Ritual Decalogue

:For a discussion of the Decalogue as traditionally understood, see Ten Commandments.

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The term Decalogue (???? ?????) is the Greek translation of the Biblical Hebrew phrase ???? ?????? Aseret ha-Dvarîm, in English variously translated as the Ten Commandments, the Ten Words, the Ten Utterances, the Ten Statements, or the Ten Terms; that is, of the Covenant between God and Israel. The phrase is introduced in Exodus 34 (New Revised Standard Version):

Related Topics:
Greek - Biblical - Hebrew - Covenant - God - Israel

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:The LORD said to Moses, Cut two tablets of stone like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you broke. I hereby make a covenant.

Related Topics:
LORD - Moses - Tablets of stone

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:The LORD said to Moses, Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments .

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It was apparently these tablets which were the intact set Moses placed in the Ark of the Covenant, along with the earlier broken set (Exodus 25:16, :21).

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This is the only verse in the Bible where the Ten Commandments are identified by name. (Rabbinic texts use the phrase Aseret ha-Dibrot, which is also often translated as 'Decalogue'/'Ten Commandments', but this wording does not occur in the Bible.) However, the commandments of Exodus 34 bear little resemblance to the Ten Commandments as they are traditionally understood. They deal mainly with rituals for the proper worship of God, without ethical admonitions on how to treat one's neighbor. Therefore religious scholars distinguish the Ritual Decalogue of Exodus 34 from Ethical Decalogue of Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, as explained in many biblical commentaries.

Related Topics:
Ethical Decalogue - Deuteronomy

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It should be remembered that, according to the Bible, the two sets of stone tablets inscribed with the text of the Decalogue (the first, described in Exodus 20, which Moses smashed after seeing the Golden Calf, and the replacement set described in this article) were identical.

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