunday) and constitutes an explicit rejection of the commandment to keep the ''seventh'' day holy. Instead, they keep Saturday as the Sabbath as a memorial to God's work of creation ({{bibleverse||Genesis|2:1-3|9}}, {{bibleverse||Exodus|20:8-11|9}}, {{bibleverse||Exodus|16:23,29-30|9}}) believing that none of the ten commandments can ever be destroyed ({{bibleverse||Matthew|5:17-19|9}}, {{bibleverse||Exodus|31:16|9}}). Seventh-day sabbatarians claim that the seventh day Sabbath was kept by the majority of Christian groups until the 2nd and 3rd century, by most until the 4th and 5th century, and a few thereafter, but because of opposition to Judaism after the ], the original custom was gradually replaced by Sunday as the day of worship. The history of these changes is certainly not altogether lost regardless of any belief in a suppression of the facts by a conspiracy of the pagans of the ] and the clergy of the Catholic Church. See ].


====Orthodox====
Jews had come to be loathed in the Roman Empire after the ], and this led to the criminalization of the Jewish Sabbath. The sheer hatred of Jews is quite apparent in the ] (4th Century AD) where Canon 37-38 states: "It is not lawful to receive portions sent from the feasts of Jews or heretics, nor to feast together with them." and "It is not lawful to receive unleavened bread from the Jews, nor to be partakers of their impiety." In keeping with this rejection of the Jews, this Roman council also criminalized the Jewish Sabbath as can be seen in Canon 29 of the Council Laodicea: "Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honoring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be ], let them be ] (]) from Christ."
]
The Eastern Orthodox Church holds its moral truths to be chiefly contained in the Ten Commandments.<ref name=Dabovich>Sebastian Dabovich, ''Preaching in the Russian Church'', . Cubery (1899).</ref> A ] begins with the Confessor reciting the Ten Commandments and asking the penitent which of them he has broken.<ref name=Hore36>Alexander Hugh Hore, ''Eighteen Centuries of the Orthodox Church'', . J. Parker and Co. (1899).</ref>


=== Killing or murder === ==== Pentecostalism ====
The Pentecostal Christianity believes the Ten Commandments were given directly from God summarizing the absolutes of spiritual and moral living that God intended for his people. They also attach a specific significance observing that the ] commemorates the giving of the Ten Commandments to ]. This view, admitted by several founders of the Pentecostal Church has passed into modern Christian ethic, where the feast is also celebrated as “the day of the giving of the Law” or ] as observed by ] liturgical books and ]. Pentecostals believe giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai fifty days after Passover and the ] of ] receiving the ] of God, as foretold by Him,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bible Gateway passage: Acts 1-8 - New King James Version |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+1%3A1-5&version=NKJV |access-date=2023-06-24 |website=Bible Gateway |language=en}}</ref> fifty days after His ] on Day of Pentecost was foretold by the prophet ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bible Gateway passage: Jeremiah 31:33-34 - New King James Version |url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2031%3A33-34&version=NKJV |access-date=2023-06-24 |website=Bible Gateway |language=en}}</ref> symbolizing God giving His Church the gift of the Holy Spirit, where law is written, not on tablets of stone, but in their hearts. Pentecostal ] believes that through Jesus Christ and with the exception of the Ten Commandments, they are not bound by the ] of the ]<ref>{{Cite web |title=What are the 613 commandments in the Old Testament Law? |url=https://www.gotquestions.org/613-commandments.html |access-date=2023-06-24 |website=GotQuestions.org |language=en}}</ref> and any adherence to Judaic ].
Older protestant translations of the bible,
those based on the ] and Roman Catholic translations
usually have "Thou shalt not ]",
whereas Jewish and newer protestant versions tend to "You shall not ]".
There is controversy as to which translation is more faithful, and both forms are quoted in support of ethical standpoints, often without realising they are controversial.


==== Reformed Christianity ====
The ] (Latin) translation has ''Non occides'', i.e. "Thou shalt not kill".
Reformed Christianity includes the ], ], ], and ] traditions. The ], in explaining the third use of the Law, teaches that the moral law as contained in the ] is binding for Christians and that it instructs Christians how to live in service to God in gratitude for His grace shown in redeeming mankind.<ref name="OPC2018"/> John Calvin deemed this third use of the Law as its primary use.<ref name="OPC2018">{{cite web|url=https://www.opc.org/qa.html?question_id=165|title=God's Law in Old and New Covenants|year=2018|publisher=]|language=en|access-date=1 June 2018}}</ref>
English translations using "kill" include
the ] (1611),
] (1901) and
] (American protestant, 1952) Versions.
Almost all Roman Catholic translations, including
the ] (1609/1752),
the ] (1970),
the ] (1985) and
the ] (1986),
have "kill".
] (German, 1534) also uses ''tödten'' (kill).


===== Presbyterianism =====
Protestant translations using "murder" include
The ], held by ]es, holds that the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments "does forever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof".<ref>{{cite web |title=Westminster Confession of Faith: Chapter XIX – Of the Law of God |url=http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/index.html?body=/documents/wcf_with_proofs/ch_XIX.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303172537/http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/index.html?body=%2Fdocuments%2Fwcf_with_proofs%2Fch_XIX.html |archive-date=3 March 2016 |access-date=23 June 2017 |language=en}}</ref>
the ] (British protestant, 1970),
and the
] (American, 1982),
] (American, 1989) and
] (American protestant, 2001)
Versions.
Jewish translations almost all use "murder", including
the ] (1917),
the ] (1963) and
the ] (1981).
A Jewish exception is the ] or ''Stone Edition'' tanach (1996).


==== Dispensationalism ====
The many examples in the Old Testament of killing sanctioned by God, are quoted in defence of the view that "murder" is more accurate. Furthermore, the Hebrew word for "kill" is "הרג" - "''harog''", while the Hebrew word for "murder" is "רצח" - "''retzach''", which is found in the Ten Commandments "לא תרצח" - "''lo tirtzach''".
With the emergence of ] (held to by Churches such as the ] and certain ]), certain communities believe and teach their adherents that all of the Law of Moses was fulfilled by Jesus Christ by His ], death and resurrection and the ] including the Ten Commandments no longer apply to them<ref>{{Cite web |title=Are We Under The Ten Commandments, Today? |url=https://www.timberlandchurch.org/articles/are-we-under-the-ten-commandments-today |access-date=2023-06-24 |website=Timberland Drive}}</ref> while others believe in following only the commandments that appear in the New testament<ref>{{Cite web |title=Do we have to keep the Ten Commandments given in the Old Testament? |url=https://www.neverthirsty.org/bible-qa/qa-archives/question/do-we-have-to-keep-the-commandments-and-laws-given-in-the-old-testament/ |access-date=2023-06-24 |website=NeverThirsty |language=en-US}}</ref> and hence do not follow or observe them as part of their faith and worship.


====The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints====
===You shall not steal ===
According to the doctrine of ], Jesus completed rather than rejected the Mosaic law.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/07/the-saviors-use-of-the-old-testament.p46?lang=eng |title=The Savior's Use of the Old Testament |publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |work=Ensign |access-date=28 November 2013 |author=Olmstead, Thomas F. |page=46 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190620144802/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/07/the-saviors-use-of-the-old-testament.p46?lang=eng |archive-date=20 June 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Ten Commandments are considered eternal gospel principles necessary for ].<ref name=mormon /> They appear in the ] 12:34–36,<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/12.34-36?lang=eng |title= Mosiah 12:34–36 |publisher=churchofjesuschrist.org |access-date= 5 April 2018}}</ref> 13:15–16,<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/12.34-36?lang=eng |title=Mosiah 13:15–16 |publisher= churchofjesuschrist.org |access-date= 5 April 2018}}</ref> 13:21–24<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/mosiah/12.34-36?lang=eng |title= Mosiah 13:20–24 |publisher= churchofjesuschrist.org |access-date= 5 April 2018}}</ref> and ].<ref name="mormon">{{cite web |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/ten-commandments?lang=eng&_r=1 |title=Ten Commandments |publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |work=Gospel Library |access-date=28 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717013753/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/ten-commandments?lang=eng&_r=1 |archive-date=17 July 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> According to the Book of Mosiah, a prophet named ] taught the Ten Commandments in the court of ] and was martyred for his righteousness.<ref name="encmorm">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Abinadi |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |publisher=Macmillan |access-date=28 November 2013 |author=Cramer, Lew W. |editor=Ludlow, Daniel H. |year=1992 |location=New York |pages=5–7 |url=http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Abinadi |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113061455/http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Abinadi |archive-date=13 November 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> ] knew the Ten Commandments from the ].<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203050544/http://www.ldsces.org/manuals/book-of-mormon-institute-student-manual/bm1996-05-mos-5-3.asp |date=3 December 2013 }}: "Some may wonder how Abinadi could have read the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses. It should be remembered that the brass plates Nephi obtained contained the five books of Moses ( {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191122145431/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/5.10-11?lang=eng |date=22 November 2019 }}). This record, which would have contained the Ten Commandments, had been passed down by Nephite prophets and record keepers. The previous scriptures were known to King Noah and his priests because they quoted from Isaiah and referred to the law of Moses (see Mosiah 12:20–24, 28)."</ref>
Significant voices of academic theologians (such as German Old Testament scholar A. Alt: ''Das Verbot des Diebstahls im Dekalog'' (1953)) suggest that commandment "you shall not steal" was originally intended against stealing people - against abductions and slavery, in agreement with the Jewish interpretation of the statement as "you shall not kidnap". With this understanding the second half of the ten commandments proceeds from protection of life, through protection of heredity, to protection of freedom, protection of law, and finally protection of property.


In an October 2011 address, the Church president and prophet ] taught "The Ten Commandments are just that—commandments. They are not suggestions."<ref>{{cite web |author=Thomas S. Monson |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2011/10/stand-in-holy-places?lang=eng |title=Stand in Holy Places – Thomas S. Monson |publisher=ChurchofJesusChrist.org |access-date=20 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190828014203/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2011/10/stand-in-holy-places?lang=eng |archive-date=28 August 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> In that same talk he used small quotations listing the numbering and selection of the commandments. This and other sources<ref>{{cite web|author=Dallin H. Oaks |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2013/10/no-other-gods |title=No Other Gods – Dallin H. Oaks |publisher=ChurchofJesusChrist.org |access-date=5 August 2019}}</ref> don't include the prologue, making it most consistent with the ] numbering.
===Idolatry===
''See main articles: ], ], ]''


A splinter group of the Church called the "]" have a belief similar to the Samaritans where they have the entire Ten Commandments in their scripture where others only have nine. The Strangite fourth Commandment is "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."<ref>], pp. 24–25. This commandment is number four in Strang's version of the Decalogue.</ref> The Strangite's founder and namesake ] wrote in "Note on the Decalogue" as part of the ] (a Strangite holy book) that no other version of the Decalogue contains more than nine commandments and speculated that his fourth Commandment was omitted from other works perhaps as early as ]' time (circa 37-100 AD).<ref>], pp. 38–46.</ref>
Christianity holds that the essential element of the commandment not to make "any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above" is "''and bow down and worship it''". Thus, they hold that one ''may'' build and use "likenesses", as long as the object is not worshipped. As a result, many Christian buildings and services feature images, some feature statues, and in some Orthodox services, ]s are venerated. For most Christians, this practice is understood as fulfilling the observance of this commandment, as the images are not being ]ped.


===Islam===
] teaches that the incarnation of God as a human, Jesus, makes it permissible and necessary to venerate icons.
{{See also|Torah in Islam|Moses in Islam}}


====Moses and the Tablets====
For Jews and Muslims veneration violates this commandment. Jews and Muslims read this commandment as prohibiting the use of idols and images in any way.
{{Main|Tablets of Stone#In the Quran}}
The receiving of the Ten Commandments by Prophet ] (Moses) is dealt with in much detail in Islamic tradition<ref>'']'' (Stories of the Prophets) ''Ibn Kathir''</ref> with the meeting of Moses with God on Mount Sinai described in Surah ] (7:142-145). The Revealing of the Tablets on which were the Commandments of God is described in the following verse:
{{blockquote|And We wrote for him (Moses) on the Tablets the lesson to be drawn from all things and the explanation of all things (and said): Hold unto these with firmness, and enjoin your people to take the better therein. I shall show you the home of ''Al-Fasiqun'' (the rebellious, disobedient to Allah).<ref>''The Noble Quran'', trans. Muhsin Khan; Taqi-ud-Din Hilali. Verse 7:145</ref>}}


The Tablets are further alluded to in verses 7:150, when Moses threw the Tablets down in anger at seeing the Israelites' worshipping of the golden calf, and in 7:154 when he picked up the Tablets having recovered from his anger:
Some Protestants will picture Jesus in his human form, while refusing to make any image of God or Jesus in Heaven.
{{blockquote|And when the anger of Musa (Moses) was appeased, he took up the Tablets, and in their inscription was guidance and mercy for those who fear their Lord.<ref>''The Noble Quran'', trans. Muhsin Khan; Taqi-ud-Din Hilali. Verse 7:154</ref>}}


====Classical views====
Very few Christians oppose the making of any images at all, but some groups have been critical of the use others make of images in worship. (See ].) In particular, the Orthodox have criticized the Roman Catholic use of decorative statues, Roman Catholics have criticized the Orthodox veneration of icons, and some Protestant groups have criticized the use of stained-glass windows by many other denominations. ] criticize the use of all of the above, as well as the use of the cross. ] people forbid any sort of graven image, such as photos.
Three verses of Surah ] (6:151–153) are widely taken to be a reinstatement (or revised version) of the Ten Commandments<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404143941/http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=953&Itemid=61 |date=4 April 2013 }}, see Chapter heading for the Commentary of Verse 6:151</ref><ref>"In the Quran, the Ten Commandments are discussed in Surah Al-An'am, 6:151-153": {{cite book|author1=Hillary Thompson|author2=Edward F. Duffy|author3=Erin Dawson|title=The Infographic Guide to the Bible: The Old Testament: A Visual Reference for Everything You Need to Know|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IUo8DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA43|date=7 November 2017|publisher=Simon and Schuster|isbn=978-1-5072-0487-0|pages=43–}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Hussein Naguib|title=The Quranic Ten Commandments: This Is My Straight Path Al An'am (6:153)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gCnooQEACAAJ|year=2014|publisher=Hussein M. Naguib|isbn=978-0-615-99559-5}}</ref> either as revealed to Moses ] or as they are to be taken by Muslims now:<ref>The numbering of the verses is given in bold while the numbering of the Commandments is in superscript.</ref>


{{blockquote|'''151.''' Say: "Come, I will recite what your Lord has prohibited you from: <sup>1</sup>Join not anything in worship with Him; <sup>2</sup>And be good (and dutiful) to your parents; <sup>3</sup>And kill not your children because of poverty – We provide sustenance for you and for them; <sup>4</sup>And come not near to ''Al-Fawahish'' (shameful sins, illegal sexual intercourse, adultery etc.) whether committed openly or secretly, <sup>5</sup>And kill not anyone whom Allah has forbidden, except for a just cause (according to the Law). This He has commanded you that you may understand.
]


'''152.''' "<sup>6</sup>And come not near to the orphan's property, except to improve it, until he (or she) attains the age of full strength; <sup>7</sup>And give full measure and full weight with justice. We burden not any person, but that which he can bear. <sup>8</sup>And whenever you give your word (i.e. judge between men or give evidence, etc.), say the truth even if a near relative is concerned, <sup>9</sup>And fulfill the Covenant of Allah. This He commands you, that you may remember.
===Public monuments and controversy in the United States===
''See also: ], ], ]''


'''153.''' "<sup>10</sup>And verily, this (the Commandments mentioned in the above Verses) is my Straight Path, so follow it, and follow not (other) paths, for they will separate you away from His Path. This He has ordained for you that you may become ''Al-Muttaqun'' (the pious)."<ref>''The Noble Quran'', trans. Muhsin Khan; Taqi-ud-Din Hilali. Verses 6:151–153</ref>}}
]
There is an ongoing dispute in the ] concerning the posting of the Ten Commandments on ]. Certain conservative religious groups, alarmed by the banning of officially-sanctioned prayer from public schools by the ], have taken this as a threat to the expression of religion in public life. As a result they have successfully lobbied many state and local governments to display the Ten Commandments in public buildings. As seen above, any attempt to post the Decalogue on a public building necessarily takes a sectarian stance; Protestants and Roman Catholics number the commandments differently. Hundreds of these monuments &ndash; including some of those causing dispute &ndash; were originally placed by ] ] as a ] to promote his ] ] '']''.


