View source for Ten Commandments

{{for|the film|The Ten Commandments (1956 film)}}
[[File:Vitrail de synagogue-Musée alsacien de Strasbourg.jpg|thumb|right|"[[w:I am the Lord thy God|I {{hebrew|יהוה}} am your God]] who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: You shall have [[w:Thou shalt have no other gods before me|no other gods]] besides Me." ([http://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.20.2-3 Exodus 20:2–3])]]
[[File:Bevis Marks Synagogue P6110040.JPG|thumb|right|"You shall [[w:Thou shalt not kill|not murder]]. You shall [[w:Thou shalt not commit adultery|not commit adultery]]. You shall [[w:Thou shalt not steal|not steal]]. You shall [[w:Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour|not bear false witness]] against your neighbor." ([http://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.20.13 Exodus 20:13])]]
The '''[[w:Ten Commandments|Ten Commandments]]''' ('''{{hebrew|עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְּרוֹת}}''', ''Aseret ha'Dibrot''), also known as the '''Decalogue''', are a set of [[biblical]] principles relating to [[ethics]] and [[worship]], which play a fundamental role in [[Judaism]] and [[Christianity]]. The commandments include instructions to [[w:Thou shalt have no other gods before me|worship only God]], to [[w:Honour thy father and thy mother|honour one's parents]], and to [[Sabbath|keep the sabbath day holy]], as well as prohibitions against [[idolatry]], [[blasphemy]], [[murder]], [[adultery]], [[theft]], [[dishonesty]], and [[coveting]]. Different religious groups follow different traditions for interpreting and [[w:Ten Commandments#Numbering|numbering]] them.

== Quotes ==
[[File:Ten_Commandments_Monument.jpg|thumb|"Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, '[[w:Thou shalt not commit adultery|You shall not commit adultery]],' '[[w:Thou shalt not kill|You shall not murder]],' '[[w:Thou shalt not steal|You shall not steal]],' '[[w:Thou shalt not covet|You shall not covet]]', and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: '[[w:Love your neighbor as yourself|Love your neighbor as yourself]]'. Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." ([http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+13%3A8-10&version=NIV Romans 13:8–10])]]
[[File:Moses041.jpg|thumb|right|"We wrote for &lbrack;[[Moses]]&rbrack; on the [[w:Tablets of Stone|Tablets]] ˹the fundamentals˺ of everything; commandments and explanations of all things." ([http://quran.com/7/145 Quran 7:145])]]
[[File:Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld_Bibel_in_Bildern_1860_054.png|thumb|"Thou shalt not get found out" is not one of God's commandments, and no man can be saved by trying to keep it. ~ [[Leonard Bacon]]]]
[[File:Schnorr_von_Carolsfeld_Bibel_in_Bildern_1860_055.png|thumb|For some reason, the most vocal [[Christians]] among us never mention the [[w:Beatitudes|Beatitudes]]. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that’s [[Moses]], not [[Jesus]]. I haven't heard one of them demand that the [[w:Sermon on the Mount|Sermon on the Mount]], the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.<br>"Blessed are the [[Mercy|merciful]]" in a courtroom? "Blessed are the [[Peace|peacemakers]]" in the Pentagon? Give me a break! ~ [[Kurt Vonnegut]]]]
* {{hebrew|align=right|[[w:I am the Lord thy God|אָנֹכִי יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ]] אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ [[w:Mizraim|מִצְרַיִם]] מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים: [[w:Thou shalt have no other gods before me|לֹא־יִהְיֶ͏ה־לְךָ]] אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים עַל־פָּנַָ͏י׃}}
** [http://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.20.2-3 Exodus 20:2–3 (MT)]
** Translation:
*** [[w:I am the Lord thy God|I am the Lord thy God]] who brought you out of the land of [[w:Mizraim|Egypt]], the house of bondage: You shall have [[w:Thou shalt have no other gods before me|no other gods]] besides Me. 
**** [http://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.20.2-3 JPS translation]

