The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

, ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten Commandments appears in three markedly distinct versions in the Bible: at Exodus ,

Deuteronomy Deuteronomy (; ) is the fifth book of the Torah (in Judaism), where it is called () which makes it the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible and Christian Old Testament. Chapters 1–30 of the book consist of three sermons or speeches delivered to ...

, and the " Ritual Decalogue" of Exodus . The biblical narrative describes how God revealed the Ten Commandments to the Israelites at Mount Sinai amidst thunder and fire, gave Moses two stone tablets inscribed with the law, which he later broke in anger after witnessing the worship of a golden calf, and then received a second set of tablets to be placed in the

Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant, also known as the Ark of the Testimony or the Ark of God, was a religious storage chest and relic held to be the most sacred object by the Israelites. Religious tradition describes it as a wooden storage chest decorat ...

. Scholars have proposed a range of dates and contexts for the origins of the Decalogue. “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” Interpretations of its content vary widely, reflecting debates over its legal, political, and theological development, its relation to ancient treaty forms, and differing views on authorship and emphasis on ritual versus ethics. Different religious traditions divide the seventeen verses of Exodus 20:1–17 and Deuteronomy 5:4–21 into ten commandments in distinct ways, often influenced by theological or

mnemonic A mnemonic device ( ), memory trick or memory device is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval in the human memory, often by associating the information with something that is easier to remember. It makes use of e ...

priorities despite the presence of more than ten imperative statements in the texts. The Ten Commandments are the foundational core of Jewish law, connecting and supporting all other commandments and guiding Jewish ritual and ethics. Most Christian traditions regard the Ten Commandments as divinely authoritative and foundational to moral life, though they differ in interpretation, emphasis, and application within their theological frameworks. The

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

presents the Ten Commandments given to Moses as moral and legal guidance focused on monotheism,

justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

, and righteousness, paralleling but differing slightly from the biblical version. Interpretive differences arise from varying religious traditions, translations, and cultural contexts affecting Sabbath observance, prohibitions on killing and theft, views on idolatry, and definitions of adultery. Some scholars have criticized the Ten Commandments as outdated, authoritarian, and potentially harmful in certain interpretations, such as those justifying harsh punishments or religious violence, like the 1846 Galician uprising. In the United State, they have remained a contentious symbol in public spaces and schools, with debates intensifying through the 20th and 21st centuries and culminating in recent laws in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

mandating their display—laws now facing legal challenges over church-state separation. The Ten Commandments have been depicted or referenced in various media, including two major films by Cecil B. DeMille, the Polish series '' Dekalog'', the American comedy '' The Ten'', multiple musicals and films, and a satirical scene in Mel Brooks’s ''History of the World Part I''.

Terminology

The Ten Commandments, called (

transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one writing system, script to another that involves swapping Letter (alphabet), letters (thus ''wikt:trans-#Prefix, trans-'' + ''wikt:littera#Latin, liter-'') in predictable ways, such as ...

) in

Biblical Hebrew Biblical Hebrew ( or ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite languages, Canaanitic branch of the Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Isra ...

, are mentioned at Exodus ,

and

. 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 Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the phrase was translated as , ''dekálogos'' or "ten words"; this Greek word became ''decalogus'' in

, which entered the

English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

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 , ''lukhót habberít'' "tablets of the covenant", or לֻחֹת הָעֵדֻת, ''lukhot ha'edut'' "tablets of the testimony".

Biblical narrative

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 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 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 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. 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 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 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. Rembrandt - Moses with the Ten Commandments - Google Art Project

Rembrandt - Moses with the Ten Commandments - Google Art Project

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 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 spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the gave them unto me." These tablets were later placed in the

., , ,

Commandments text and numbering

Religious traditions

Although both the Masoretic Text and the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls, also called the Qumran Caves Scrolls, are a set of List of Hebrew Bible manuscripts, ancient Jewish manuscripts from the Second Temple period (516 BCE – 70 CE). They were discovered over a period of ten years, between ...

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.

Categorization

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): * LXX:

(3rd century BC), generally followed by Eastern Orthodox Christians. * R: Reformed Christians follow Calvin's ''

Institutes An institute is an organizational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations ( research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body. In some countries, institutes ...