Evidence for these verses having some relation to Moses and the Ten Commandments is from the verse which immediately follows them:
Secularists and some ] oppose the posting of the Ten Commandments on public property, arguing that it violates the establishment clause of the ].
{{blockquote|Then, We gave Musa (Moses) the Book, to complete (Our Favour) upon those who would do right, and explaining all things in detail and a guidance and a mercy that they might believe in the meeting with their Lord.<ref>''The Noble Quran'', trans. Muhsin Khan; Taqi-ud-Din Hilali. Verse 6:154</ref>}}


According to a narration in ], ], a prominent narrator of ] traditions said, "In Surah Al-An`am, there are clear Ayat, and they are the Mother of the Book (the Qur'an)." He then recited the above verses.<ref name="Tafsir ibn Kathir"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404143941/http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=953&Itemid=61 |date=4 April 2013 }}, Commentary of verse 6:151. ] said, "Its chain is Sahih, and they (]) did not record it."</ref>
In contrast, many Conservative or religious groups claim that the commandments are not necessarily religious but represent the moral and legal foundation of society, and are appropriate to be displayed as a historical source of present day legal codes. Also, some conservatives argue that prohibiting the public practice of religion is a violation of the first amendment's freedom of religion. "Amendment I
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."


Also in Mustadrak Hakim is the narration of ]:
] groups counter that several of the commandments are explicitly religious and that statements of monotheism like "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" are unacceptable to many religious viewpoints, such as atheists or followers of polytheistic religions. Putting aside the constitutional issue of whether the constitution prohibits the posting of the commandments, there is clearly a legitimate political and civil rights issue regarding whether the posting of what could be construed as religious doctrine alienated religious minorities and created the ] by making it appear that a state church had been established, creating the impression that the very intent of the establishment clause was being undermined. Even without establishing that a literal violation of the First Amendment had occurred, the appearance that it had been violated to people who do not accept the commandments, or religion itself, could be just as damaging and marginalizing.
{{blockquote|The Messenger of Allah said, "Who among you will give me his pledge to do three things?"


He then recited the (above) Ayah (6:151–153).
In addition, it has been argued if the Commandments are posted, it would require that members of other religions be allowed to post the particular tenets of their religions as well. For example, an organization by the name of ] has won court cases against municipalities in Utah for refusing to allow the group to erect a monument of Summum ] next to the Ten Commandments. The cases were won on the grounds that Summum's right to ] was denied and the governments had engaged in ]. Instead of allowing Summum to erect its monument, the local governments chose to remove their Ten Commandments.


He then said, "Whoever fulfills (this pledge), then his reward will be with Allah, but whoever fell into shortcomings and Allah punishes him for it in this life, then that will be his recompense. Whoever Allah delays (his reckoning) until the Hereafter, then his matter is with Allah. If He wills, He will punish him, and if He wills, He will forgive him."<ref name="Tafsir ibn Kathir"/>}}
This incident shows another practical reason why not posting religious doctrine on government property is expedient; it is unlikely that a believer in the commandments would appreciate having a shrine to another religion placed next to them, and taken to its logical outcome (as shown by the Summum incident), it is clear that permitting religious speech through the mouthpiece of the state is impractical, given the reality of the diversity of religious belief and non-belief in the United States. Rather than enforcing any religious belief, or irreligion, some tend to merely feel that the state ought to be neutral on the subject of religion, and allow people to find their own faith, rather than have the state appear to endorse any particular beliefs.


] mentions a narration of ] in his ]:
Some religious Jews oppose the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools, as they feel it is wrong for public schools to teach their children Judaism. The argument is that if a Jewish parent wishes to teach their child to be a Jew (as most do), then this education should come from practicing Jews, and not from non-Jews. This position is based on the demographic fact that the vast majority of public school teachers in the United States are not Jews; the same is true for the students. This same reasoning and position is also held by many believers in other religions. Many Christians have some concerns about this as well; for example, can Catholic parents count on Protestant or Orthodox Christian teachers to tell their children their particular understanding of the commandments? Differences in the interpretation and translation of these commandments, as noted above, can sometimes be significant.
{{blockquote|"Whoever wishes to read the will and testament of the Messenger of Allah on which he placed his seal, let him read these Ayat (6:151–153)."<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130404143941/http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=953&Itemid=61 |date=4 April 2013 }}, Commentary of verse 6:151. ]: Dawud Al-Awdy narrated that, Ash-Sha`bi said that, Alqamah said that Ibn Mas`ud said (the above narration).</ref>}}


{| class="wikitable"
Organizations such as the ] (ACLU) have launched lawsuits challenging the posting of the Ten Commandments in public buildings. Opponents of these displays include a number of religious groups, including some Christian denominations, both because they don't want government to be issuing religious doctrine, and because they feel strongly that the commandments are inherently religious. Many commentators see this issue as part of a wider '']'' (culture struggle) between liberal and conservative elements in American society. In response to the perceived attacks on traditional society other legal organizations, such as ] have risen to advocate the conservative interpretation.
!Order
!Commandment in the ]
!Surat ]
!Surat ]
!Corresponding in the ]
|-
|First Commandment
|Do not associate others with God
| rowspan="5" |(151)
|(22)
|Do not put other gods before me
|-
|Second Commandment
|Honour your parents
|(23–24)
|Honour thy father and thy mother
|-
|Third Commandment
|Do not kill your children for fear of poverty
|(26–31)
|Do not murder
|-
|Fourth Commandment
|Do not come near indecencies, openly or secretly.
|(32)
|Do not covet thy neighbour's wife, Do not commit adultery
|-
|Fifth Commandment
|Do not take a life except justly
|(33)
|Do not murder
|-
|Sixth Commandment
|Do not come near the property of the orphan except to enhance it
| rowspan="4" |(152)
|(34)
|Do not covet his slaves, or his animals, or anything of thy neighbour
|-
|Seventh Commandment
|Give full measure and weigh with justice
|(35)
|Doesn't exist. (And the biblical "Remember the sabbath day" is absent in the Quran.)
|-
|Eighth Commandment
|Whenever you testify, maintain justice even regarding a close relative
|(36)
|Do not bear false witness against thy neighbour
|-
|Ninth Commandment
|Fulfil your covenant with God
|(34)
|Do not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
|-
|Tenth Commandment
|Follow God's path and not any other
|(153)
|(37–39)
|Do not make unto thee any graven image or idols neither kneel before them nor worship them
|}

====Other views====
{{See also|Islamic ethics#Moral commandments}}

===Main points of interpretative difference===

====Sabbath day====
{{See also|Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy|Biblical Sabbath|Shabbat|Judaizers}}
The Abrahamic religions observe the Sabbath in various ways. In Judaism it is observed on Saturday (reckoned from dusk to dusk). In ], it is sometimes ], sometimes on Sunday, and sometimes not at all (]). Observing the Sabbath on Sunday, the day of resurrection, gradually became the dominant Christian practice from the ] onward.{{citation needed|date=March 2016}} The Church's general repudiation of Jewish practices during this period is apparent in the ] (4th century AD) where Canons 37–38 state: "It is not lawful to receive portions sent from the feasts of Jews or heretics, nor to feast together with them" and "It is not lawful to receive unleavened bread from the Jews, nor to be partakers of their impiety".<ref name="newadvent.org"> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615085940/http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3806.htm |date=15 June 2006 }} – New Advent</ref> Canon 29 of the Laodicean council specifically refers to the sabbath: "Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ."<ref name="newadvent.org" />

====Killing or murder====
{{Main|Thou shalt not kill}}
]'' (1549).<br />The image is from the altar screen of the ] near the Law Courts in London.]]

Multiple translations exist of the fifth/sixth commandment; the Hebrew words {{Script/Hebrew|לא תרצח}} (''lo tirtzach'') are variously translated as "thou shalt not kill" or "thou shalt not murder".<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111021073544/http://studybible.info/compare/Exodus%2020:13 |date=21 October 2011 }} Multiple versions and languages.</ref>

The imperative is against unlawful killing resulting in ].<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150910071944/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0003_0_03145.html |date=10 September 2015 }}, Genesis 4:10, Genesis 9:6, Genesis 42:22, Exodus 22:2–2, Leviticus 17:4, Leviticus 20, Numbers 20, Deuteronomy 19, Deuteronomy 32:43, Joshua 2:19, Judges 9:24, 1 Samuel 25, 2 Samuel 1, 2 Samuel 21, 1 Kings 2, 1 Kings 21:19, 2 Kings 24:4, Psalm 9:12, Psalm 51:14, Psalm 106:38, Proverbs 6:17, Isaiah 1:15, Isaiah 26:21, Jeremiah 22:17, Lamentations 4:13, Ezekiel 9:9, Ezekiel 36:18, Hosea 4:2, Joel 3:19, Habakkuk 2:8, Matthew 23:30–35, Matthew 27:4, Luke 11:50–51, Romans 3:15, Revelation 6:10, Revelation 18:24</ref> The Hebrew Bible contains numerous prohibitions against unlawful killing, but does not prohibit killing in the context of ] ({{bibleref|1Kings|2:5–6}}), ] ({{bibleref|Leviticus|20:9–16}}) or ] ({{bibleref|Exodus|22:2–3}}), which are considered justified. The New Testament is in agreement that murder is a grave moral evil,<ref>Matthew 5:21, Matthew 15:19, Matthew 19:19, Matthew 22:7, Mark 10:19, Luke 18:20, Romans 13:9, 1 Timothy 1:9, James 2:11, Revelation 21:8</ref> and references the Old Testament view of bloodguilt.<ref>Matthew 23:30–35, Matthew 27:4, Luke 11:50–51, Romans 3:15, Revelation 6:10, Revelation 18:24</ref>

====Theft====
{{Main|Thou shalt not steal}}
German Old Testament scholar ]: ''Das Verbot des Diebstahls im Dekalog'' (1953), suggested that the commandment translated as "thou shalt not steal" was originally intended against stealing people, against abductions and slavery, in agreement with the Talmudic interpretation of the statement as "thou shalt not kidnap" (Sanhedrin 86a).

Alt's claim is somewhat questionable, because the decalogue verse (Exodus 20:12, Deuteronomy 5:16) forbids theft in general, whereas the Sanhedrin 86a discussion (abductions and slavery) deals with another biblical verse: Deuteronomy 24:7 which explicitly refers to theft (i.e. abduction) of a person in order to sell that person.

====Idolatry====
{{Main|Idolatry|Idolatry in Judaism|Idolatry in Christianity|Shirk (Islam)}}
In Judaism there is a prohibition against making or worshipping an idol or a representation of God, but there is no restriction on art or simple depictions unrelated to God. Islam has a stronger prohibition, banning not just representations of God, but also in some cases of Muhammad, humans and, in some interpretations, any living creature.

In the non-canonical ], it is claimed that Jesus stated that idolatry is the greatest sin as it divests a man fully of faith, and hence of God.<ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180115071747/http://www.barnabas.net/index.php/chapters/424-chapter-32-statues-of-flesh |date=15 January 2018 }} ''Barnabas.net''</ref> The words attributed to Jesus prohibit not only worshipping statues of wood or stone; but also statues of flesh. ''"...all which a man loves, for which he leaves everything else but that, is his god, thus the glutton and drunkard has for his idol his own flesh, the fornicator has for his idol the harlot and the greedy has for his idol silver and gold, and so the same for every other sinner."''<ref> ''Latrobe Edu''</ref> Idolatory was thus the basic sin, which manifested in various acts or thoughts, which displace the primacy of God. However, the Gospel of Barnabas does not form part of the Christian bible. It is known only from 16th- and 17th-century manuscripts, and frequently reflects Islamic rather than Christian understandings.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cirillo |first=Luigi |author2=Fremaux, Michel |title=Évangile de Barnabé |year=1977 |publisher=Beauchesne}}</ref>

Eastern Orthodox tradition teaches that while images of God, the Father, remain prohibited, depictions of Jesus as the incarnation of God as a visible human are permissible. To emphasize the theological importance of the incarnation, the Orthodox Church encourages the use of icons in church and private devotions, but prefers a two-dimensional depiction.<ref name=Hore>Alexander Hugh Hore, , J. Parker and co. (1899)<br />"The images or Icons, as they are called, of the Greek Church are not, it must be remarked, sculptured images, but flat pictures or mosaics; not even the Crucifix is sanctioned; and herein consists the difference between the Greek and Roman Churches, in the latter of which both pictures and statues are allowed, and venerated with equal honour." </ref> In modern use (usually as a result of Roman Catholic influence), more naturalistic images and images of the Father, however, also appear occasionally in Orthodox churches, but statues, i.e. three-dimensional depictions, continue to be banned.<ref name=Hore />

====Adultery====
This commandment forbade male Israelites from having sexual intercourse with the wife of another Israelite; the prohibition did not extend to their own slaves. Sexual intercourse between an Israelite man, married or not, and a woman who was neither married nor ] was not considered adultery.<ref>Collins, R. F. (1992). "Ten Commandments." In D. N. Freedman (Ed.), ''The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary'' (Vol. 6, p. 386). New York: Doubleday</ref> This concept of adultery stems from a society that was not strictly monogamous, where the patriarchal economic aspect of Israelite marriage gave the husband an exclusive right to his wife, whereas the wife, as the husband's possession, did not have an exclusive right to her husband.<ref name="Skolnik Berenbaum Thomson Gale (Firm) 2007">{{cite book | editor-last1=Skolnik | editor-first1=Fred | editor-last2=Berenbaum | editor-first2=Michael | editor3=Thomson Gale (Firm) | title=Encyclopaedia Judaica | year=2007 | isbn=978-0-02-866097-4 | oclc=123527471 | url=http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/70174939.html | access-date=29 November 2019 | first1= Jeffrey Howard | last1=Tigay | chapter=Adultery | edition=2nd | quote=adultery constituted a violation of the husband’s exclusive right to her | volume=1 | pages=424 | chapter-url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/bible/bible-general/adultery}}</ref><ref>Collins, R. F. (1992). "Ten Commandments." In D. N. Freedman (Ed.), ''The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary'' (Vol. 6, p. 386). New York: Doubleday</ref>

Louis Ginzberg argued that the tenth commandment (''Covet not thy neighbor's wife'') is directed against a sin which may lead to a trespassing of all Ten Commandments.<ref>Ginzberg, Louis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180807032722/https://philologos.org/__eb-lotj/vol3/p03.htm#THE%20OTHER%20COMMANDMENTS%20REVEALED%20ON%20SINAI |date=7 August 2018 }}, (Translated by Henrietta Szold), Johns Hopkins University Press: 1998, {{ISBN|0-8018-5890-9}}</ref>

==Critical historical analysis==
])]]

===Early theories===
Critical scholarship is divided over its interpretation of the ten commandment texts.

