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Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai
c. 13th century BC (traditional dating)· Scripture or text· Judaism, Christianity & Islam
Faith & scriptureHeld by believers on faith and scripture; history can neither confirm nor rule it out.
The ten basic laws that, the Bible teaches, God gave Moses on two stone tablets at Mount Sinai.
See it on the World Religions map →What it is
In Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, God speaks the commandments from the mountain: worship no other gods, make no idols, do not misuse God's name, keep the Sabbath, honor parents, and do not murder, commit adultery, steal, lie under oath or covet. Moses brings them down on stone tablets, later kept in the Ark of the Covenant. Jews, Catholics and most Protestants divide and number them slightly differently. Jewish tradition counts them within the Torah's 613 commandments.
Why it matters
They became the best-known moral code in the Western world, taught in synagogues and churches and still argued over in public life, such as displays in American courthouses and schools.
Faith and history
Two slightly different biblical versions survive; the Nash Papyrus (c. 150–100 BC) and the Dead Sea Scrolls hold the oldest copies. Scholars date the written form centuries after Moses' traditional time.
Questions and debates
When and how the list reached its present form, and how it relates to older Near Eastern law codes such as Hammurabi's, are debated.
Connections (2)
▸Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai are the core of The covenant between God and Abraham's descendantsFaith & scripture
The connection
In the Bible the Ten Commandments are the covenant's basic terms. They are carved on two tablets called 'the tablets of the covenant' and kept in the Ark of the Covenant. The rest of the Torah's law is often read as spelling out these ten in detail.
When and where
Mount Sinai in the biblical story: Exodus 20 and 34 and Deuteronomy 5; the Ark later rested in Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem.
How do we know?
This is the Bible's own framing, a matter of faith: Deuteronomy 4:13 says God 'declared his covenant... the ten commandments' and wrote them on stone.
Questions and debates
Exodus 34 gives a different, mostly ritual list also called 'the ten words'; scholars debate which list came first and how the two relate.
▸Moses received Ten Commandments at Mount SinaiFaith & scripture
The connection
The Bible teaches that Moses climbed Mount Sinai and spent 40 days with God, receiving the commandments on stone tablets written 'with the finger of God'. Finding the people worshiping a golden calf, he smashed the tablets, then returned to receive a second set.
When and where
Mount Sinai, by tradition in the 13th century BC; Exodus 19–34. Jebel Musa in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula is the traditional site.
How do we know?
Scripture only, a matter of faith. Saint Catherine's Monastery at Jebel Musa, built in the 500s AD, preserves the tradition of the site.
Questions and debates
Where Sinai was: candidates include Jebel Musa, peaks in Arabia and sites in the Negev. When the commandments were written down is also debated.