* {{hebrew|align=right|[[w:Thou shalt not kill|לֹא תִּרְצָ͏ח]]׃ [[w:Thou shalt not commit adultery| לֹא תִּנְאָ͏ף]]׃ [[w:Thou shalt not steal| לֹא תִּגְנֹב]]׃ [[w:Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour|לֹא־תַעֲנֶה בְרֵעֲךָ עֵד שָׁקֶר]] [[w:Thou shalt not covet|לֹא תַחְמֹד בֵּית רֵעֶךָ:]] [[w:Thou shalt not covet|לֹא־תַחְמֹד אֵשֶׁת רֵעֶךָ וְעַבְדּוֹ וַאֲמָתוֹ וְשׁוֹרוֹ וַחֲמֹרוֹ וְכֹל אֲשֶׁר לְרֵעֶךָ׃]]}}
** [http://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.20.13-14 Exodus 20:13–14 (MT)]
** Translation:
*** You shall [[w:Thou shalt not kill|not murder]]. You shall [[w:Thou shalt not commit adultery|not commit adultery]]. You shall [[w:Thou shalt not steal|not steal]]. You shall [[w:Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour|not bear false witness]] against your neighbor. You shall [[w:Thou shalt not covet|not covet]] your neighbor's house: you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox or ass, or anything that is your neighbor's.
**** [http://www.sefaria.org/Exodus.20.13-14 JPS translation]

* {{greek|style=serif|Μηδενὶ μηδὲν ὀφείλετε, εἰ μὴ τὸ ἀλλήλους ἀγαπᾶν· ὁ γὰρ ἀγαπῶν τὸν ἕτερον νόμον πεπλήρωκεν. τὸ γάρ· [[w:Thou shalt not commit adultery|Οὐ μοιχεύσεις]], [[w:Thou shalt not kill|Οὐ φονεύσεις]], [[w:Thou shalt not steal|Οὐ κλέψεις]], [[w:Thou shalt not covet|Οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις]], καὶ εἴ τις ἑτέρα ἐντολή, ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ ἀνακεφαλαιοῦται, ἐν τῷ· [[w:Love your neighbor as yourself|Ἀγαπήσεις τὸν πλησίον σου ὡς σεαυτόν]]. ἡ ἀγάπη τῷ πλησίον κακὸν οὐκ ἐργάζεται· πλήρωμα οὖν νόμου ἡ ἀγάπη.}}
** [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+13%3A8-10&version=SBLGNT Romans 13:8–10 (SBL)]
** Translation:
*** Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "[[w:Thou shalt not commit adultery|You shall not commit adultery]]," "[[w:Thou shalt not kill|You shall not murder]]," "[[w:Thou shalt not steal|You shall not steal]]," "[[w:Thou shalt not covet|You shall not covet]]", and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: "[[w:Love your neighbor as yourself|Love your neighbor as yourself]]". Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
**** [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+13%3A8-10&version=NIV NIV translation]

* {{arabic|align=right|وَكَتَبْنَا [[Moses|لَهُۥ]] فِى [[w:Tablets of Stone|ٱلْأَلْوَاحِ]] مِن كُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ مَّوْعِظَةًۭ وَتَفْصِيلًۭا لِّكُلِّ شَىْءٍۢ فَخُذْهَا بِقُوَّةٍۢ وَأْمُرْ قَوْمَكَ يَأْخُذُوا۟ بِأَحْسَنِهَا}}
** [http://quran.com/7/145 Quran 7:145]
** Translation:
*** We wrote for &lbrack;[[Moses]]&rbrack; on the [[w:Tablets of Stone|Tablets]] ˹the fundamentals˺ of everything; commandments and explanations of all things. ˹We commanded,˺ "Hold to this firmly and ask your people to take the best of it."
**** [http://quran.com/7/145?translations=131 ''The Clear Quran''] by [[w:Mustafa Khattab|Dr. Mustafa Khattab]]

=== B ===
* "Thou shalt not get found out" is not one of God's commandments, and no man can be saved by trying to keep it.
** [[Leonard Bacon]], reported in ''Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers'' (1895), p. 511

* DECALOGUE, n. A series of commandments, ten in number -- just enough to permit an intelligent selection for observance, but not enough to embarrass the choice. Following is the revised edition of the Decalogue, calculated for this meridian.<br><br>Thou shalt no God but me adore:<br>'Twere too expensive to have more.<br><br>Take not God's name in vain; select<br>A time when it will have effect.<br><br>Work not on Sabbath days at all,<br>But go to see the teams play ball.<br><br>Honor thy parents. That creates<br>For life insurance lower rates.<br><br>Kill not, abet not those who kill;<br>Thou shalt not pay thy butcher's bill.<br><br>Kiss not thy neighbor's wife, unless<br>Thine own thy neighbor doth caress<br><br>Bear not false witness -- that is low --<br>But "hear 'tis rumored so and so."<br><br>Covet thou naught what thou hast not<br>By hook or crook, or somehow, got.
** [[Ambrose Bierce]], ''The Cynic's Dictionary'' (1906); republished as ''The Devil's Dictionary'' (1911)