]'s ] (1883) suggests that Exodus 20–23 and 34 "might be regarded as the document which formed the starting point of the religious history of Israel."<ref>Julius Wellhausen 1973 ''Prolegomena to the History of Israel'' Glouster, MA: Peter Smith. 392</ref> Deuteronomy 5 then reflects King Josiah's attempt to link the document produced by his court to the older Mosaic tradition.

In a 2002 analysis of the history of this position, ] argued that this reconstruction assumes a Christian perspective, and dates back to ]'s polemic against Judaism, which asserted that religions evolve from the more ]istic to the more ]al. Goethe thus argued that the Ten Commandments revealed to Moses at ] would have emphasized rituals, and that the "ethical" Decalogue Christians recite in their own churches was composed at a later date, when Israelite prophets had begun to prophesy the coming of the ]. Levinson points out that there is no evidence, internal to the Hebrew Bible or in external sources, to support this conjecture. He concludes that its vogue among later critical historians represents the persistence of the idea that the ] of Judaism by Christianity is part of a longer history of progress from the ritualistic to the ethical.<ref>Levinson, Bernard M. (July 2002). "Goethe's Analysis of Exodus 34 and Its Influence on Julius Wellhausen: the Pfropfung of the Documentary Hypothesis". ''Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft'' 114 (2): 212–223</ref>

===20th century discussion===
By the 1930s, historians who accepted the basic premises of multiple authorship had come to reject the idea of an orderly evolution of Israelite religion. Critics instead began to suppose that law and ritual could be of equal importance, while taking different form, at different times. This means that there is no longer any ''a priori'' reason to believe that Exodus 20:2–17 and Exodus 34:10–28 were composed during different stages of Israelite history.

According to John Bright, there was an important distinction between the Decalogue and the "book of the covenant" (Exodus 21–23 and 34:10–24). The Decalogue, he argues, was modelled on the suzerainty treaties of the ] (and other Mesopotamian Empires), that is, represents the relationship between God and Israel as a relationship between king and vassal, and enacts that bond.<ref>John Bright, 1972, pp. 146–147 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428085746/https://books.google.com/books?id=0VG67yLs-LAC&lpg=PA146&dq=%22A%20History%20of%20Israel%22&pg=PA146 |date=28 April 2016 }}</ref>

"The prologue of the Hittite treaty reminds his vassals of his benevolent acts.. (compare with Exodus 20:2 "I am the {{LORD}} your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery"). The Hittite treaty also stipulated the obligations imposed by the ruler on his vassals, which included a prohibition of relations with peoples outside the empire, or enmity between those within."<ref>Cornfeld, Gaalyahu Ed ''Pictorial Biblical Encyclopedia'', MacMillan 1964 p. 237</ref> (Exodus 20:3: "You shall have no other gods before Me"). Viewed as a treaty rather than a law code, its purpose is not so much to regulate human affairs as to define the scope of the king's power.<ref>John Bright, 1972, p. 165 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428085746/https://books.google.com/books?id=0VG67yLs-LAC&lpg=PA146&dq=%22A%20History%20of%20Israel%22&pg=PA146 |date=28 April 2016 }}</ref>

Julius Morgenstern argued that Exodus 34 was distinct from the Jahwist document, identifying it with king Asa's reforms in 899 BC.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{citation |first=Julius |last=Morgenstern |year=1927 |title=The Oldest Document of the Hexateuch |publisher=HUAC |volume=IV}}</ref> Bright, however, believes that like the Decalogue this text has its origins in the time of the tribal alliance. The book of the covenant, he notes, bears a greater similarity to Mesopotamian law codes (e.g. the ] which was inscribed on a stone ]). He argues that the function of this "book" is to move from the realm of treaty to the realm of law: "The Book of the Covenant (Ex., chs. 21 to 23; cf. ch. 34), which is no official state law, but a description of normative Israelite judicial procedure in the days of the Judges, is the best example of this process."<ref>Bright, John, 2000, ''A History of Israel'' 4th ed. p. 173.</ref> According to Bright, then, this body of law too predates the monarchy.<ref>John Bright, 1972, p. 166 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428085746/https://books.google.com/books?id=0VG67yLs-LAC&lpg=PA146&dq=%22A%20History%20of%20Israel%22&pg=PA146 |date=28 April 2016 }}</ref>

According to Kaufmann, the Decalogue and the book of the covenant represent two ways of manifesting God's presence in Israel: the Ten Commandments taking the archaic and material form of stone tablets kept in the ], while the book of the covenant took oral form to be recited to the people.<ref name=Kaufmann1960>Yehezkal Kaufmann 1960 ''The Religion of Israel: From its beginnings to the Babylonian Exile'' trans. and Abridged by Moshe Greenberg. New York: Schocken Books, pp. 174–175.</ref>

===21st century scholarship===
Scholars disagree about when the Ten Commandments were written and by whom, with some modern scholars suggesting that they were likely modeled on Hittite and Mesopotamian laws and treaties.<ref name="Rom-Shiloni" />{{rp|140}}

] argues that each of the three versions of the Ten Commandments are “significantly different… indicating that its text was not fixed in ].”<ref name="Coo2014">{{cite book |title=The Ten Commandments: A Short History of an Ancient Text |last=Coogan |first=Michael |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-300-17871-5 |pages=27, 33}}</ref>

Archaeologists ] and ] argue that "the astonishing composition came together… in the seventh century BC".<ref>Israel Finkelstein, Neil Asher Silberman (2002). ''The Bible Unearthed'', p. 70.</ref> An even later date (after 586 BC) is suggested by David H. Aaron; his book argues for “the probability that these documents were written very late in the history of biblical literature - indeed, so late as to constitute a literary afterthought in the development of Israelite ethnic self-definition.”<ref>{{cite web |url= http://huc.edu/chronicle/68/articles/EtchedInStone.pdf |title= Etched in Stone: The Emergence of the Decalogue |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111005145800/http://huc.edu/chronicle/68/articles/EtchedInStone.pdf |archive-date= 5 October 2011}}&nbsp;(99.8&nbsp;KB), ''The Chronicle'', Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, Issue 68, 2006, p. 42. "a critical survey of biblical literature demonstrates no cognizance of the ten commandments prior to the post-exilic period (after 586 B.C.E.)"</ref>

Biblical scholar Timothy S. Hogue argues that the Decalogue in the book of Exodus originated in the northern ] around the 9th-8th centuries BC, based on parallels with ] texts from that time as well as the references in the Decalogue to the ] which were destroyed during the religious reforms of ] and ].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Ten Commandments: Monuments of Memory, Belief, and Interpretation |last=Hogue |first=Timothy S. |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-009-36689-2 |pages=130–131 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ek7XEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA130}}</ref>

According to Book of Deuteronomy, the tablets were placed in the ].<ref>{{Bibleverse|Deuteronomy|4:10–13|HE}}, {{Bibleverse-nb|Deut.|5:22|HE}}, {{Bibleverse-nb|Deut.|9:17|HE}}, {{Bibleverse-nb|Deut.|10:1–5|HE}}</ref> ] argued in 2015 that “clearly… the tablets of the law are a substitute for something else.”<ref name="Römer92"> Thomas Römer, ''The Invention of God'' (Harvard University Press, 2015), p. 92.</ref> He holds that “the original Ark contained a ] ]] of ]” and that it was “brought into the ] under ]”,<ref>{{Cite journal |title=The mysteries of the Ark of the Covenant |journal=Studia Theologica - Nordic Journal of Theology |url=https://www.academia.edu/99766658 |last=Römer |first=Thomas |issue=2 |volume=77 |pages=169–185 |doi=10.1080/0039338X.2023.2167861 |year=2023 |issn=0039-338X}}</ref>{{rp|3, 9}} which he specifically identifies as “two ] (sacred stones), or two ] statues symbolizing Yhwh and his female companion ] or a statue representing Yhwh alone.”<ref name="Römer92" />


===The Ritual Decalogue=== ===The Ritual Decalogue===
{{main|Ritual Decalogue}} {{main|Ritual Decalogue}}
{{See also|Documentary hypothesis}}
]
Exodus 34:28<ref>{{bibleverse||Exodus|34:28}}</ref> identifies a different list, that of Exodus 34:11–27,<ref>{{bibleverse||Exodus|34:11–27}}</ref> as the Ten Commandments. Since this passage does not prohibit murder, adultery, theft, etc., but instead deals with the proper worship of ], some scholars call it the "Ritual Decalogue", and disambiguate the Ten Commandments of traditional understanding as the "Ethical Decalogue".<ref>''The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha''. Augmented Third Edition, New Revised Standard Version, 2007</ref><ref>''The Hebrew Bible: A Brief Socio-Literary Introduction''. Norman Gottwald, 2008</ref><ref>''Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch''. T. Desmond Alexander and David Weston Baker, 2003</ref><ref>''Commentary on the Torah''. Richard Elliott Friedman, 2003</ref>


The ] identifies the Ritual Decalogue as the work of the ], from the ], and the Covenant Code as that of the ], from the ], both writing independently. It does not however answer the question of how these texts were related, merely that the Ritual Decalogue circulated in Judah, and the Covenant Code in Israel. What the documentary hypothesis does partly explain is the relationship of the Ritual Decalogue to the Ethical Decalogue, and why, instead of the Ethical Decalogue, it is the Ritual Decalogue which is written on the two tablets when Moses ascends the mountain to have the Ethical Decalogue inscribed for a second time.
The term "Ten Commandments" without a modifier generally applies to the lists mentioned in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. However, there is a continuous narrative starting in Exodus 31:18 (where the stones are created), Exodus 32:19 (where the tablets are broken) and Exodus 34, which lists a very different set of commandments, sometimes referred to as the "]". Later sources, starting with ] and later the proponents of the ], note that Exodus 34:28 seems to refer to these Ten Commandments rather than the traditional ones. These commentators have theorized that the commandments in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 represent a later set of Ten Commandments, and that the ten listed in Exodus 34 were the original Ten Commandments, now known as the ] (as opposed to the better-known "Ethical Decalogue"). The differences between the two Decalogues highlight the development of sacred texts over vast amounts of time and from differing narrative traditions by incorporating two differing sets of Ten Commandments.


] argues that the Ten Commandments at Exodus 20:1–17 "does not appear to belong to any of the major sources. It is likely to be an independent document, which was inserted here by the Redactor."<ref>Friedman, p. 153</ref> In his view, the ] follows that version of the Ten Commandments in the northern Israel ]. In the ] in Exodus 34 the editor of the combined story known as the Redactor (or RJE), adds in an explanation that these are a replacement for the earlier tablets which were shattered. "In the combined JE text, it would be awkward to picture God just commanding Moses to make some tablets, as if there were no history to this matter, so RJE adds the explanation that these are a replacement for the earlier tablets that were shattered."<ref>Friedman, p. 177</ref> He suggests that differences in the J and E versions of the Ten Commandments story are a result of power struggles in the priesthood. The writer has Moses smash the tablets "because this raised doubts about the Judah's central religious shrine".<ref>Friedman, Richard Elliott. "Who Wrote The Bible?" 1987 pp. 73–74</ref>
==Cultural references==
The phrase "Ten Commandments" is highly familiar in Western culture and is often extended to
any immutable code of conduct.


==Political importance==
Two famous films of this name were directed by ], a
], and
], starring Charlton Heston as Moses.
] is also a series of ten one-hour films written and directed by the famed Polish film maker Krzysztof Kieślowski in 1988 for Polish television, each based on one of the Ten Commandments.


According to some scholars, certain interpretations of the Commandments were allegedly problematic for people living in those respective societies during their time,<ref name="Hitchens 2003">{{cite web | last=Hitchens | first=Christopher | title=Dump the Ten Commandments. | website=Slate Magazine | date=27 August 2003 | url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2003/08/dump-the-ten-commandments.html | access-date=27 September 2021}}</ref> like capital punishment for blasphemy, idolatry, apostasy, adultery, cursing one own's parents, and Sabbath-breaking.<ref name="Malina 2003 p. ">{{cite book | last1=Malina | first1=Bruce J. | first2=Richard L. | last2=Rohrbaugh | title=Social-science commentary on the Synoptic Gospels | publisher=Fortress Press | publication-place=Minneapolis | year=2003 | isbn=978-0-8006-3491-9 | oclc=53289866 | pages=418–419}}</ref><ref name="Abel 2018 p. 19">{{cite book | last=Abel | first=Michael K. | title=America Versus the Ten Commandments: Exploring One Nation's Commitment to Biblical Morality | chapter=Introduction | publisher=Covenant Books, Incorporated | year=2018 | isbn=978-1-64300-122-7 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f80uEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT19 | page=19 fn. 13}}</ref><ref name="Wright 2019 p. 180">{{cite book | last=Wright | first=Christopher J.H. | title=Knowing God Through the Old Testament: Three Volumes in One | publisher=InterVarsity Press | year=2019 | isbn=978-0-8308-7207-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OfGBDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA180 | page=180}}</ref><ref name="Green Lapsley Miles Verhey 2011 p. 119">{{cite book | first=Christopher | last=Marshall | chapter=Capital Punishment | editor-last1=Green |editor-first=Joel B. |editor-last2=Lapsley |editor-first2=Jacqueline E. |editor-last3=Miles |editor-first3=Rebekah |editor-last4=Verhey | editor-first4=Allen | title=Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics | publisher=Baker Publishing Group | year=2011 | isbn=978-1-4412-3998-3 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8fxBvvFu2l8C&pg=PA119 | page=119}}</ref><ref name="Hobson 2011 p. 14">{{cite book | last=Hobson | first=Tom | title=What's On God's Sin List for Today? | publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers | year=2011 | isbn=978-1-62189-287-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hGRJAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT14 | page=14}}</ref><ref name="Westbrook Wells 2009 p. 71">{{cite book | last1=Westbrook | first1=Raymond | last2=Wells | first2=Bruce | title=Everyday Law in Biblical Israel: An Introduction | publisher=Presbyterian Publishing Corporation | year=2009 | isbn=978-0-664-23497-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oLGfWXZuSMYC&pg=PA71 | page=71}}</ref>
The form and content of the Decalogue have often been parodied and satirized.
One eminent example from the Victorian era is ]'s poem
''The Latest Decalogue''.


During an 1846 uprising, now known as the ], by ] and ] ] Eastern European ] (]) directed against ] (] nobles) because of their oppression (for example, manorial prisons), a popular rumor had it that the ] ] had abolished the Ten Commandants, which the peasants took as permission and religious justification to massacre the szlachta<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sked |first1=Alan |title=The Decline and Fall of the Habsburg Empire, 1815-1918 |date=1989 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=9780582356665 |page=65}}</ref> – the prime representatives and beneficiaries of the crown in ].<ref name="Nance2008">{{cite book|author=Agnieszka Barbara Nance|title=Literary and Cultural Images of a Nation Without a State: The Case of Nineteenth-Century Poland|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I9S5g8mpgj0C&pg=PA62|year=2008|publisher=Peter Lang|isbn=978-0-8204-7866-1|pages=62–64}}</ref> This uprising is credited with helping to bring on the demise, in 1848, of ] with ] labor in Galicia.<ref name="WHITEMurphy2001-170">{{cite book|author1=Harry White|author2=Michael Murphy|title=Musical Constructions of Nationalism: Essays on the History and Ideology of European Musical Culture, 1800-1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wssMMxN4F1cC&pg=PA164|year=2001|publisher=Cork University Press|isbn=978-1-85918-153-9|page=170}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office, London, via World Digital Library|last=Prothero|first=G. W.|author-link=George Walter Prothero|title=Austrian Poland|series=Peace handbooks|access-date=2014-06-05|date=1920|pages=20–21|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/9175/view/1/32/}}</ref>
]' film ] contains a segment where Moses recieves fifteen commandments from God on three stone tablets, but drops one and goes on to proclaim there are ten.