'' (1536) which follows the Septuagint; this system is also in the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

'' Book of Common Prayer''. 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. * P: Ashburnham Pentateuch? * T: Jewish

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

(), makes the "prologue" the first "saying" or "matter." * S: Samaritan Pentateuch (), contains additional instruction to Moses about making a

sacrifice Sacrifice is an act or offering made to a deity. A sacrifice can serve as propitiation, or a sacrifice can be an offering of praise and thanksgiving. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Gree ...

to Yahweh, which Samaritans regard as the 10th commandment. * A: Augustine (4th century), combines verses 3–6 into a single commandment, similar to the grouping found in the Talmud, 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 The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

largely follows Augustine, which was reiterated in the ''

Catechism of the Catholic Church The ''Catechism of the Catholic Church'' (; commonly called the ''Catechism'' or the ''CCC'') is a reference work that summarizes the Catholic Church's doctrine. It was Promulgation (Catholic canon law), promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1992 ...

'' (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. * 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 CommandmentLuther's Large Catechism
(1529) 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 are written with room for varying interpretation, reflecting their role as a summary of fundamental principles.Herbert Huffmon, "The Fundamental Code Illustrated: The Third Commandment," in ''The Ten Commandments: The Reciprocity of Faithfulness'', ed. William P. Brown.
pp. 205–212
. Westminster John Knox Press (2004). They are not as explicit or as detailed as rules William Barclay
''The Ten Commandments.''
Westminster John Knox Press (2001), originally ''The Plain Man's Guide to Ethics'' (1973). or as many other biblical laws and commandments, because they provide guiding principles that apply universally, across changing circumstances. They do specify severe 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 The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

laws in several ways: * They have a uniquely terse style. * Of all the biblical laws and commandments, the Ten Commandments alone Gail R. O'Day and David L. Petersen, ''Theological Bible Commentary''
p. 34
, Westminster John Knox Press (2009) are said to have been "written with the finger of God" (). * The stone tablets were placed in the

(, ).

Judaism

The Ten Commandments form the basis of Jewish Rabbinic law,Norman Solomon, ''Judaism''
p. 17
. Sterling Publishing Company (2009) 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 (also or , ) is a set of Food and drink prohibitions, dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to halakha, Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed ko ...

dietary laws, and the rituals to be performed by priests in the Holy Temple.Wayne D. Dosick, ''Living Judaism: The Complete Guide to Jewish Belief, Tradition, and Practice''
pp. 31–33
. HarperCollins (1995). "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." 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 he "commandment… against adulterers"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 Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

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

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

, 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 Mishna records that during the period of the

Second Temple The Second Temple () was the Temple in Jerusalem that replaced Solomon's Temple, which was destroyed during the Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC), Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. It was constructed around 516 BCE and later enhanced by Herod ...

, 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 significanceSimon Glustrom, ''The Myth and Reality of Judaism''
pp. 113–114
Behrman House (1989). though many rabbis, including

Maimonides Moses ben Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (, ) and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam (), was a Sephardic rabbi and Jewish philosophy, philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah schola ...

, 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 the Torah follows the ''ta'am tachton''. In the Torah, the references to the Ten Commandments are therefore and .

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:

Christianity

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 confirming the more traditional ordering, which follows the

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. Timothy Sedgwick, ''The Christian Moral Life: Practices of Piety''
pp. 9–20
. Church Publishing (2008). 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

Moses and Aaron with the 10 Commandments 1674

During his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explicitly referenced the prohibitions against murder and adultery. In

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

repeated five of the Ten Commandments, followed by that commandment called "the second" () after the first and great commandment. In his Epistle to the Romans, Paul the Apostle also mentioned five of the Ten Commandments and associated them with the neighbourly love commandment.

Anglicanism

Anglicanism Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

, 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

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.Jan Kreeft, ''Catholic Christianity: A Complete Catechism of Catholic Beliefs Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church''
ch. 5
Ignatius Press (2001). It has been said that they are to the moral order what the creation story is to the natural order. According to the ''

''—the official exposition of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

's Christian beliefs—the Commandments are considered essential for spiritual good health and growth, pp. 201–203
Google preview p. 201
and serve as the basis for social justice. p. 82 Church teaching of the Commandments is largely based on the Old and

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

s and the writings of the early

Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical peri ...

. 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

Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 054

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 Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

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: 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 Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...

is the careful following" of the Ten Commandments.

Orthodox

The Eastern Orthodox Church holds its moral truths to be chiefly contained in the Ten Commandments.Sebastian Dabovich, ''Preaching in the Russian Church''
p. 65
Cubery (1899). A confession begins with the Confessor reciting the Ten Commandments and asking the penitent which of them he has broken.Alexander Hugh Hore, ''Eighteen Centuries of the Orthodox Church''
p. 36
J. Parker and Co. (1899).