* If we turn to the [[w:Pratimokṣa|Pratimoksha Sutra]] and other religious tracts of the [[Buddhists]], we read the ten following commandments:
# Thou shalt not [[kill]] any living creature.
# Thou shalt not [[Theft|steal]].
# Thou shalt not break thy vow of [[chastity]].
# Thou shalt not [[Lying|lie]].
# Thou shalt not betray the secrets of others.
# Thou shalt not wish for the [[death]] of thy enemies.
# Thou shalt not desire the [[wealth]] of others.
# Thou shalt not pronounce injurious and foul words.
# Thou shalt not indulge in luxury (sleep on soft beds or be lazy).
# Thou shalt not accept [[gold]] or [[silver]].
:* [[H.P. Blavatsky]], ''Isis Unveiled: A Master-Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology,'' Vo. II,  [https://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/isis/iu2-03.htm Chapter III], (1877)

* "Good master, what shall I do that I may have eternal life?" asks a man of Jesus. "Keep the commandments." "Which?" "Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,"(Matthew xix. 16-18)  is the answer.  "What shall I do to obtain possession of Bhodi? (knowledge of eternal truth)" asks a disciple of his Buddhist master. "What way is there to become an Upasaka?" "Keep the commandments." "What are they?" "Thou shalt abstain all thy life from murder, theft, adultery, and lying," answers the master. ("Pittakatayan," book iii., Pali Version)  Identical injunctions are they not? Divine injunctions, the living up to which would purify and exalt humanity... In seeking a model for his system of ethics why should [[Jesus]] have gone to the foot of the [[Himalayas]] rather than to the foot of  Sinai, but that the doctrines of [[Manu]] and [[Gautarna |Gautarna]] harmonized exactly with his own philosophy, while those of [[Jehovah]] were to him abhorrent and terrifying? The [[Hindu|Hindus]] taught to return [[Goodness|good]] for [[evil]], but the Jehovistic command was: "An eye for an eye" and "a tooth for a tooth."
** [[H.P. Blavatsky]], ''Isis Unveiled: A Master-Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology,'' Vol. II, Chapter III, (1877)

=== C ===
[[File:The Democratic Moses and his selfmade commandments - Keppler. LCCN2011645940.tif|thumb|right|"Thou shalt ''keep thy religion to thyself''." ([[George Carlin]]: ''[[w:Complaints and Grievances|Complaints and Grievances]]'')]]

* Here's my problem with the Ten Commandments: why are there ten? ... Why not nine, or eleven? I'll tell you why: because ten sounds official. Ten sounds important! Ten is the basis for the decimal system, it's a decade, it's a psychologically satisfying number: the top ten, the ten most wanted, the ten best dressed. So having ten commandments was really a marketing decision. ... I give you my revised list of the Two Commandments: "Thou shalt always be honest and faithful to the provider of thy nookie", and "thou shalt try real hard not to kill anyone, unless of course they pray to a different invisible man than the one you pray to". Two is all you need. Moses could have carried them down the hill in his pocket, and I wouldn't mind [[w:Roy Moore#Early prayer/Ten Commandments controversy|those folks in Alabama]] posting them on the courthouse wall, as long as they provided one additional commandment: "Thou shalt ''keep thy religion to thyself''."
** [[George Carlin]]: ''[[w:Complaints and Grievances|Complaints and Grievances]]''

* Thou shalt have one God only; who<br>Would be at the expense of two?<br>No graven images may be,<br> except the currency:<br> not at all; for for thy curse<br>Thine enemy is none the worse:<br> church on Sunday to attend<br> serve to keep the world thy friend:<br> thy parents; that is, all<br> whom advancement may befall:<br>Thou shalt not kill; but needst not strive<br>Officiously to keep alive:<br>Do not adultery commit;<br>Advantage rarely comes of it:<br>Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat,<br>When it's so lucrative to cheat:<br>Bear not false witness: let the lie<br>Have time on its own wings to fly:<br>Thou shalt not covet; but tradition<br>Approves all forms of competition.<br><br>The sum of all is, thou shalt love,<br>If any body, God above:<br>At any rate shall never labour<br>More than thyself to love thy neighbour.
** [[Arthur Hugh Clough]], "The Latest Decalogue", in A. L. P. Norrington, ed., ''The Poems of Arthur Hugh Clough'' (1968), p. 60–61