==United States debate over display on public property==
==See Also==
{{further|Accommodationism}}
{{See also|Roy Moore|Van Orden v. Perry|Separation of church and state in the United States}}
] in ]]]
] at the ]]]


European Protestants replaced some visual art in their churches with plaques of the Ten Commandments after the Reformation. In England, such "Decalogue boards" also represented the English monarch's emphasis on rule of royal law within the churches. The United States Constitution forbids establishment of religion by law; however images of Moses holding the tablets of the Decalogue, along other religious figures including Solomon, Confucius, and Muhammad holding the Quran, are sculpted on the north and south friezes of the ].<ref>Office of the Curator, {{cite web |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/northandsouthwalls.pdf |title=Courtroom Friezes: North and South Walls |access-date=5 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713031226/https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/northandsouthwalls.pdf |archive-date=13 July 2019 |url-status=live }} Supreme Court of the United States, 5 August 2003.</ref> Images of the Ten Commandments have long been contested symbols for the relationship of religion to national law.<ref name="moses.creighton.edu">Watts, {{cite web |url=http://moses.creighton.edu/jrs/2004/2004-13.pdf |title=Ten Commandments Monuments |access-date=27 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214132154/http://moses.creighton.edu/jrs/2004/2004-13.pdf |archive-date=14 February 2015 |url-status=live }} 2004</ref>
* ]
* ]
* ]


In the 1950s and 1960s the ] placed possibly thousands of Ten Commandments displays in courthouses and school rooms, including many stone monuments on courthouse property.<ref>Emmet V. Mittlebeeler, (2003) "Ten Commandments." P. 434 in ''The Encyclopedia of American Religion and Politics''. Edited by P. A. Djupe and L. R. Olson. New York: Facts on File.</ref> Because displaying the commandments can reflect a sectarian position if they are numbered, the Eagles developed an ecumenical version that omitted the numbers, as on the monument at the Texas capitol. Hundreds of monuments were also placed by ] ] as a ] to promote his 1956 ] '']''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200109/10_schmitzr_laxten-m/ |title=MPR: The Ten Commandments: Religious or historical symbol? |publisher=News.minnesota.publicradio.org |date=10 September 2001 |access-date=9 December 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120129065822/http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/200109/10_schmitzr_laxten-m/ |archive-date=29 January 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref> Placing the plaques and monuments to the Ten Commandments in and around government buildings was another expression of mid-twentieth-century U.S. ], along with adding the phrase "under God" to the ].<ref name="moses.creighton.edu" />
==Further reading==

*{{cite book | last = Mendenhall | first = George E. | year = 2001 | title = Ancient Israel's Faith and History: An Introduction To the Bible In Context | publisher = Westminster John Knox Press | location = Louisville | id = ISBN 0-664-22313-3}}
By the beginning of the twenty-first century in the U.S., however, Decalogue monuments and plaques in government spaces had become a legal battleground between religious as well as political liberals and conservatives. Organizations such as the ] (ACLU) and ] launched lawsuits challenging the posting of the ten commandments in public buildings. The ACLU has been supported by a number of religious groups such as the ]<ref>PCUSA Assembly Committee on General Assembly Procedures D.3.a https://wayback.archive-it.org/3822/20160614072458/http://archive.pcusa.org/ga216/business/commbooks/comm03.pdf</ref> and the ].<ref>American Jewish Congress, "," (16 May 2003) {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904031027/http://www.ajcongress.org/site/PageServer?pagename=may03_03 |date=4 September 2014 }}</ref>
*{{cite book | last = Friedman | first = Richard Elliott | authorlink = Richard Elliott Friedman | year = 1987 | title = Who Wrote the Bible? | publisher = Prentice Hall | location = Englewood Cliffs, N.J. | id = ISBN 0-671-63161-6}}

*{{cite book | last = Mendenhall | first = George E. | year = 1973 | title = The Tenth Generation: The Origins of the Biblical Tradition | publisher = Johns Hopkins University Press | location = Baltimore | id = ISBN 0-8018-1267-4}}
===In public schools===
*{{cite book | last = Kaufmann | first = Yehezkel | authorlink = Yehezkel Kaufmann | year = 1960 | others = trans. Moshe Greenberg | title = The Religion of Israel, From Its Beginnings To the Babylonian Exile | publisher = University of Chicago Press | location = Chicago}}
In 1980, the Supreme Court in '']'' ruled unconstitutional a Kentucky statute that required the posting of a copy of the Ten Commandments on the wall of each public classroom in the state, because the statute lacked a nonreligious, legislative purpose.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 17, 1980 |title=STONE v. GRAHAM, 449 U.S. 39 (1980) |url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/us-supreme-court/449/39.html |access-date=November 19, 2024 |website=FindLaw}}</ref>
*{{cite book | last = Freedman | first = David Noel | year = 2000 | title = The Nine Commandments. Uncovering a Hidden Pattern of Crime and Punishment in the Hebrew Bible | publisher = Doubleday | id = ISBN 0-385-49986-8}}

*{{cite book | last = Budge | first = E. A. Wallis | year = 1967 | title = The Egyptian Book of the Dead | publisher = Dover Publications | id = ISBN 0-486-21866-X}}
In 2023, Texas Republican politician ] introduced SB 1515 of the 88th Session of the Texas Senate, which would require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every classroom of every public school in Texas.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lopez |first1=Brian |title=Public schools would have to display Ten Commandments under bill passed by Texas Senate |url=https://www.texastribune.org/2023/04/20/texas-senate-passes-ten-commandments-bill/ |access-date=23 April 2023 |work=The Texas Tribune |date=20 April 2023 |language=en}}</ref><ref>, ''Texas Legislature Online'', April 23, 2023.</ref> The bill eventually lapsed in the State House when the session closed without voting it. <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/24/us/texas-ten-commandments-legislature.html|title=Bill to Force Texas Public Schools to Display Ten Commandments Fails|first=J. David|last=Goodman|date= May 24, 2023|work=]}}</ref>
*{{cite book | last = Kuntz | first = Paul Grimley | year = 2004 |title = The Ten Commandments in History: Mosaic Paradigms for a Well-Ordered Society | publisher = Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, Emory University Studies in Law and Religion | id = ISBN 0-8028-2660-1}}

On June 19, 2024, ] ] ] signed ]<ref>{{cite web |last1=Horton |first1=Dodie |author-link=Dodie Horton|title=HB71 SCHOOLS: Requires the display of the Ten Commandments in schools |url=https://legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?i=245592 |website=legis.la.gov |date=2024}} https://legis.la.gov/legis/ViewDocument.aspx?d=1379435</ref> mandating display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom. The bill also permits the additional display of the ], the ] or the ]. Governor Landry stated that the Ten Commandments are "not solely religious, but that it has historical significance."<ref name=ASPrigger-A000>{{cite news |last=Cline |first=Sara |date=2024-06-20 |title=Louisiana's public classrooms now have to display the Ten Commandments |url=https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-ten-commandments-displayed-classrooms-571a2447906f7bbd5a166d53db005a62 |work=apnews.com |publisher=Associated Press |location=Baton Rouge LA |access-date=2024-06-20 }}</ref> The bill mandates a text that includes the phrase "Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images" indicating that it comes not from a traditional Bible but instead from the Eagles-DeMille promotion campaign.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Clark |first1=Fred |title=Louisiana Will Post The Twelve Commandments In Schools |url=https://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2024/05/20/louisiana-will-post-the-twelve-commandments-in-schools/ |access-date=21 June 2024 |work=slacktivist |date=20 May 2024 |language=en}}</ref> A group of parents challenged the law in court, and on November 12, 2024, ] ] granted a temporary injunction, stating that the law is "unconstitutional on its face."<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Cline |first1=Sara |last2=McGill |first2=Kevin |date=2024-11-12 |title=Federal judge blocks Louisiana law that requires classrooms to display Ten Commandments |url=https://apnews.com/article/ten-commandments-law-blocked-public-schools-louisiana-87b3dde94e583fdbb9ecb26db42b0206 |access-date=2024-11-12 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref> On November 15, the ] granted an ] motion from the Louisiana state, limiting the ruling to the five ] whose school boards were named as defendants in the case.<ref name="ap-inj.">{{cite news |last1=McGill |first1=Kevin |date=15 November 2024 |title=Court temporarily limits scope of ruling that Louisiana's Ten Commandments law is unconstitutional |url=https://apnews.com/article/louisiana-schools-ten-commandments-bebd5993af3070e69614de641f4f511f |access-date=17 November 2024 |work=AP News |publisher=The Associated Press |language=en}}</ref>

==Cultural references==
Two famous films with this name were directed by ]: a ] which stars ] as Moses, and a ] filmed in ] starring ] as Moses.

Both '']'', a 1989 Polish film series directed by ], and '']'', a 2007 American film, use the Ten Commandments as a structure for 10 smaller stories.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0811106/|title=The Ten|access-date=8 April 2020|via=www.imdb.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200307211234/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0811106/|archive-date=7 March 2020|url-status=live}}</ref>

Other media about the Ten Commandments include a ], ], ], ], ], and a ].

The receipt of the Ten Commandments by Moses was satirized in ]'s 1981 movie '']'', which shows Moses (played by Brooks, in a similar costume to ]'s Moses in the ]), receiving three tablets containing fifteen commandments, but before he can present them to his people, he stumbles and drops one of the tablets, shattering it. He then presents the remaining tablets, proclaiming Ten Commandments.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wunGF3oMA0 |title=History of the World Part 1 (Mel Brooks) - Old Testament - Moses - Ten Commandments |date=2018-03-31 |last=Patrick Chandler |access-date=2024-09-14 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Bible|Judaism}}
* ] – Secular and humanist alternatives to the biblical lists
* ] (1772 BC)
* ] (2050 BC)
* ]
* ]
* ] (])
* ] (])
* ], 42 confessions, 'The negative confession' (1500 BC) of the ], which is also known as The declaration of innocence before the Gods of the tribunal from The book of going forth by day, also ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]


==References== ==References==
{{Notelist}}{{Reflist|30em}}
<div class="references-small">
<references />
</div>


==Further reading==
== External links ==
{{Further reading |date=June 2015}}
{{Commons|Ten Commandments}}
* {{cite book|last=Aaron |first=David H |year=2006 |title=Etched in Stone: The Emergence of the Decalogue |publisher=Continuum |isbn=0-567-02791-0}}
* The Ten Commandments: ''Ex. 20'' version (, ), ''Deut. 5'' version (, ) in by Jewish Publication Society, 1917 ed.
* {{cite book|last=Abdrushin |year=2009 |title=The Ten Commandments of God and the Lord's Prayer |publisher=Grail Foundation Press |isbn=978-1-57461-004-8}}
* by Emil G. Hirsch, Eduard König (], 1906 ed.)
* Peter Barenboim, , {{ISBN|5-94381-123-0}}.
*
* {{cite book|last=Boltwood |first=Emily |year=2012 |title=10 Simple Rules of the House of Gloria |publisher=Tate Publishing |isbn=978-1-62024-840-9}}
*
*{{cite book|chapter=]|title=A Complete Catechism of the Catholic Religion|year=1912|publisher=Schwartz, Kirwin & Fauss|first= Joseph|last=Deharbe|translator=Rev. John Fander}}
* in the 1911 ]
* {{cite book |last=Freedman |first=David Noel |author-link=David Noel Freedman |year=2000 |title=The Nine Commandments. Uncovering a Hidden Pattern of Crime and Punishment in the Hebrew Bible |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=0-385-49986-8 |url=https://archive.org/details/ninecommandments00free }}
* from the
* {{cite book|last=Friedman |first=Richard Elliott |author-link=Richard Elliott Friedman |year=1987 |title=Who Wrote the Bible? |publisher=Prentice Hall |location=Englewood Cliffs, NJ |isbn=0-671-63161-6}}
* {{cite book |last=Hazony |first=David |author-link=David Hazony |year=2010 |title=The Ten Commandments: How Our Most Ancient Moral Text Can Renew Modern Life |publisher=Scribner |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4165-6235-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/tencommandmentsh0000hazo }}
* {{cite book|last=Kaufmann |first=Yehezkel |author-link=Yehezkel Kaufmann |year=1960 |translator=Moshe Greenberg |title=The Religion of Israel, From Its Beginnings To the Babylonian Exile |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago}}
* {{cite book|last=Kuntz |first=Paul Grimley |year=2004 |title=The Ten Commandments in History: Mosaic Paradigms for a Well-Ordered Society |publisher=Wm B Eerdmans Publishing, Emory University Studies in Law and Religion |isbn=0-8028-2660-1}}
* Markl, Dominik (2012): "The Decalogue in History: A Preliminary Survey of the Fields and Genres of its Reception", in: ''Zeitschrift für Altorientalische und Biblische Rechtsgeschichte'' – vol. 18, nº., pp.&nbsp;279–293, ( {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224163901/http://www.dominik-markl.at/docs/ZAR%2018%20Markl.pdf |date=24 February 2021 }}).
* {{cite book|editor-last=Markl |editor-first=Dominik |year=2013 |title=The Decalogue and its Cultural Influence |publisher=Sheffield Phoenix Press |location=Sheffield |isbn=978-1-909697-06-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Mendenhall |first=George E |year=1973 |title=The Tenth Generation: The Origins of the Biblical Tradition |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |location=Baltimore |isbn=0-8018-1267-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/tenthgenerationo0000mend }}
* {{cite book|last=Mendenhall |first=George E |author-link=George E. Mendenhall |year=2001 |title=Ancient Israel's Faith and History: An Introduction To the Bible in Context |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |location=Louisville |isbn=0-664-22313-3}}
* {{cite book|author=Hussein Naguib|title=The Quranic Ten Commandments: This Is My Straight Path Al An'am (6:153)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gCnooQEACAAJ|year= 2014|publisher=Hussein M. Naguib|isbn=978-0-615-99559-5}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Watts|first1=James W.|title=Ten Commandments Monuments and the Rivalry of Iconic Texts|journal=Journal of Religion and Society|date=2004|volume=6|url=http://moses.creighton.edu/jrs/2004/2004-13.pdf|access-date=27 August 2014|archive-date=14 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214132154/http://moses.creighton.edu/jrs/2004/2004-13.pdf|url-status=dead}}


==External links==
]
{{sister project links|Ten Commandments}}
]
* Ten Commandments: Ex. 20 version ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090529012941/http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0220.htm |date=29 May 2009 }}; ); Deut. 5 version ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080229023317/http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0505.htm |date=29 February 2008 }}; ); in ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080303194754/http://www.mechon-mamre.org/index.htm |date=3 March 2008 }}) by Jewish Publication Society, 1917 ed.
]
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{{Ten Commandments|state=expanded}}
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{{Ark of the Covenant}}
{{Christian virtue ethics}}
{{Book of Deuteronomy}}
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Latest revision as of 15:42, 15 December 2024

Biblical principles relating to ethics and worship For other uses, see Ten Commandments (disambiguation). "Decalogue" redirects here. For other uses, see Decalogue (disambiguation).

