The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue (Greek: deka logoi [“10 words”]), was given to Moses on Mount Sinai by the Almighty and inscribed on two tablets of stone. Exodus 20:2–17 and Deuteronomy 5:–21 both give a nearly identical account of the Ten Commandments. Exodus (New Revised Standard Version) renders as seen below:
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 the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
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.
Remember the sabbath day, and 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; 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. 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.
Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
The Ten Commandments are given to Moses in accordance with many traditions. The prologue (“I am the Lord your God, who led you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery”) and the prohibitions against false gods and idols make up Judaism’s first and second components, respectively. By dividing the prohibitions against desiring another’s wife and coveting another’s possessions, Martin Luther-accepted medieval Roman tradition views all these components as one and maintains the number 10. The prologue and the commandment against false gods are considered to be one commandment and the commandment against idols is considered to be a second in the Greek Orthodox and Protestant Reformed traditions.
The intent of the Ten Commandments must be understood in order to date them. Because Exodus and Deuteronomy link the Ten Commandments to Moses and the Sinai Covenant between Yahweh and Israel, some academics suggest a date between the 16th and 13th centuries BCE. The time would be somewhere after Amos and Hosea for those who view the Ten Commandments as the pinnacle of prophetic teachings (after 750 BCE). If the Ten Commandments are really a condensed version of Israel’s legal and priestly traditions, they date from an even later era.
The Ten Commandments mostly represent a Middle Eastern moral code that was not unique to the ancient world. They serve as a description of the terms Israel’s community has agreed to in order to relate to Yahweh. Exodus and Deuteronomy’s variances show that changes were made during the process of transmission from generation to generation.
Before the 13th century, when they were incorporated into a guide for individuals coming to confess their sins, the Ten Commandments had little significance in Christian tradition. The growth of Protestant churches led to the creation of new religious instruction manuals and the incorporation of the Ten Commandments into catechisms as a major component of religious education, particularly for children.