=== I ===
* {{w|José Villegas (painter)|Villegas}} affirmed that [[art]] needed an ideal and that symbolic painting offered a new horizon. Out of this conviction emerged the most ambitious project of his life: “The Decalogue,” a cycle of twelve large canvases conceived between 1902 and 1916 and exhibited in [[Madrid]], Seville, and [[Paris]].<br>The painter wrote a poetic commentary for the exhibition held in Seville in November 1916. It was distributed to visitors in printed form. The text interpreted the Ten Commandments as stages of a (Theosophical) [[spiritual]] ascent. Villegas replaced prohibitive language with exhortations that encouraged [[virtue]] and awareness. The cycle consisted of a “Prologue,” ten paintings dedicated to the Commandments, and an “Epilogue.” All figures were nude because he believed that clothing would introduce conventions foreign to the symbolic dimension.<br>Two priests, Manuel Serrano Ortega and Fraile, accused the series of heterodoxy. Federico Roldán, prosecutor of the archbishopric, defended the paintings. During the ceremony honoring Villegas, the painter thanked the people of Seville for understanding the symbolic meaning of the works and for perceiving the Theosophical ideas embedded in every tone, figure, and detail. Schoolchildren were brought by their teachers to view the cycle, and the city discussed the paintings for weeks.
** [[Massimo Introvigne]], [https://bitterwinter.org/jose-villegas-and-the-theosophical-decalogue-paintings/ "José Villegas and the Theosophical Decalogue Paintings"], ''Bitter Winter'' (August 8, 2026)

=== P ===
* [[Jacob]]’s descendants, the [[wikipedia:Israelites|Israelites]], find their way to [[Ancient Egypt|Egypt]] and become too numerous for the [[Pharaoh]]’s liking, so he [[Slavery|enslaves]] them and orders that all the [[Boy|boys]] be killed at [[birth]]. [[Moses]] escapes the mass [[infanticide]] and grows up to challenge the Pharaoh to let his people go. God, who is omnipotent, could have softened Pharaoh’s heart, but he hardens it instead, which gives him a reason to afflict every Egyptian with painful boils and other [[wikipedia:Plagues_of_Egypt|miseries]] before killing every one of their firstborn sons. (The word ''[[wikipedia:Passover|Passover]]'' alludes to the executioner angel’s passing over the households with Israelite firstborns.) [[God]] follows this massacre with another one when he drowns the Egyptian army as they pursue the Israelites across the [[Red Sea]]. The Israelites assemble at [[wikipedia:Mount_Sinai|Mount Sinai]] and hear the Ten Commandments, the great [[Morality|moral]] code that outlaws engraved images and the coveting of livestock but gives a pass to [[slavery]], [[rape]], [[torture]], mutilation, and [[genocide]] of neighboring tribes. The Israelites become impatient while waiting for Moses to return with an expanded set of laws, which will prescribe the [[Capital punishment|death penalty]] for [[blasphemy]], [[homosexuality]], [[adultery]], talking back to [[Parenting|parents]], and working on the [[Sabbath]]. To pass the time, they worship a statue of a calf, for which the punishment turns out to be, you guessed it, [[death]]. Following orders from God, Moses and his brother Aaron kill three thousand of their companions.
** [[Steven Pinker]], ''The Better Angels of Our Nature'' (2012)

=== V ===
* For some reason, the most vocal [[Christians]] among us never mention the [[w:Beatitudes|Beatitudes]]. But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course that’s [[Moses]], not [[Jesus]]. I haven't heard one of them demand that the [[w:Sermon on the Mount|Sermon on the Mount]], the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere.<br>"Blessed are the [[Mercy|merciful]]" in a courtroom? "Blessed are the [[Peace|peacemakers]]" in the Pentagon? Give me a break!
** [[Kurt Vonnegut]], ''[http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/cold_turkey/ Cold Turkey]'' at ''In These Times'' (10 May 2004).

== External links ==
{{wikipedia}}

[[Category:Abrahamic religions]]
[[Category:Religion and law]]