Part of a series on the
Ten Commandments
Related articles
Image of the 1675 Ten Commandments at the Amsterdam Esnoga synagogue produced on parchment in 1778 by Jekuthiel Sofer, a prolific Jewish eighteenth-century scribe in Amsterdam. The Hebrew words are in two columns separated between, and surrounded by, ornate flowery patterns.
This 1768 parchment by Jekuthiel Sofer emulated the 1675 Ten Commandments at the Amsterdam Esnoga synagogue

The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew: עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים‎, romanized: ʿĂsereṯ haDəḇārīm, lit.'The Ten Words'), or the Decalogue (from Latin decalogus, from Ancient Greek δεκάλογος, dekálogos, lit. 'ten words'), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, are given by YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten Commandments was dynamic in ancient Israel and appears in three markedly distinct versions in the Bible: at Exodus 20:2–17, Deuteronomy 5:6–21, and the "Ritual Decalogue" of Exodus 34:11–26.

According to the Book of Exodus in the Torah, the Ten Commandments were revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai, told by Moses to the Israelites in Exodus 19:25 and inscribed by the finger of God on two tablets of stone.

Scholars disagree about when the Ten Commandments were written and by whom, with some modern scholars drawing comparisons between the Decalogue and Hittite and Mesopotamian laws and treaties.

Terminology

The second of two parchment sheets making up 4Q41, it contains Deuteronomy 5:1–6:1
Part of the All Souls Deuteronomy, containing the oldest extant copy of the Decalogue. It is dated to the early Herodian period, between 30 and 1 BC.

The Ten Commandments, called עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים‎ (transliterated aséret haddevarím) in Biblical Hebrew, are mentioned at Exodus 34:28, Deuteronomy 4:13 and Deuteronomy 10:4. In all sources, the terms are translatable as "the ten words", "the ten sayings", or "the ten matters". In Mishnaic Hebrew they are called עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְּרוֹת, aséret haddiberót, a precise equivalent.

In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the phrase was translated as δεκάλογος, dekálogos or "ten words"; this Greek word became decalogus in Latin, which entered the English language as "Decalogue", providing an alternative name for the Ten Commandments. The Tyndale and Coverdale English biblical translations used "ten verses". The Geneva Bible used "ten commandments", which was followed by the Bishops' Bible and the Authorized Version (the "King James" version) as "ten commandments". Most major English versions use the word "commandments".

The stone tablets, as opposed to the ten commandments inscribed on them, are called לוּחוֹת הַבְּרִית‎, lukhót habberít "tablets of the covenant", or לֻחֹת הָעֵדֻת, lukhot ha'edut "tablets of the testimony".

Biblical narrative

1896 illustration depicting Moses receiving the commandments

The biblical narrative of the revelation at Sinai begins in Exodus 19 after the arrival of the children of Israel at Mount Sinai (also called Horeb). On the morning of the third day of their encampment, "there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud", and the people assembled at the base of the mount. After "the LORD came down upon mount Sinai", Moses went up briefly and returned to prepare the people, and then in Exodus 20 "God spoke" to all the people the words of the covenant, that is, the "ten commandments" as it is written. Modern biblical scholarship differs as to whether Exodus 19–20 describes the people of Israel as having directly heard all or some of the decalogue, or whether the laws are only passed to them through Moses.

The people were afraid to hear more and moved "afar off", and Moses responded with "Fear not." Nevertheless, he drew near the "thick darkness" where "the presence of the Lord" was to hear the additional statutes and "judgments", all which he "wrote" in the "book of the covenant" which he read to the people the next morning, and they agreed to be obedient and do all that the LORD had said. Moses escorted a select group consisting of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and "seventy of the elders of Israel" to a location on the mount where they worshipped "afar off" and they "saw the God of Israel" above a "paved work" like clear sapphire stone.

And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tablets of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.

— First mention of the tablets in Exodus 24:12–13

The mount was covered by the cloud for six days, and on the seventh day Moses went into the midst of the cloud and was "in the mount forty days and forty nights." And Moses said, "the LORD delivered unto me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly." Before the full forty days expired, the children of Israel collectively decided that something had happened to Moses, and compelled Aaron to fashion a golden calf, and he "built an altar before it" and the people "worshipped" the calf.

This is an image of an oil on canvas picture by Rembrandt (1659) of a bearded man representing Moses with two tablets of stone of the ten commandments held high in both hands.
Moses Breaking the Tablets of the Law (1659) by Rembrandt

After the full forty days, Moses and Joshua came down from the mountain with the tablets of stone: "And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount." After the events in chapters 32 and 33, the LORD told Moses, "Hew thee two tablets of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tablets the words that were in the first tablets, which thou brakest." "And he wrote on the tablets, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me." These tablets were later placed in the Ark of the Covenant.

Commandments text and numbering

Religious traditions

Although both the Masoretic Text and the Dead Sea Scrolls have the passages of Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 divided into ten specific commandments formatted with space between them corresponding to the Lutheran counting in the chart below, many Modern English Bible translations give the appearance of more than ten imperative statements in each passage.

Different religious traditions categorize the seventeen verses of Exodus 20:1–17 and their parallels in Deuteronomy 5:4–21 into ten commandments in different ways as shown in the table. Some suggest that the number ten is a choice to aid memorization rather than a matter of theology.

The Ten Commandments
LXX P R T S A C L Commandment (KJV) Exodus 20:1–17 Deuteronomy 5:4–21
Verses Text Verses Text
(0) 1 1 I am the Lord thy God 2 6
1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 Thou shalt have no other gods before me 3 7
2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image 4–6 8–10
3 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain 7 11
4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy 8–11
4 4 4 4 3 3 3 3 Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy 12–15
5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 Honour thy father and thy mother 12 16
6 8 6 6 5 5 5 5 Thou shalt not murder 13 17
7 6 7 7 6 6 6 6 Thou shalt not commit adultery 14 18
8 7 8 8 7 7 7 7 Thou shalt not steal 15 19
9 9 9 9 8 8 8 8 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour 16 20
10 10 10 10 9 10 10 9 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house 17a
10 10 10 10 9 10 10 9 Thou shalt not desire thy neighbour's house 21b
10 10 10 10 9 9 9 10 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife 17b 21a
10 10 10 10 9 10 10 10 or his slaves, or his animals, or anything of thy neighbour 17c 21c
10 You shall set up these stones, which I command you today, on Aargaareezem. (Tsedaka) 14c 18c

Categorization

See also: Textual variants in the Book of Exodus § Exodus 20, Textual variants in the Book of Exodus § Exodus 34, and Textual variants in the Hebrew Bible § Deuteronomy 5

There are two major approaches to categorizing the commandments. One approach distinguishes the prohibition against other gods (verse 3) from the prohibition against images (verses 4–6):

Another approach combines verses 3–6, the prohibition against images and the prohibition against other gods, into a single command while still maintaining ten commandments. Samaritan and Jewish traditions include another commandment, whereas Christian traditions will divide coveting the neighbor's wife and house.

  • T: Jewish Talmud (c. 200 CE), makes the "prologue" the first "saying" or "matter."
  • S: Samaritan Pentateuch (c. 120 BCE), contains additional instruction to Moses about making a sacrifice to Yahweh, which Samaritans regard as the 10th commandment.
  • A: Augustine (4th century), follows the Talmud in combining verses 3–6, but omits the prologue as a commandment and divides the prohibition on coveting into two commandments, following the word order of Deuteronomy 5:21 rather than Exodus 20:17.
  • C: Roman Catholicism largely follows Augustine, which was reiterated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992) changing "the sabbath" into "the lord's day" and dividing Exodus 20:17, prohibiting covetousness, into two commandments, in order to fulfill the number 10, since the third commandment (Exodus 20:4-5) is missing.
  • L: Lutherans follow Luther's Large Catechism (1529), which follows Augustine and Roman Catholic tradition but subordinates the prohibition of images to the sovereignty of God in the First Commandment and uses the word order of Exodus 20:17 rather than Deuteronomy 5:21 for the ninth and tenth commandments.

Religious interpretations

The Ten Commandments concern matters of fundamental importance in Judaism and Christianity: the greatest obligation (to worship only God), the greatest injury to a person (murder), the greatest injury to family bonds (adultery), the greatest injury to commerce and law (bearing false witness), the greatest inter-generational obligation (honour to parents), the greatest obligation to community (truthfulness), the greatest injury to movable property (theft).

The Ten Commandments are written with room for varying interpretation, reflecting their role as a summary of fundamental principles. They are not as explicit or as detailed as rules or as many other biblical laws and commandments, because they provide guiding principles that apply universally, across changing circumstances. They do not specify punishments for their violation. Their precise import must be worked out in each separate situation.

The Bible indicates the special status of the Ten Commandments among all other Torah laws in several ways:

Judaism

Further information: Law given to Moses at Sinai
The Ten Commandments as they appear in a Torah scroll

The Ten Commandments form the basis of Jewish Rabbinic law, stating God's universal and timeless standard of right and wrong – unlike the rest of the 613 commandments which Jewish interpretative tradition claims are in the Torah, which include, for example, various duties and ceremonies such as various halachich kashrut dietary laws, and the rituals to be performed by priests in the Holy Temple. Jewish tradition considers the Ten Commandments the theological basis for the rest of the commandments. Philo, in his four-book work The Special Laws, treated the Ten Commandments as headings under which he discussed other related commandments. Similarly, in The Decalogue he stated that "under many other commands are conveyed by implication, such as that against seducers, that against practisers of unnatural crimes, that against all who live in debauchery, that against all men who indulge in illicit and incontinent connections." Others, such as Rabbi Saadia Gaon, have also made groupings of the commandments according to their links with the Ten Commandments.

According to Conservative Rabbi Louis Ginzberg, Ten Commandments are virtually entwined, in that the breaking of one leads to the breaking of another. Echoing an earlier rabbinic comment found in the commentary of Rashi to the Songs of Songs (4:5) Ginzberg explained—there is also a great bond of union between the first five commandments and the last five. The first commandment: "I am the Lord, thy God," corresponds to the sixth: "Thou shalt not kill," for the murderer slays the image of God. The second: "Thou shalt have no strange gods before me," corresponds to the seventh: "Thou shalt not commit adultery," for conjugal faithlessness is as grave a sin as idolatry, which is faithlessness to God. The third commandment: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain," corresponds to the eighth: "Thou shalt not steal," for stealing results in a false oath in God's name. The fourth: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," corresponds to the ninth: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor," for he who bears false witness against his neighbor commits as grave a sin as if he had borne false witness against God, saying that He had not created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day (the holy Sabbath). The fifth commandment: "Honor thy father and thy mother," corresponds to the tenth: "Covet not thy neighbor's wife," for one who indulges this lust produces children who will not honor their true father, but will consider a stranger their father.

The traditional Rabbinical Jewish belief is that the observance of these commandments and the other mitzvot are required solely of the Jewish people and that the laws incumbent on humanity in general are outlined in the seven Noahide laws, a concept that is not found anywhere in the Tanakh, several of which overlap with the Ten Commandments. In the era of the Sanhedrin transgressing any one of six of the Ten Commandments theoretically carried the death penalty, the exceptions being the First Commandment, honouring your father and mother, saying God's name in vain, and coveting, though this was rarely enforced due to a large number of stringent evidentiary requirements imposed by the oral law.

Two tablets

Main article: Tablets of Stone

The arrangement of the commandments on the two tablets is interpreted in different ways in the classical Jewish tradition. Rabbi Hanina ben Gamaliel says that each tablet contained five commandments, "but the Sages say ten on one tablet and ten on the other", that is, that the tablets were duplicates. This can be compared to diplomatic treaties of the ancient Near East, in which a copy was made for each party.

According to the Talmud, the compendium of traditional Rabbinic Jewish law, tradition, and interpretation, one interpretation of the biblical verse "the tablets were written on both their sides", is that the carving went through the full thickness of the tablets, yet was miraculously legible from both sides.

Use in Jewish ritual

The Ten Commandments on a glass plate

The Mishna records that during the period of the Second Temple, the Ten Commandments were recited daily, before the reading of the Shema Yisrael (as preserved, for example, in the Nash Papyrus, a Hebrew manuscript fragment from 150 to 100 BC found in Egypt, containing a version of the Ten Commandments and the beginning of the Shema); but that this practice was abolished in the synagogues so as not to give ammunition to heretics who claimed that they were the only important part of Jewish law, or to dispel a claim by early Christians that only the Ten Commandments were handed down at Mount Sinai rather than the whole Torah.

In later centuries rabbis continued to omit the Ten Commandments from daily liturgy in order to prevent confusion among Jews that they are only bound by the Ten Commandments, and not also by many other biblical and Talmudic laws, such as the requirement to observe holy days other than the sabbath.

However, some rabbinic authorities still recommend reading the Ten Commandments privately as part of unscheduled, non-communal prayer. The Ten Commandments are included in some prayerbooks for this purpose.

Today, the Ten Commandments are heard in the synagogue three times a year: as they come up during the readings of Exodus and Deuteronomy, and during the festival of Shavuot. The Exodus version is read in parashat Yitro around late January–February, and on the festival of Shavuot, and the Deuteronomy version in parashat Va'etchanan in August–September. In some traditions, worshipers rise for the reading of the Ten Commandments to highlight their special significance though many rabbis, including Maimonides, have opposed this custom since one may come to think that the Ten Commandments are more important than the rest of the Mitzvot.

In printed Chumashim, as well as in those in manuscript form, the Ten Commandments carry two sets of cantillation marks. The ta'am 'elyon (upper accentuation), which makes each Commandment into a separate verse, is used for public Torah reading, while the ta'am tachton (lower accentuation), which divides the text into verses of more even length, is used for private reading or study. The verse numbering in Jewish Bibles follows the ta'am tachton. In Jewish Bibles the references to the Ten Commandments are therefore Exodus 20:2–14 and Deuteronomy 5:6–18.

Samaritan

The Samaritan Pentateuch varies in the Ten Commandments passages, both in that the Samaritan Deuteronomical version of the passage is much closer to that in Exodus, and in that Samaritans count as nine commandments what others count as ten. The Samaritan tenth commandment is on the sanctity of Mount Gerizim.

The text of the Samaritan tenth commandment follows:

And it shall come to pass when the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land of the Canaanites whither thou goest to take possession of it, thou shalt erect unto thee large stones, and thou shalt cover them with lime, and thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this Law, and it shall come to pass when ye cross the Jordan, ye shall erect these stones which I command thee upon Mount Gerizim, and thou shalt build there an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones, and thou shalt not lift upon them iron, of perfect stones shalt thou build thine altar, and thou shalt bring upon it burnt offerings to the Lord thy God, and thou shalt sacrifice peace offerings, and thou shalt eat there and rejoice before the Lord thy God. That mountain is on the other side of the Jordan at the end of the road towards the going down of the sun in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah facing Gilgal close by Elon Moreh facing Shechem.

Christianity

See also: Christian views on the Old Covenant and Law and Gospel

Most traditions of Christianity hold that the Ten Commandments have divine authority and continue to be valid, though they have different interpretations and uses of them. The Apostolic Constitutions, which implore believers to "always remember the ten commands of God," reveal the importance of the Decalogue in the early Church. Through most of Christian history the decalogue was considered a summary of God's law and standard of behaviour, central to Christian life, piety, and worship.

