The Ten Commandments in Judaism

For Jews, the Ten Commandments are not a separate code. They are the opening of a covenant, and the center of the Torah, the five books of Moses. In Hebrew they are Aseret ha-Dibrot, “the ten statements” or “the ten utterances,” and a Jewish child often learns them long before reading the rest of the Bible. (How the Hebrew reads is covered in The Ten Commandments in Hebrew.)

The setting is Mount Sinai, about seven weeks after the exodus. Before the ten were spoken, God described what the covenant was for:

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

Exodus 19:5–6

The short answer: in Judaism the Ten Commandments, the Aseret ha-Dibrot, are the ten statements God spoke to all Israel at Sinai, read as the foundation of the covenant rather than as a complete list of duties. Jewish tradition counts them differently from most Christians, divides them five and five between the two tablets, celebrates their giving at the festival of Shavuot, and teaches that they sit inside the 613 commandments of the Torah. For the commandments themselves, see The Ten Commandments: What Each One Means.

The Bible gives the number ten but not the divisions, so every tradition draws its own lines. The Jewish count, which differs from the Catholic and Protestant lists, runs like this:

1. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
2. You shall have no other gods before me, and you shall not make an idol.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.

The difference is at the start. For most Christians “I am the LORD your God” is an introduction; for Jews it is the first of the ten, which Maimonides, the twelfth-century scholar, read as the commandment to know that God exists and to believe in him. The next two, no other gods and no images, are one statement. (Catholic vs Protestant Ten Commandments sets the three lists side by side.)

Jewish tradition also pictures the ten on two tablets, five on each. The first five are about God and the people closest to the one who gives life: God, other gods, God’s name, the Sabbath, and parents. The second five are about harm to a neighbor. An early rabbinic teaching, the Mekhilta, even pairs them across the tablets. “I am the LORD” sits opposite “you shall not murder,” since whoever sheds blood diminishes the image of God (Genesis 9:6).

That is why parents sit on the first tablet. The Talmud says three partners share in making a person: God, the father and the mother (Kiddushin 30b), so honoring parents is close to honoring God. (See What ‘Honor Your Father and Mother’ Means.)

Judaism marks the giving of the Ten Commandments every year at Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks. The Torah tells Israel to count fifty days from Passover:

You shall count from the next day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering: seven Sabbaths shall be completed. The next day after the seventh Sabbath you shall count fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal offering to the LORD.

Leviticus 23:15–16

The name Shavuot means “weeks.” The Bible treats it as a harvest festival, and the rabbis came to call it “the season of the giving of our Torah,” because the exodus from Egypt and the revelation at Sinai were seven weeks apart. On the first day, the synagogue reads Exodus 19 and 20, including the commandments. Many communities stand while they are read, and many Jews stay awake all night studying on the eve of the festival.

The commandments also come up in the weekly Torah cycle. They appear in the portion Yitro (Exodus 18:1 to 20:23), usually read in midwinter, and again, in Moses’ retelling, in Va’etchanan (Deuteronomy 3:23 to 7:11), usually read in the summer.

Rabbinic tradition stresses how the people received them. The Talmud teaches that Israel heard the first two statements, “I am the LORD” and “you shall have no other gods,” directly from God, and the rest through Moses (Makkot 23b–24a). Moses recalled the encounter this way:

The LORD spoke to you out of the middle of the fire: you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; you only heard a voice.

Deuteronomy 4:12

Many synagogues display two tablets above the ark where the Torah scrolls are kept, often showing the first word or letter of each of the ten, five on each side.

Jewish tradition holds that the Ten Commandments are the heart of the Torah, but not all of it. The rabbis counted 613 commandments in the five books of Moses. The ten are included among them, and the rest of the law explains how they apply to daily life (see How Many Commandments Are in the Bible?). Medieval poets such as Saadia Gaon and Solomon ibn Gabirol even arranged the 613 under the ten headings in poems called azharot, which some communities recite on Shavuot.

There is also a revealing story about their place in prayer. The Mishnah says the priests in the Temple recited the Ten Commandments each morning together with the Shema (Tamid 5:1). The Talmud reports that the sages wanted to keep this custom elsewhere, but stopped, so that nobody could claim that only the ten were given at Sinai (Berakhot 12a). In other words, the same tradition that honors the ten most highly also insists that no commandment from God is minor.

That is also how the rabbis treated the question of which one is the greatest. They did not pick one of the ten. A famous story tells of a man who asked Rabbi Hillel to teach him the whole Torah while standing on one foot, and Hillel answered that what is hateful to you, you should not do to your neighbor; the rest is commentary (Shabbat 31a). Jesus, asked the same question, gave an answer in the same spirit (What Is the Greatest Commandment?).

Jews and Christians read the same ten words, and their practical teaching overlaps: no murder, adultery, theft, false witness or coveting; honor for parents; a day of rest; worship of God alone. The differences are real but narrower than they sound.

• The count. Jews count “I am the LORD” as the first; most Protestants and Orthodox count “no other gods” first; Catholics and Lutherans join the first two and split the last.
• The Sabbath. Jews keep Shabbat from Friday evening to Saturday evening, and see it as a gift and a sign of the covenant (Exodus 31:16–17). Most Christians keep Sunday as the Lord’s Day (Remember the Sabbath: What It Means Today).
• The status of the ten. For Jews they are part of the 613, which are all binding on Jews. For Christians they remain binding as moral law while many other laws of Moses are not (Do Christians Have to Keep the Ten Commandments?).
• Who is addressed. The commandments were spoken to Israel, and Jewish tradition holds that non-Jews are bound by a smaller set, the seven Noahide laws. Christians read the ten as addressed to everyone.

The text is the one both traditions share, and Moses’ own description of the encounter is the best reminder:

The LORD spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the middle of the fire.

Deuteronomy 5:4

(The chapter around the commandments is explained in What Is Exodus 20?)

What are the Ten Commandments in Judaism?

In Judaism they are the Aseret ha-Dibrot, “the ten statements” God spoke to Israel at Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:1–17; Deuteronomy 5:6–21). They are the center of the Torah and part of its 613 commandments.

How do Jews count the Ten Commandments?

The first is “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” “No other gods” and “no idols” together are the second. The rest follow in order, and the last is “you shall not covet.” Jews also picture them as five on each of the two tablets.

What is Shavuot?

Shavuot, the Festival of Weeks, comes fifty days after Passover (Leviticus 23:15–16). It is a harvest festival that Jewish tradition also celebrates as the day the Torah was given at Sinai. The Ten Commandments are read in the synagogue that day.

Do Jews follow the Ten Commandments?

Yes. For Jews the ten are part of the 613 commandments of the Torah, all of which are binding. Observant Jews keep the Sabbath and the rest, and the ten are among the most widely taught. Jews do not treat them as a complete list.

Are the Ten Commandments the same in Judaism and Christianity?

The text is the same: Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. The counting differs, as does how each tradition applies the Sabbath and the rest of the law, but the commandments themselves, from “no other gods” to “you shall not covet,” are shared.