The Ten Commandments

Exodus 20:2–17 (Torah / Old Testament)

First attested

600 BCEPreserved in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 across Masoretic Text and Samaritan Pentateuch.

Claimed

1300 BCEasserted by Biblical tradition dating the Sinai revelation to the Exodus generation under Moses

The claim runs about 700 years ahead of the evidence.

“I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Honour thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.”

King James Version (Exodus 20:2–3, 8, 12–16)

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The foundational moral covenant delivered to Moses at Mount Sinai.

The Ten Commandments (the Decalogue, Hebrew: Aseret ha-Dibrot) were revealed by God to Moses and the assembly of Israel at Mount Sinai amidst thunder and smoke, inscribed upon two stone tablets. Establishing the ethical and theological foundation of monotheistic civilization, the Decalogue begins with duties toward the singular transcendent God (prohibiting idolatry, blasphemy, and commanding Sabbath rest) and proceeds to fundamental social and interpersonal ethics (honoring parents, forbidding murder, adultery, theft, false witness, and covetousness).