Distinctions in the order and importance of said order continues to be a theological debate, with texts within the New Testament Romans 13:9 confirming the more traditional ordering, which follows the Septuagint of adultery, murder and theft, as opposed to the currently held order of the Masoretic of murder, adultery, theft.

Protestantism, under which there are several denominations of Christianity, in general gives more importance to biblical law and the gospel. Magisterial Protestantism takes the Ten Commandments as the starting point of Christian moral life. Different versions of Christianity have varied in how they have translated the bare principles into the specifics that make up a full Christian ethic.

References in the New Testament

See also: Matthew 5 § Antitheses
Moses and Aaron with the Ten Commandments (painting c. 1675 by Aron de Chavez)

During his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explicitly referenced the prohibitions against murder and adultery. In Matthew 19:16–19 Jesus repeated five of the Ten Commandments, followed by that commandment called "the second" (Matthew 22:34–40) after the first and great commandment.

And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

— Matthew 19:16–19

In his Epistle to the Romans, Paul the Apostle also mentioned five of the Ten Commandments and associated them with the neighbourly love commandment.

Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

— Romans 13:8–10 KJV

Anglicanism

In Anglicanism, the Articles of the Church of England, revised and altered by the Assembly of Divines, at Westminster, in the year 1643 state that "no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral. By the moral law, we understand all the Ten Commandments taken in their full extent."

Baptists

Baptists believe The Ten Commandments are a summary of the requirements of a works covenant (called the "Old Covenant"), given on Mount Sinai to the nascent nation of Israel. The Old Covenant is fulfilled by Christ at the cross. Unbelievers are still under the Law. The law reveals man's sin and need for the salvation that is Jeshua. Repentance from sin and faith in Christ for salvation is the point of the entire Bible. They do reflect the eternal character of God, and serve as a paragon of morality.

Catholicism

Main article: Ten Commandments in Catholic theology

In Catholicism it is believed that Jesus freed Christians from the rest of Jewish religious law, but not from their obligation to keep the Ten Commandments. It has been said that they are to the moral order what the creation story is to the natural order.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church—the official exposition of the Catholic Church's Christian beliefs—the Commandments are considered essential for spiritual good health and growth, and serve as the basis for social justice. Church teaching of the Commandments is largely based on the Old and New Testaments and the writings of the early Church Fathers. The Catechism of the Catholic Church believes that in the New Testament, Jesus acknowledged their validity summarizing them into two "great commandments."

The great commandments contain the Law of the Gospel, summed up in the Golden Rule. The Law of the Gospel is expressed particularly in the Sermon on the Mount. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that, "the Law of the Gospel fulfills the commandments of the Law. The Lord's Sermon on the Mount, far from abolishing or devaluing the moral prescriptions of the Old Law, releases their hidden potential and has new demands arise from them: it reveals their entire divine and human truth. It does not add new external precepts, but proceeds to reform the heart, the root of human acts, where man chooses between the pure and the impure, where faith, hope, and charity are formed and with them the other virtues." The New Law "fulfills, refines, surpasses, and leads the Old Law to its perfection."

Lutheranism

Moses receives the Ten Commandments in this 1860 woodcut by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, a Lutheran.

The Lutheran Churches divide Mosaic Law into three components: the (1) moral law, (2) civil law, (3) ceremonial law. Of these, the moral law as contained in the Ten Commandments remains in force today.

The Lutheran division of the commandments follows the one established by St. Augustine, following the then current synagogue scribal division. The first three commandments govern the relationship between God and humans, the fourth through eighth govern public relationships between people, and the last two govern private thoughts. See Luther's Small Catechism and Large Catechism.

Methodism

The moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, according to the founder of the Methodist movement John Wesley, was instituted from the beginning of the world and is written on the hearts of all people. As with the Reformed view, Wesley held that the moral law, which is contained in the Ten Commandments, stands today:

Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind in all ages, as not depending either on time or place, nor on any other circumstances liable to change; but on the nature of God and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other" (Wesley's Sermons, Vol. I, Sermon 25).

In keeping with Wesleyan covenant theology, "while the ceremonial law was abolished in Christ and the whole Mosaic dispensation itself was concluded upon the appearance of Christ, the moral law remains a vital component of the covenant of grace, having Christ as its perfecting end." As such, in Methodism, an "important aspect of the pursuit of sanctification is the careful following" of the Ten Commandments.

Orthodox

A Christian school in India displays the Ten Commandments.

The Eastern Orthodox Church holds its moral truths to be chiefly contained in the Ten Commandments. A confession begins with the Confessor reciting the Ten Commandments and asking the penitent which of them he has broken.

Pentecostalism

The Pentecostal Christianity believes the Ten Commandments were given directly from God summarizing the absolutes of spiritual and moral living that God intended for his people. They also attach a specific significance observing that the Feast of Pentecost commemorates the giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses. This view, admitted by several founders of the Pentecostal Church has passed into modern Christian ethic, where the feast is also celebrated as “the day of the giving of the Law” or Shavuot as observed by Judaic liturgical books and Jewish Christianity. Pentecostals believe giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai fifty days after Passover and the disciples of Jesus Christ receiving the Holy Spirit of God, as foretold by Him, fifty days after His Resurrection on Day of Pentecost was foretold by the prophet Jeremiah symbolizing God giving His Church the gift of the Holy Spirit, where law is written, not on tablets of stone, but in their hearts. Pentecostal Christianity believes that through Jesus Christ and with the exception of the Ten Commandments, they are not bound by the 613 Commandments of the Old Testament and any adherence to Judaic Halakha.

Reformed Christianity

Reformed Christianity includes the Continental Reformed, Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and Reformed Anglican traditions. The Heidelberg Catechism, in explaining the third use of the Law, teaches that the moral law as contained in the Ten Commandments is binding for Christians and that it instructs Christians how to live in service to God in gratitude for His grace shown in redeeming mankind. John Calvin deemed this third use of the Law as its primary use.

Presbyterianism

The Westminster Confession, held by Presbyterian Churches, holds that the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments "does forever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof".

Dispensationalism

With the emergence of dispensationalism (held to by Churches such as the Plymouth Brethren and certain Independent Baptists), certain communities believe and teach their adherents that all of the Law of Moses was fulfilled by Jesus Christ by His Crucifixion, death and resurrection and the Law of Moses including the Ten Commandments no longer apply to them while others believe in following only the commandments that appear in the New testament and hence do not follow or observe them as part of their faith and worship.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

According to the doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jesus completed rather than rejected the Mosaic law. The Ten Commandments are considered eternal gospel principles necessary for exaltation. They appear in the Book of Mosiah 12:34–36, 13:15–16, 13:21–24 and Doctrine and Covenants. According to the Book of Mosiah, a prophet named Abinadi taught the Ten Commandments in the court of King Noah and was martyred for his righteousness. Abinadi knew the Ten Commandments from the brass plates.

In an October 2011 address, the Church president and prophet Thomas S. Monson taught "The Ten Commandments are just that—commandments. They are not suggestions." In that same talk he used small quotations listing the numbering and selection of the commandments. This and other sources don't include the prologue, making it most consistent with the Septuagint numbering.

A splinter group of the Church called the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite)" have a belief similar to the Samaritans where they have the entire Ten Commandments in their scripture where others only have nine. The Strangite fourth Commandment is "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." The Strangite's founder and namesake James Strang wrote in "Note on the Decalogue" as part of the Book of the Law of the Lord (a Strangite holy book) that no other version of the Decalogue contains more than nine commandments and speculated that his fourth Commandment was omitted from other works perhaps as early as Josephus' time (circa 37-100 AD).

Islam

See also: Torah in Islam and Moses in Islam

Moses and the Tablets

Main article: Tablets of Stone § In the Quran

The receiving of the Ten Commandments by Prophet Musa (Moses) is dealt with in much detail in Islamic tradition with the meeting of Moses with God on Mount Sinai described in Surah A'raf (7:142-145). The Revealing of the Tablets on which were the Commandments of God is described in the following verse:

And We wrote for him (Moses) on the Tablets the lesson to be drawn from all things and the explanation of all things (and said): Hold unto these with firmness, and enjoin your people to take the better therein. I shall show you the home of Al-Fasiqun (the rebellious, disobedient to Allah).

The Tablets are further alluded to in verses 7:150, when Moses threw the Tablets down in anger at seeing the Israelites' worshipping of the golden calf, and in 7:154 when he picked up the Tablets having recovered from his anger:

And when the anger of Musa (Moses) was appeased, he took up the Tablets, and in their inscription was guidance and mercy for those who fear their Lord.

Classical views

Three verses of Surah An'am (6:151–153) are widely taken to be a reinstatement (or revised version) of the Ten Commandments either as revealed to Moses originally or as they are to be taken by Muslims now:

151. Say: "Come, I will recite what your Lord has prohibited you from: Join not anything in worship with Him; And be good (and dutiful) to your parents; And kill not your children because of poverty – We provide sustenance for you and for them; And come not near to Al-Fawahish (shameful sins, illegal sexual intercourse, adultery etc.) whether committed openly or secretly, And kill not anyone whom Allah has forbidden, except for a just cause (according to the Law). This He has commanded you that you may understand.

152. "And come not near to the orphan's property, except to improve it, until he (or she) attains the age of full strength; And give full measure and full weight with justice. We burden not any person, but that which he can bear. And whenever you give your word (i.e. judge between men or give evidence, etc.), say the truth even if a near relative is concerned, And fulfill the Covenant of Allah. This He commands you, that you may remember.

153. "And verily, this (the Commandments mentioned in the above Verses) is my Straight Path, so follow it, and follow not (other) paths, for they will separate you away from His Path. This He has ordained for you that you may become Al-Muttaqun (the pious)."

Evidence for these verses having some relation to Moses and the Ten Commandments is from the verse which immediately follows them:

Then, We gave Musa (Moses) the Book, to complete (Our Favour) upon those who would do right, and explaining all things in detail and a guidance and a mercy that they might believe in the meeting with their Lord.

According to a narration in Mustadrak Hakim, Ibn Abbas, a prominent narrator of Israiliyat traditions said, "In Surah Al-An`am, there are clear Ayat, and they are the Mother of the Book (the Qur'an)." He then recited the above verses.

Also in Mustadrak Hakim is the narration of Ubada ibn as-Samit:

The Messenger of Allah said, "Who among you will give me his pledge to do three things?"

He then recited the (above) Ayah (6:151–153).

He then said, "Whoever fulfills (this pledge), then his reward will be with Allah, but whoever fell into shortcomings and Allah punishes him for it in this life, then that will be his recompense. Whoever Allah delays (his reckoning) until the Hereafter, then his matter is with Allah. If He wills, He will punish him, and if He wills, He will forgive him."

Ibn Kathir mentions a narration of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud in his Tafsir:

"Whoever wishes to read the will and testament of the Messenger of Allah on which he placed his seal, let him read these Ayat (6:151–153)."

Order Commandment in the Quran Surat Al-An'am Surat Al-Isra Corresponding in the Bible
First Commandment Do not associate others with God (151) (22) Do not put other gods before me
Second Commandment Honour your parents (23–24) Honour thy father and thy mother
Third Commandment Do not kill your children for fear of poverty (26–31) Do not murder
Fourth Commandment Do not come near indecencies, openly or secretly. (32) Do not covet thy neighbour's wife, Do not commit adultery
Fifth Commandment Do not take a life except justly (33) Do not murder
Sixth Commandment Do not come near the property of the orphan except to enhance it (152) (34) Do not covet his slaves, or his animals, or anything of thy neighbour
Seventh Commandment Give full measure and weigh with justice (35) Doesn't exist. (And the biblical "Remember the sabbath day" is absent in the Quran.)
Eighth Commandment Whenever you testify, maintain justice even regarding a close relative (36) Do not bear false witness against thy neighbour
Ninth Commandment Fulfil your covenant with God (34) Do not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain
Tenth Commandment Follow God's path and not any other (153) (37–39) Do not make unto thee any graven image or idols neither kneel before them nor worship them

Other views

See also: Islamic ethics § Moral commandments

Main points of interpretative difference

Sabbath day

See also: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy; Biblical Sabbath; Shabbat; and Judaizers

The Abrahamic religions observe the Sabbath in various ways. In Judaism it is observed on Saturday (reckoned from dusk to dusk). In Christianity, it is sometimes observed on Saturday, sometimes on Sunday, and sometimes not at all (non-Sabbatarianism). Observing the Sabbath on Sunday, the day of resurrection, gradually became the dominant Christian practice from the Jewish-Roman wars onward. The Church's general repudiation of Jewish practices during this period is apparent in the Council of Laodicea (4th century AD) where Canons 37–38 state: "It is not lawful to receive portions sent from the feasts of Jews or heretics, nor to feast together with them" and "It is not lawful to receive unleavened bread from the Jews, nor to be partakers of their impiety". Canon 29 of the Laodicean council specifically refers to the sabbath: "Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ."

Killing or murder

Main article: Thou shalt not kill
The Sixth Commandment, as translated by the Book of Common Prayer (1549).
The image is from the altar screen of the Temple Church near the Law Courts in London.

Multiple translations exist of the fifth/sixth commandment; the Hebrew words לא תרצח‎ (lo tirtzach) are variously translated as "thou shalt not kill" or "thou shalt not murder".

The imperative is against unlawful killing resulting in bloodguilt. The Hebrew Bible contains numerous prohibitions against unlawful killing, but does not prohibit killing in the context of warfare (1Kings 2:5–6), capital punishment (Leviticus 20:9–16) or defending against a home invasion (Exodus 22:2–3), which are considered justified. The New Testament is in agreement that murder is a grave moral evil, and references the Old Testament view of bloodguilt.

Theft

Main article: Thou shalt not steal

German Old Testament scholar Albrecht Alt: Das Verbot des Diebstahls im Dekalog (1953), suggested that the commandment translated as "thou shalt not steal" was originally intended against stealing people, against abductions and slavery, in agreement with the Talmudic interpretation of the statement as "thou shalt not kidnap" (Sanhedrin 86a).

Alt's claim is somewhat questionable, because the decalogue verse (Exodus 20:12, Deuteronomy 5:16) forbids theft in general, whereas the Sanhedrin 86a discussion (abductions and slavery) deals with another biblical verse: Deuteronomy 24:7 which explicitly refers to theft (i.e. abduction) of a person in order to sell that person.

Idolatry

Main articles: Idolatry, Idolatry in Judaism, Idolatry in Christianity, and Shirk (Islam)

In Judaism there is a prohibition against making or worshipping an idol or a representation of God, but there is no restriction on art or simple depictions unrelated to God. Islam has a stronger prohibition, banning not just representations of God, but also in some cases of Muhammad, humans and, in some interpretations, any living creature.

In the non-canonical Gospel of Barnabas, it is claimed that Jesus stated that idolatry is the greatest sin as it divests a man fully of faith, and hence of God. The words attributed to Jesus prohibit not only worshipping statues of wood or stone; but also statues of flesh. "...all which a man loves, for which he leaves everything else but that, is his god, thus the glutton and drunkard has for his idol his own flesh, the fornicator has for his idol the harlot and the greedy has for his idol silver and gold, and so the same for every other sinner." Idolatory was thus the basic sin, which manifested in various acts or thoughts, which displace the primacy of God. However, the Gospel of Barnabas does not form part of the Christian bible. It is known only from 16th- and 17th-century manuscripts, and frequently reflects Islamic rather than Christian understandings.

