What are the Ten Commandments?
The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21), are one of the earliest codes of religious and moral law. According to Jewish religion, the Commandments were carved by God on two stone tablets and given to Moses on Mount Sinai some 3000 years ago. They assert there is only One God who shall be worshipped, and forbid such things as murder, theft, adultery, and lying.
Different Jewish traditions have slightly different wordings and groupings for the Ten Commandments. The ten commandments are commonly understood to be the following.
- You shall have no other gods besides God.
- You shall not make an image or any likeness of anything (i.e., do not fashion idols)
- You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.
- You shall remember and keep the Sabbath day holy.
- Honor your father and mother.
- You shall not murder.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
- You shall not covet.
A person upholding the Jewish faith must observe the Ten Commandments and take them seriously. As it says in Deuteronomy 6:7, "thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thy house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
The commandments (among others) are the ideological basis for leading a righteous life as decreed by God for all humans.