top of page

Decalogue

The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue, are considered to be the basic principles of Judaism. The text of the Decalogue appears twice in the Hebrew Bible: in Exodus 20: 2–17 and Deuteronomy 5: 6–21.

Hebrew calligraphy Avraham Borshevsky.jpg

Full text of the Decalogue on the Two Tablets of the Covenant.

Ink and gold leaf on calfskin parchment.

Hebrew calligraphy Parchment Avraham Borshevsky.jpg

The translation of compete text of the Decalogue:


“​1. ​I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
​2.​You shall have no other gods before Me.​ You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate Me, but showing steadfast love to thousands​ ​of those who love Me and keep My commandments.
​3. ​You shall not swear by the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who swears by His name in vain.
​4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you s​​hall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.​ ​For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

​5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

6. You shall not murder.
7. ​You shall not commit adultery.

​8. You shall not kidnap.

​9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

10. ​You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”

Exodus 20: 2–17

bottom of page