Eastern Orthodox tradition teaches that while images of God, the Father, remain prohibited, depictions of Jesus as the incarnation of God as a visible human are permissible. To emphasize the theological importance of the incarnation, the Orthodox Church encourages the use of icons in church and private devotions, but prefers a two-dimensional depiction. In modern use (usually as a result of Roman Catholic influence), more naturalistic images and images of the Father, however, also appear occasionally in Orthodox churches, but statues, i.e. three-dimensional depictions, continue to be banned.

Adultery

This commandment forbade male Israelites from having sexual intercourse with the wife of another Israelite; the prohibition did not extend to their own slaves. Sexual intercourse between an Israelite man, married or not, and a woman who was neither married nor betrothed was not considered adultery. This concept of adultery stems from a society that was not strictly monogamous, where the patriarchal economic aspect of Israelite marriage gave the husband an exclusive right to his wife, whereas the wife, as the husband's possession, did not have an exclusive right to her husband.

Louis Ginzberg argued that the tenth commandment (Covet not thy neighbor's wife) is directed against a sin which may lead to a trespassing of all Ten Commandments.

Critical historical analysis

18th-century depiction of Moses receiving the tablets (Monheim Town Hall)

Early theories

Critical scholarship is divided over its interpretation of the ten commandment texts.

Julius Wellhausen's documentary hypothesis (1883) suggests that Exodus 20–23 and 34 "might be regarded as the document which formed the starting point of the religious history of Israel." Deuteronomy 5 then reflects King Josiah's attempt to link the document produced by his court to the older Mosaic tradition.

In a 2002 analysis of the history of this position, Bernard M. Levinson argued that this reconstruction assumes a Christian perspective, and dates back to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's polemic against Judaism, which asserted that religions evolve from the more ritualistic to the more ethical. Goethe thus argued that the Ten Commandments revealed to Moses at Mount Sinai would have emphasized rituals, and that the "ethical" Decalogue Christians recite in their own churches was composed at a later date, when Israelite prophets had begun to prophesy the coming of the messiah. Levinson points out that there is no evidence, internal to the Hebrew Bible or in external sources, to support this conjecture. He concludes that its vogue among later critical historians represents the persistence of the idea that the supersession of Judaism by Christianity is part of a longer history of progress from the ritualistic to the ethical.

20th century discussion

By the 1930s, historians who accepted the basic premises of multiple authorship had come to reject the idea of an orderly evolution of Israelite religion. Critics instead began to suppose that law and ritual could be of equal importance, while taking different form, at different times. This means that there is no longer any a priori reason to believe that Exodus 20:2–17 and Exodus 34:10–28 were composed during different stages of Israelite history.

According to John Bright, there was an important distinction between the Decalogue and the "book of the covenant" (Exodus 21–23 and 34:10–24). The Decalogue, he argues, was modelled on the suzerainty treaties of the Hittites (and other Mesopotamian Empires), that is, represents the relationship between God and Israel as a relationship between king and vassal, and enacts that bond.

"The prologue of the Hittite treaty reminds his vassals of his benevolent acts.. (compare with Exodus 20:2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery"). The Hittite treaty also stipulated the obligations imposed by the ruler on his vassals, which included a prohibition of relations with peoples outside the empire, or enmity between those within." (Exodus 20:3: "You shall have no other gods before Me"). Viewed as a treaty rather than a law code, its purpose is not so much to regulate human affairs as to define the scope of the king's power.

Julius Morgenstern argued that Exodus 34 was distinct from the Jahwist document, identifying it with king Asa's reforms in 899 BC. Bright, however, believes that like the Decalogue this text has its origins in the time of the tribal alliance. The book of the covenant, he notes, bears a greater similarity to Mesopotamian law codes (e.g. the Code of Hammurabi which was inscribed on a stone stele). He argues that the function of this "book" is to move from the realm of treaty to the realm of law: "The Book of the Covenant (Ex., chs. 21 to 23; cf. ch. 34), which is no official state law, but a description of normative Israelite judicial procedure in the days of the Judges, is the best example of this process." According to Bright, then, this body of law too predates the monarchy.

According to Kaufmann, the Decalogue and the book of the covenant represent two ways of manifesting God's presence in Israel: the Ten Commandments taking the archaic and material form of stone tablets kept in the Ark of the Covenant, while the book of the covenant took oral form to be recited to the people.

21st century scholarship

Scholars disagree about when the Ten Commandments were written and by whom, with some modern scholars suggesting that they were likely modeled on Hittite and Mesopotamian laws and treaties.

Michael Coogan argues that each of the three versions of the Ten Commandments are “significantly different… indicating that its text was not fixed in ancient Israel.”

Archaeologists Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman argue that "the astonishing composition came together… in the seventh century BC". An even later date (after 586 BC) is suggested by David H. Aaron; his book argues for “the probability that these documents were written very late in the history of biblical literature - indeed, so late as to constitute a literary afterthought in the development of Israelite ethnic self-definition.”

Biblical scholar Timothy S. Hogue argues that the Decalogue in the book of Exodus originated in the northern kingdom of Israel around the 9th-8th centuries BC, based on parallels with Luwian texts from that time as well as the references in the Decalogue to the masseboth which were destroyed during the religious reforms of Hezekiah and Josiah.

According to Book of Deuteronomy, the tablets were placed in the Ark of the Covenant. Thomas Römer argued in 2015 that “clearly… the tablets of the law are a substitute for something else.” He holds that “the original Ark contained a statue of Yhwh” and that it was “brought into the Jerusalem temple under Josiah”, which he specifically identifies as “two betyles (sacred stones), or two cult image statues symbolizing Yhwh and his female companion Ashera or a statue representing Yhwh alone.”

The Ritual Decalogue

Main article: Ritual Decalogue See also: Documentary hypothesis
Print of Moses showing the Ten Commandments. Made at the end of the sixteenth century.

Exodus 34:28 identifies a different list, that of Exodus 34:11–27, as the Ten Commandments. Since this passage does not prohibit murder, adultery, theft, etc., but instead deals with the proper worship of Yahweh, some scholars call it the "Ritual Decalogue", and disambiguate the Ten Commandments of traditional understanding as the "Ethical Decalogue".

The documentary hypothesis identifies the Ritual Decalogue as the work of the Jahwist, from the Kingdom of Judah, and the Covenant Code as that of the Elohist, from the Kingdom of Israel, both writing independently. It does not however answer the question of how these texts were related, merely that the Ritual Decalogue circulated in Judah, and the Covenant Code in Israel. What the documentary hypothesis does partly explain is the relationship of the Ritual Decalogue to the Ethical Decalogue, and why, instead of the Ethical Decalogue, it is the Ritual Decalogue which is written on the two tablets when Moses ascends the mountain to have the Ethical Decalogue inscribed for a second time.

Richard Elliott Friedman argues that the Ten Commandments at Exodus 20:1–17 "does not appear to belong to any of the major sources. It is likely to be an independent document, which was inserted here by the Redactor." In his view, the Covenant Code follows that version of the Ten Commandments in the northern Israel E narrative. In the J narrative in Exodus 34 the editor of the combined story known as the Redactor (or RJE), adds in an explanation that these are a replacement for the earlier tablets which were shattered. "In the combined JE text, it would be awkward to picture God just commanding Moses to make some tablets, as if there were no history to this matter, so RJE adds the explanation that these are a replacement for the earlier tablets that were shattered." He suggests that differences in the J and E versions of the Ten Commandments story are a result of power struggles in the priesthood. The writer has Moses smash the tablets "because this raised doubts about the Judah's central religious shrine".

Political importance

According to some scholars, certain interpretations of the Commandments were allegedly problematic for people living in those respective societies during their time, like capital punishment for blasphemy, idolatry, apostasy, adultery, cursing one own's parents, and Sabbath-breaking.

During an 1846 uprising, now known as the Galician slaughter, by impoverished and famished Galician Eastern European peasants (serfs) directed against szlachta (Polish nobles) because of their oppression (for example, manorial prisons), a popular rumor had it that the Austrian Emperor had abolished the Ten Commandants, which the peasants took as permission and religious justification to massacre the szlachta – the prime representatives and beneficiaries of the crown in Austrian Galicia. This uprising is credited with helping to bring on the demise, in 1848, of serfdom with corvée labor in Galicia.

United States debate over display on public property

Further information: Accommodationism See also: Roy Moore, Van Orden v. Perry, and Separation of church and state in the United States
Picture of a large stone monument displaying the ten commandments with the Texas State Capitol in Austin in the background. The picture was part of a news release Wednesday, March second, 2005, by then Attorney General Abbott.
Ten Commandments display at the Texas State Capitol in Austin
Ten Commandments Monument at the Arkansas State Capitol

European Protestants replaced some visual art in their churches with plaques of the Ten Commandments after the Reformation. In England, such "Decalogue boards" also represented the English monarch's emphasis on rule of royal law within the churches. The United States Constitution forbids establishment of religion by law; however images of Moses holding the tablets of the Decalogue, along other religious figures including Solomon, Confucius, and Muhammad holding the Quran, are sculpted on the north and south friezes of the pediment of the Supreme Court building in Washington. Images of the Ten Commandments have long been contested symbols for the relationship of religion to national law.

In the 1950s and 1960s the Fraternal Order of Eagles placed possibly thousands of Ten Commandments displays in courthouses and school rooms, including many stone monuments on courthouse property. Because displaying the commandments can reflect a sectarian position if they are numbered, the Eagles developed an ecumenical version that omitted the numbers, as on the monument at the Texas capitol. Hundreds of monuments were also placed by director Cecil B. DeMille as a publicity stunt to promote his 1956 film The Ten Commandments. Placing the plaques and monuments to the Ten Commandments in and around government buildings was another expression of mid-twentieth-century U.S. civil religion, along with adding the phrase "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance.

By the beginning of the twenty-first century in the U.S., however, Decalogue monuments and plaques in government spaces had become a legal battleground between religious as well as political liberals and conservatives. Organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Americans United for Separation of Church and State launched lawsuits challenging the posting of the ten commandments in public buildings. The ACLU has been supported by a number of religious groups such as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and the American Jewish Congress.

In public schools

In 1980, the Supreme Court in Stone v. Graham ruled unconstitutional a Kentucky statute that required the posting of a copy of the Ten Commandments on the wall of each public classroom in the state, because the statute lacked a nonreligious, legislative purpose.

In 2023, Texas Republican politician Phil King introduced SB 1515 of the 88th Session of the Texas Senate, which would require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every classroom of every public school in Texas. The bill eventually lapsed in the State House when the session closed without voting it.

On June 19, 2024, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed House Bill 71 mandating display of the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom. The bill also permits the additional display of the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence or the Northwest Ordinance. Governor Landry stated that the Ten Commandments are "not solely religious, but that it has historical significance." The bill mandates a text that includes the phrase "Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven images" indicating that it comes not from a traditional Bible but instead from the Eagles-DeMille promotion campaign. A group of parents challenged the law in court, and on November 12, 2024, United States District Judge John W. deGravelles granted a temporary injunction, stating that the law is "unconstitutional on its face." On November 15, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit granted an emergency stay motion from the Louisiana state, limiting the ruling to the five parishes whose school boards were named as defendants in the case.

Cultural references

Two famous films with this name were directed by Cecil B. DeMille: a 1923 silent film which stars Theodore Roberts as Moses, and a 1956 version filmed in VistaVision starring Charlton Heston as Moses.

Both Dekalog, a 1989 Polish film series directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski, and The Ten, a 2007 American film, use the Ten Commandments as a structure for 10 smaller stories.

Other media about the Ten Commandments include a 2000 musical, 2004 musical, 2006 miniseries, 2007 film, 2010 film, and a 2016 film.

The receipt of the Ten Commandments by Moses was satirized in Mel Brooks's 1981 movie History of the World Part I, which shows Moses (played by Brooks, in a similar costume to Charlton Heston's Moses in the 1956 film), receiving three tablets containing fifteen commandments, but before he can present them to his people, he stumbles and drops one of the tablets, shattering it. He then presents the remaining tablets, proclaiming Ten Commandments.

