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What Are the 10 Commandments?

By , About.com Guide

Question: What Are the 10 Commandments?
Answer:

The Ten Commandments of Judaism and Christianity are also known as the Decalogue, from the Greek deka '10' + logoi 'words'. One of the most familiar, yet controversial of the Ten Commandments is the one about not having any god above the one God.

The Ten Commandments are listed in the Biblical book of Exodus, where God gives them to Moses while on Mt. Sinai. As opposed to case law (or casuistic law), where a punishment is named together with the crime, these divine mandates are known as apodictic law.

There are more than 10 statements in the 10 commandments list from Exodus 20. They are divided and numbered differently in different religions. The Biblical book Deuteronomy (5:6–21) also contains the Commandments.

In Exodus, God gives Moses the tablets on which the Ten Commandments are recorded, but Moses smashes them in anger when he sees his people have created a golden calf. God then gives him a second set.

See the Ten Commandments, according to the King James' Version (KJV) of the Bible: 10 Commandments.

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