What are the Ten Commandments?

Words, not only commandments

The Torah calls them “the ten words” (aseret hadevarim, Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13). They were engraved on two stone tablets, five on each according to the Midrash: the first tablet concerns the relationship with God, ending with honouring parents, partners of God in creation; the second concerns relations between people.

The Jewish count

In Jewish tradition the first “word” is “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” – a statement of faith that Maimonides counts as the commandment to know that God exists. “You shall have no other gods” and the ban on idols form the second. Christian traditions divide them differently, so “the third commandment” may mean different things in different churches.

Their place in Judaism

The Ten Commandments are not more binding than the other 603 commandments; the sages saw them as headings under which all the others are included. In the Temple they were read daily before the Shema. The Talmud records that this was stopped outside the Temple so that no one would claim only these were given at Sinai. They are read in the synagogue three times a year: in the portions Yitro and Va’etchanan and on Shavuot, with the congregation standing in most communities.

The two versions

The wording differs slightly between Exodus and Deuteronomy – “Remember the Sabbath” and “Keep the Sabbath”. The sages said both were spoken at once. Read the Hebrew text with a translation on our Ten Commandments page.