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 Christian Jewish Christians were the followers of a Jewish religious sect that emerged in Roman Judea during the late Second Temple period, under the Herodian tetrarchy (1st century AD). These Jews believed that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah and ...

ity. Pentecostals believe giving of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai fifty days after Passover and the disciples of

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

receiving the

Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit, otherwise known as the Holy Ghost, is a concept within the Abrahamic religions. In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is understood as the divine quality or force of God manifesting in the world, particularly in acts of prophecy, creati ...

of God, as foretold by Him, fifty days after His Resurrection on Day of Pentecost was foretold by the prophet

Jeremiah Jeremiah ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with t ...

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 Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

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 The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

and any adherence to Judaic

Halakha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...

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 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

, 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

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

Moses and the Tablets

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: 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:

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: Evidence for these verses having some relation to Moses and the Ten Commandments is from the verse which immediately follows them: 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.''Tafsir ibn Kathir''
, Commentary of verse 6:151. Al-Hakim said, "Its chain is Sahih, and they ( Sihah Sitta) did not record it." Also in Mustadrak Hakim is the narration of Ubada ibn as-Samit:

Ibn Kathir Abu al-Fida Isma'il ibn Umar ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi (; ), known simply as Ibn Kathir, was an Arab Islamic Exegesis, exegete, historian and scholar. An expert on (Quranic exegesis), (history) and (Islamic jurisprudence), he is considered a lea ...

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

Other views

Main points of interpretative difference

Sabbath day

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 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".Synod of Laodicea (4th Century)
– New Advent Canon 29 of the Laodicean council specifically refers to the sabbath: "Christians must not judaize by resting on the ewishSabbath, 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

Multiple translations exist of the fifth/sixth commandment; the Hebrew words (''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 War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of State (polity), states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or betwe ...

(),

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

() or defending against a home invasion (), 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

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

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 The Gospel of Barnabas is a Biblical apocrypha, non-canonical, Pseudepigrapha, pseudepigraphical gospel, written during the Late Middle Ages and attributed to the early Christian disciple Barnabas, who (in this work) is one of the Apostles in ...

, 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.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"> p. 353
/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.

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 An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

was not considered adultery.Collins, R. F. (1992). "Ten Commandments." In D. N. Freedman (Ed.), ''The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary'' (Vol. 6, p. 386). New York: Doubleday 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

Scholars have proposed three main datings for the Decalogue—early Mosaic authorship during the Sinai period, a pre-exilic monarchic origin, or a postexilic composition influenced by deuteronomistic, priestly, prophetic, and wisdom traditions.

Early theories

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. Bernard Levinson argues that the idea of Exodus 34:11–26 as an ancient, independent, pre-Deuteronomic legal source originated with

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

, significantly influenced Wellhausen’s formulation of the documentary hypothesis, and reflects broader intellectual currents, including Goethe’s construction of the Jew as the particularistic “other” in contrast to the universal German Protestant self.

20th century discussion

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 The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in mo ...

(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 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

, while the book of the covenant took oral form to be recited to the people.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.

21st century scholarship

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

. Thomas Römer argued in 2015 that “clearly… the tablets of the law are a substitute for something else.”Thomas Römer, ''The Invention of God'' (Harvard University Press, 2015), p. 92. He holds that “the original Ark contained a statue .e. a cult image">cult_image.html" ;"title=".e. a .e. a cult imageof Yahweh">Yhwh” and that it was “brought into the First Temple">Jerusalem temple under Josiah”, which he specifically identifies as “two betyles (sacred stones), or two cult image">Baetylus">betyles (sacred stones), or two cult image statues symbolizing Yhwh and his female companion Asherah">Ashera or a statue representing Yhwh alone.”

The Ritual Decalogue

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". 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

Christopher Hitchens argued that the Ten Commandments are not a sound foundation for law or morality, as they reflect authoritarianism, insecurity, and outdated tribal values, and that the real issue is not their public display but the incompatibility of religion with true ethical reasoning. According to some scholars, certain interpretations of the Commandments have been problematic for people, 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 The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

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

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.Watts, 2004 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 A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

'' 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. It was later passed in 2025 as Texas Senate Bill 10. On June 19, 2024,

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

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 United States Declaration of Independence or the

Northwest Ordinance The Northwest Ordinance (formally An Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio and also known as the Ordinance of 1787), enacted July 13, 1787, was an organic act of the Congress of the Co ...

. 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

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

es 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 Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923 – April 5, 2008) was an American actor. He gained stardom for his leading man roles in numerous Cinema of the United States, Hollywood films including biblical epics, science-fiction f ...

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

'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.