GUIDE TO THE SCRIPTURES
Commandments, The Ten
See also Commandments of God; Moses

Ten laws given by God through the prophet Moses to govern moral behavior.

The Hebrew name for these is the "Ten Words." They are also called the Covenant (Deut. 9: 9) or the Testimony (Ex. 25: 21; 32: 15). God's giving of the Ten Commandments to Moses, and through him to Israel, is described in Ex. 19: 9-20: 23; 32: 15-19; 34: 1. The commandments were engraved on two tables of stone, which were placed in the Ark; hence the Ark was called the Ark of the Covenant (Num. 10: 33). The Lord, quoting from Deut. 6: 4-5 and Lev. 19: 18, has summarized the Ten Commandments in "two great commandments" (Matt. 22: 37-39).

The Ten Commandments have been repeated in latter-day revelation (Mosiah 12: 32-37; 13: 12-24; D&C 42: 18-28; 59: 5-13; JST, Ex. 34: 1-2).