Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments, or Decalogue, is a list of religious and moral imperatives which, according to the Bible, was spoken by YHWH to Moses on Mount Sinai and engraved on two stone tablets. They feature prominently in Judaism and Christianity. In Biblical Hebrew they are termed Aseret ha-Dvarîm עשרת הדברים, and in Rabbinical Hebrew Aseret ha-Dibrot עשרת הדברות both translatable as "The Ten Utterances". The name decalogue is derived from the Greek name δέκα λόγοι or dekalogoi ("Ten Speeches") found in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name.

Related Topics:
Bible - YHWH - Moses - Mount Sinai - Judaism - Christianity - Hebrew - Greek - Septuagint

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The terms Ten Commandments and Decalogue derive from three sources: a reference in Book of Exodus 34:28, which refers to what is now generally called the Ritual Decalogue, and two references in the Book of Deuteronomy, 4:13 and 10:4, which are generally thought to refer to the imperatives listed in Deuteronomy 5:6-21 http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=5&CHAPTER=5 (and a similar list found in Exodus 20:2-17 http://bible.ort.org/books/pentd2.asp?ACTION=displaypage&BOOK=2&CHAPTER=20), which is often called the Ethical Decalogue, to avoid confusion. Most often, the terms the Ten Commandments and the Decalogue refer specifically to the Ethical Decalogue only.

Related Topics:
Book of Exodus - Ritual Decalogue - Book of Deuteronomy - Ethical Decalogue

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