See also

References

  1. Nouns often underwent this shift in gender and stem type between Biblical and Mishnaic Hebrew without any shift in meaning. Compare, for example, BH ohalim and MH ahilot.
  1. ^ Coogan, Michael (2014). The Ten Commandments: A Short History of an Ancient Text. Yale University Press. pp. 27, 33. ISBN 978-0-300-17871-5.
  2. "Ten Commandments | Description, History, Text, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  3. ^ Rom-Shiloni, Dalit (2019). "The Decalogue". In Barmash, Pamela (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Law. Oxford University Press. pp. 135–155. ISBN 978-0-19-939266-7. “Three main dating schemes have been proposed: (1) it was suggested that the Decalogue was the earliest legal code given at Sinai, with Moses as author, and the Amphictyony confederation as its setting (Albright 1939, 1949, Buber 1998, and others); (2) the Decalogue was considered a product of the pre-exilic monarchic period, well embedded in the deuteronomistic writings, but presumed to reflect earlier periods of evolution (and possibly to be of northern origin; Carmichael 1985, Reventlow 1962, and Weinfeld 1990, 1991, 2001, among others); (3) the Decalogue has been understood as a postexilic product shaped primarily by deuteronomistic and priestly currents in the eighth century BCE and forward, and secondarily by prophetic and or wisdom influences. Among the features that seem to point to the lateness of the collection are its gradual literary evolution and its place within the Sinai traditions (Aaron 2006, Blum 2011, Hölscher 1988, and others). Harrelson (1962, who accepted this third dating suggestion) was cautious enough to admit that there were no good arguments to substantiate firmly any of these general frameworks”
  4. ^ "Exodus 34:28 – multiple versions and languages". Studybible.info. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  5. "Deuteronomy 4:13 – multiple versions and languages". studybible.info. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  6. "Deuteronomy 10:4 – multiple versions and languages". Studybible.info. Archived from the original on 21 October 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  7. Rooker, Mark (2010). The Ten Commandments: Ethics for the Twenty-First Century. Nashville, Tennessee: B&H Publishing Group. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-8054-4716-3. Retrieved 2 October 2011. The Ten Commandments are literally the 'Ten Words' (ăśeret hadděbārîm) in Hebrew. In Mishnaic Hebrew, they are called עשרת הדברות‎ (transliterated aseret ha-dibrot). The use of the term dābār, 'word,' in this phrase distinguishes these laws from the rest of the commandments (mişwâ), statutes (hōq), and regulations (mišpāţ) in the Old Testament.
  8. Harper, Douglas. "Decalogue". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  9. When LORD is printed in small caps, it typically represents the so-called Tetragrammaton, a Greek term representing the four Hebrews YHWH which indicates the divine name. This is typically indicated in the preface of most modern translations. For an example, see Crossway Bibles (28 December 2011), "Preface", Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton: Crossway, p. IX, ISBN 978-1-4335-3087-6, archived from the original on 12 June 2013, retrieved 19 November 2012
  10. Deuteronomy 4:13; 5:22 9
  11. Somer, Benjamin D. Revelation and Authority: Sinai in Jewish Scripture and Tradition (The Anchor Yale Bible Reference Library). pp = 40.
  12. Exodus 20:21
  13. Exodus 21–23
  14. Exodus 24:4
  15. Exodus 24:7
  16. Exodus 24:1,9
  17. Exodus 24:1–11
  18. Exodus 24:16–18
  19. Deuteronomy 9:10
  20. Ex. 32:1–5
  21. Ex. 32:6–8
  22. Ex.32:19
  23. Ex. 34:1
  24. Deuteronomy 10:4
  25. Deuteronomy 4:10–13, 5:22, 9:17, 10:1–5
  26. Mechon Mamre, Exodus 20
  27. "Dead Sea Scrolls Plate 981, Frag 2, B-314643 ManuScript 4Q41-4Q Deut". Retrieved 31 August 2020.
  28. Exodus 20:1–17
  29. Deuteronomy 5:4–21
  30. Chan, Yiu Sing Lúcás (2012). The Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. Lantham, MA: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 38, 241. ISBN 9781442215542. Archived from the original on 24 April 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  31. ^ Block, Daniel I. (2012). "The Decalogue in the Hebrew Scriptures". In Greenman, Jeffrey P.; Larsen, Timothy (eds.). The Decalogue Through the Centuries: From the Hebrew Scriptures to Benedict XVI. Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 1–27. ISBN 978-0-664-23490-4.
  32. ^ I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
  33. ^ You shall have no other gods before me.
  34. ^ You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
  35. ^ You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
  36. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male slave, or your female slave, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
  37. Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male slave or your female slave, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male slave and your female slave may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
  38. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
  39. Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
  40. ^ You shall not murder.
  41. You shall not commit adultery.
  42. And you shall not commit adultery.
  43. You shall not steal.
  44. And you shall not steal.
  45. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
  46. And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
  47. You shall not covet your neighbor's house
  48. And you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field,
  49. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife …
  50. And you shall not covet your neighbor's wife.
  51. … or his male slave, or his female slave, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.
  52. … or his male slave, or his female slave, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.
  53. ^ And when you have passed over the Yaardaan you shall set up these stones, which I command you today, in Aargaareezem .
  54. Tsedaka, Benyamin (2013). The Israelite Samaritan Version of the Torah. Grand Rapids, MI: W. B. Eerdmans. pp. 173–174. ISBN 978-0-8028-6519-9.
  55. Tsedaka, Benyamin (2013). The Israelite Samaritan Version of the Torah. Grand Rapids, MI: W. B. Eerdmans. pp. 420–21. ISBN 978-0-8028-6519-9.
  56. Philo. The Decalogue, IX.(32)-(37).
  57. Fincham, Kenneth; Lake, Peter, eds. (2006). Religious Politics in Post-reformation England. Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press. p. 42. ISBN 1-84383-253-4.
  58. ^ Luther's Large Catechism Archived 5 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine (1529)
  59. ^ Herbert Huffmon, "The Fundamental Code Illustrated: The Third Commandment," in The Ten Commandments: The Reciprocity of Faithfulness, ed. William P. Brown., pp. 205–212 Archived 23 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Westminster John Knox Press (2004). ISBN 0-664-22323-0
  60. Miller, Patrick D. (2009). The Ten Commandments. Presbyterian Publishing Corp. pp. 4–12. ISBN 978-0-664-23055-5. Archived from the original on 12 May 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  61. Milgrom, Joseph (2005). "The Nature of Revelation and Mosaic Origins". In Blumenthal, Jacob; Liss, Janet (eds.). Etz Hayim Study Guide. Jewish Publication Society. pp. 70–74. ISBN 0-8276-0822-5.
  62. ^ William Barclay, The Ten Commandments. Archived 3 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine Westminster John Knox Press (2001), originally The Plain Man's Guide to Ethics (1973). ISBN 0-664-22346-X
  63. ^ Gail R. O'Day and David L. Petersen, Theological Bible Commentary, p. 34 Archived 16 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Westminster John Knox Press (2009) ISBN 0-664-22711-2
  64. Norman Solomon, Judaism, p. 17 Archived 3 June 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Sterling Publishing Company (2009) ISBN 1-4027-6884-2
  65. Wayne D. Dosick, Living Judaism: The Complete Guide to Jewish Belief, Tradition, and Practice, pp. 31–33 Archived 26 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine. HarperCollins (1995). ISBN 0-06-062179-6 "There are 603 more Torah commandments. But in giving these ten – with their wise insight into the human condition – God established a standard of right and wrong, a powerful code of behavior, that is universal and timeless."
  66. "Philo: The Special Laws, I". www.earlyjewishwritings.com. Archived from the original on 9 August 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  67. "Philo: The Decalogue". www.earlyjewishwritings.com. p. XXXII. (168). Archived from the original on 21 July 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  68. אלכסנדר קליין, ייחודם של עשרת הדיברות Archived 7 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine
  69. Ginzberg, Louis, The Legends of the Jews, Vol. III: The Unity of Ten Commandments Archived 7 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine, (Translated by Henrietta Szold), Johns Hopkins University Press: 1998, ISBN 0-8018-5890-9
  70. Talmud Makkos 1:10
  71. Rabbi Ishmael. Horowitz-Rabin (ed.). Mekhilta. pp. 233, Tractate de-ba-Hodesh, 5.
  72. Margaliot, Dr. Meshulam (July 2004). "What was Written on the Two Tablets?". Bar-Ilan University. Archived from the original on 26 April 2006. Retrieved 20 September 2006.
  73. Exodus 32:15
  74. Babylonian Talmud, tractate Shabbat 104a.
  75. ^ Simon Glustrom, The Myth and Reality of Judaism, pp. 113–114. Behrman House (1989). ISBN 0-87441-479-2
  76. Yerushalmi Berakhot, Chapter 1, fol. 3c. See also Rabbi David Golinkin, Whatever Happened to the Ten Commandments? Archived 15 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  77. Talmud. tractate Berachot 12a. Archived 12 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine
  78. "Beit Yosef, Orach Chaim 1:14:1". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  79. "Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 1:5". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  80. "Mishnah Berurah 1:16". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  81. "Siddur Ashkenaz, Weekday, Shacharit, Post Service, Ten Commandments 1". www.sefaria.org. Retrieved 20 June 2024.
  82. Covenant & Conversation Yitro 5772 Archived 24 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine Chief Rabbi. Retrieved 24 May 2015
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  84. Braaten, Carl E.; Seitz, Christopher (2005). "Preface". I Am the Lord Your God. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans. p. x. Archived from the original on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  85. Roberts, Alexander (2007). The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Vol. VII. Cosimo, Inc. p. 413. ISBN 978-1602064829.
  86. Turner, Philip (2005). "The Ten Commandments in the Church in a Postmodern World". In Braaten, Carl E.; Seitz, Christopher (eds.). I Am the Lord Your God. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans. p. 3. Archived from the original on 8 July 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  87. Heiser, Michael (2015). I Dare You Not to Bore Me with the Bible. Lexham Press. ISBN 978-1577995395.
  88. ^ Timothy Sedgwick, The Christian Moral Life: Practices of Piety, pp. 9–20 Archived 5 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Church Publishing (2008). ISBN 1-59627-100-0
  89. Neal, Daniel (1843). The History of the Puritans, Or Protestant Non-conformists. Harper. p. 3.
  90. "Book of the Covenant". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  91. Schreiner, Thomas (November 2018). "The Old Covenant Is Over. The Old Testament Is Authoritative". The Gospel Coalition. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  92. A New Covenant Theology of Israel, pp. 1, 4
  93. ^ Jan Kreeft, Catholic Christianity: A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, ch. 5. Ignatius Press (2001). ISBN 0-89870-798-6
  94. Kreeft, Peter (2001). Catholic Christianity. Ignatius Press. ISBN 0-89870-798-6. pp. 201–203 (Google preview p. 201)
  95. Carmody, Timothy R. (2004). Reading the Bible. Paulist Press. ISBN 978-0-8091-4189-0. p. 82
  96. Paragraph number 2052–2074 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Archived from the original on 26 February 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  97. Paragraph number 1970 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Archived from the original on 26 February 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  98. Paragraph number 1967–1968 (1994). "Catechism of the Catholic Church". Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Archived from the original on 26 February 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  99. ^ "Old Testament Law". Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. 9 March 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
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  101. ^ Rodes, Stanley J. (2014). From Faith to Faith: John Wesley's Covenant Theology and the Way of Salvation. James Clarke & Co. p. 69. ISBN 978-0227902202.
  102. ^ Campbell, Ted A. (2011). Methodist Doctrine: The Essentials, 2nd Edition. Abingdon Press. pp. 40, 68–69. ISBN 978-1426753473.
  103. ^ The Sabbath Recorder, Volume 75. George B. Utter. 1913. p. 422. The moral law contained in the Ten Commandments and enforced by the prophets, he (Christ) did not take away. It was not the design of his coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken. It stands fast as the faithful witness in heaven.
  104. Sebastian Dabovich, Preaching in the Russian Church, p. 65. Cubery (1899).
  105. Alexander Hugh Hore, Eighteen Centuries of the Orthodox Church, p. 36. J. Parker and Co. (1899).
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  107. "Bible Gateway passage: Jeremiah 31:33-34 - New King James Version". Bible Gateway. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
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  116. "Mosiah 13:15–16". churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  117. "Mosiah 13:20–24". churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
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  124. Qasas ul Anbiya (Stories of the Prophets) Ibn Kathir
  125. The Noble Quran, trans. Muhsin Khan; Taqi-ud-Din Hilali. Verse 7:145
  126. The Noble Quran, trans. Muhsin Khan; Taqi-ud-Din Hilali. Verse 7:154
  127. Tafsir ibn Kathir Archived 4 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, see Chapter heading for the Commentary of Verse 6:151
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  129. Hussein Naguib (2014). The Quranic Ten Commandments: This Is My Straight Path Al An'am (6:153). Hussein M. Naguib. ISBN 978-0-615-99559-5.
  130. The numbering of the verses is given in bold while the numbering of the Commandments is in superscript.
  131. The Noble Quran, trans. Muhsin Khan; Taqi-ud-Din Hilali. Verses 6:151–153
  132. The Noble Quran, trans. Muhsin Khan; Taqi-ud-Din Hilali. Verse 6:154
  133. ^ Tafsir ibn Kathir Archived 4 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Commentary of verse 6:151. Al-Hakim said, "Its chain is Sahih, and they (Sihah Sitta) did not record it."
  134. Tafsir ibn Kathir Archived 4 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine, Commentary of verse 6:151. Isnad: Dawud Al-Awdy narrated that, Ash-Sha`bi said that, Alqamah said that Ibn Mas`ud said (the above narration).
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  138. Matthew 5:21, Matthew 15:19, Matthew 19:19, Matthew 22:7, Mark 10:19, Luke 18:20, Romans 13:9, 1 Timothy 1:9, James 2:11, Revelation 21:8
  139. Matthew 23:30–35, Matthew 27:4, Luke 11:50–51, Romans 3:15, Revelation 6:10, Revelation 18:24
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  143. ^ Alexander Hugh Hore, Eighteen Centuries of the Orthodox Church, J. Parker and co. (1899)
    "The images or Icons, as they are called, of the Greek Church are not, it must be remarked, sculptured images, but flat pictures or mosaics; not even the Crucifix is sanctioned; and herein consists the difference between the Greek and Roman Churches, in the latter of which both pictures and statues are allowed, and venerated with equal honour." p. 353
  144. Collins, R. F. (1992). "Ten Commandments." In D. N. Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (Vol. 6, p. 386). New York: Doubleday
  145. Tigay, Jeffrey Howard (2007). "Adultery". In Skolnik, Fred; Berenbaum, Michael; Thomson Gale (Firm) (eds.). Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.). p. 424. ISBN 978-0-02-866097-4. OCLC 123527471. Retrieved 29 November 2019. adultery constituted a violation of the husband's exclusive right to her
  146. Collins, R. F. (1992). "Ten Commandments." In D. N. Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (Vol. 6, p. 386). New York: Doubleday
  147. Ginzberg, Louis, The Legends of the Jews, Vol. III: The other Commandments Revealed on Sinai Archived 7 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine, (Translated by Henrietta Szold), Johns Hopkins University Press: 1998, ISBN 0-8018-5890-9
  148. Julius Wellhausen 1973 Prolegomena to the History of Israel Glouster, MA: Peter Smith. 392
  149. Levinson, Bernard M. (July 2002). "Goethe's Analysis of Exodus 34 and Its Influence on Julius Wellhausen: the Pfropfung of the Documentary Hypothesis". Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 114 (2): 212–223
  150. John Bright, 1972, pp. 146–147 4th ed. pp. 150–151 Archived 28 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  151. Cornfeld, Gaalyahu Ed Pictorial Biblical Encyclopedia, MacMillan 1964 p. 237
  152. John Bright, 1972, p. 165 4th ed. pp. 169–170 Archived 28 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  153. Morgenstern, Julius (1927), The Oldest Document of the Hexateuch, vol. IV, HUAC
  154. Bright, John, 2000, A History of Israel 4th ed. p. 173.
  155. John Bright, 1972, p. 166 4th ed. pp. 170+ Archived 28 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  156. Yehezkal Kaufmann 1960 The Religion of Israel: From its beginnings to the Babylonian Exile trans. and Abridged by Moshe Greenberg. New York: Schocken Books, pp. 174–175.
  157. Israel Finkelstein, Neil Asher Silberman (2002). The Bible Unearthed, p. 70.
  158. "Etched in Stone: The Emergence of the Decalogue" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 October 2011. (99.8 KB), The Chronicle, Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion, Issue 68, 2006, p. 42. "a critical survey of biblical literature demonstrates no cognizance of the ten commandments prior to the post-exilic period (after 586 B.C.E.)"
  159. Hogue, Timothy S. (2023). The Ten Commandments: Monuments of Memory, Belief, and Interpretation. Cambridge University Press. pp. 130–131. ISBN 978-1-009-36689-2.
  160. Deuteronomy 4:10–13, 5:22, 9:17, 10:1–5
  161. ^ Thomas Römer, The Invention of God (Harvard University Press, 2015), p. 92.
  162. Römer, Thomas (2023). "The mysteries of the Ark of the Covenant". Studia Theologica - Nordic Journal of Theology. 77 (2): 169–185. doi:10.1080/0039338X.2023.2167861. ISSN 0039-338X.
  163. Exodus 34:28
  164. Exodus 34:11–27
  165. The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha. Augmented Third Edition, New Revised Standard Version, 2007
  166. The Hebrew Bible: A Brief Socio-Literary Introduction. Norman Gottwald, 2008
  167. Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch. T. Desmond Alexander and David Weston Baker, 2003
  168. Commentary on the Torah. Richard Elliott Friedman, 2003
  169. Friedman, p. 153
  170. Friedman, p. 177
  171. Friedman, Richard Elliott. "Who Wrote The Bible?" 1987 pp. 73–74
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  173. Malina, Bruce J.; Rohrbaugh, Richard L. (2003). Social-science commentary on the Synoptic Gospels. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. pp. 418–419. ISBN 978-0-8006-3491-9. OCLC 53289866.
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  175. Wright, Christopher J.H. (2019). Knowing God Through the Old Testament: Three Volumes in One. InterVarsity Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-8308-7207-7.
  176. Marshall, Christopher (2011). "Capital Punishment". In Green, Joel B.; Lapsley, Jacqueline E.; Miles, Rebekah; Verhey, Allen (eds.). Dictionary of Scripture and Ethics. Baker Publishing Group. p. 119. ISBN 978-1-4412-3998-3.
  177. Hobson, Tom (2011). What's On God's Sin List for Today?. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 14. ISBN 978-1-62189-287-8.
  178. Westbrook, Raymond; Wells, Bruce (2009). Everyday Law in Biblical Israel: An Introduction. Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. p. 71. ISBN 978-0-664-23497-3.
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