Ten Commandments

The “Ten Commandments” refer to the ten most important terms of God’s covenant with Israel. They are listed in Exodus 20:1-17. For the main part, they consist of prohibitions. 
The Ten Commandments were of great importance for the development of Judaeo-Christian civilisation.

The phrase “ten commandments” is taken from Exodus 34:28, where Moses is instructed to write “the Ten Commandments” (in Hebrew, literally “the ten words”) on two flat stones.

The Ten Commandments are often divided into three sections:

I. The “prologue” (Exodus 20:1-2) in which God makes himself known and gives the reason for the Ten Commandments.
II. The first four commandments about how man should relate to God:

III. The last six commandments about how man should relate to his fellow man, an enumeration of basic social and moral principles for the Israelite community:

The Ten Commandments are not just listed in Exodus 20:1-17, but also in Deuteronomy 5:6-21. There are small differences between the two versions, particularly in the fourth and tenth commandment.

The Ten Commandments in their final form, as they are found in the Bible, probably date from the time of the exile or the century after (sixth or fifth century BC). But in an older form they could date from a much earlier period, although opinions are divided about which period this might have been. In the biblical tradition itself, the Ten Commandments are linked to Moses.