Ten Commandments Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (, "Aseret ha'Dibrot"), also known as the Decalogue, are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and Christianity. The commandments include instructions to worship only God, to honour one's parents, and to keep the sabbath, as well as prohibitions against idolatry, blasphemy, murder, adultery, theft, dishonesty, and coveting. Different religious groups follow different traditions for interpreting and numbering them. The Ten Commandments appear twice in the Hebrew Bible, in the books of Exodus and Deuteronomy. Modern scholarship has found likely influences in Hittite and Mesopotamian
Ten Commandments is read in "parashat Yitro" around late January–February, and on the festival of Shavuot, and the Deuteronomy version in "parashat Va'etchanan" in August–September. In some traditions, worshipers rise for the reading of the Ten Commandments to highlight their special significance though many rabbis, including Maimonides, have opposed this custom since one may come to think that the Ten Commandments are more important than the rest of the Mitzvot. In printed Chumashim, as well as in those in manuscript form, the Ten Commandments carry two sets of cantillation marks. The "ta'am 'elyon" (upper accentuation), which makes each Commandment into a separate