109 Fun Facts About Ten Commandments

Which Alabama chief justice was ousted for defying a federal order to remove his Ten Commandments monument?

Roy Moore had the 5,280-pound granite monument installed overnight in Alabama's judicial building in 2001; removed in 2003, he was elected chief justice again in 2012.

On which mountain were the commandments revealed?

Mount Sinai, which parts of the Bible call Horeb, is where Exodus 19–20 places the revelation, amid thunder, lightning, smoke and a loud trumpet blast.

What were the Israelites worshipping when Moses came down and smashed the first tablets?

Exodus 32 says the Israelites, fearing Moses was gone, pressed Aaron to make a golden calf from their gold earrings; Moses smashed the tablets when he saw them dancing around it.

Where did Moses place the second set of Ten Commandments tablets?

Moses put the second tablets in the Ark of the Covenant, and 1 Kings 8:9 says that when the Ark entered Solomon's Temple, nothing else was inside it.

Which other name for the Ten Commandments comes from Greek?

The Decalogue comes from the Greek dekalogos, 'ten words', after the phrase the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, used for them.

How long does the Bible say Moses spent on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments?

Exodus 24:18 says Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights; the cloud had covered it for six days first, and he was called in on the seventh.

Besides Exodus 20, which book of the Bible contains a second full version of the commandments?

Deuteronomy 5 repeats the commandments in Moses's farewell speeches, with a different reason for the Sabbath: remembering slavery in Egypt rather than God's rest on the seventh day.

Which commandment does Ephesians 6:2 call the first one with a promise attached?

Ephesians 6:2–3 calls 'Honour thy father and mother' the first commandment with promise, quoting Exodus 20:12's pledge that your days may be long in the land.

On which day of the week is the Sabbath commandment observed in Judaism?

Jewish Shabbat is the seventh day, Saturday, kept from Friday dusk to Saturday nightfall; most Christians moved their day of rest to Sunday, the day of the resurrection.

The Samaritan version of the Ten Commandments adds a command about which sacred mountain?

The Samaritans count the usual ten as nine and make the tenth an order to build an altar on Mount Gerizim, where all sacrifices are to be offered.

The Nash Papyrus contains the commandments followed by the opening of which prayer?

The Nash Papyrus, a fragment from Egypt dated to about 150–100 BC, sets the commandments just before the Shema; the Mishnah says Temple priests recited the two in turn.

During which festival are the commandments read aloud in synagogue, besides the regular Torah cycle?

Shavuot marks the giving of the Torah, and the commandments are read on its first day; many Jews also stay up all night studying and eat cheesecake.

Which Church Father's Ten Commandments numbering, used by Catholics and Lutherans, splits coveting in two?

Augustine of Hippo merged the bans on other gods and on images into one commandment; the Greek Fathers kept them apart, the count Orthodox and Reformed churches still use.

In which 1980 case did the Supreme Court strike down Kentucky's classroom commandments law?

Stone v. Graham (1980) held that Kentucky's statute requiring the Ten Commandments on every classroom wall had no secular legislative purpose and so failed the Lemon test.

Which state's governor signed a 2024 law mandating the commandments in every public school classroom?

Louisiana's H.B. 71, signed in June 2024, was ruled 'unconstitutional on its face' that November, but in 2026 the full Fifth Circuit lifted the injunction.

Which civic group donated the granite Ten Commandments monument that the Supreme Court let stand at the Texas Capitol?

The Fraternal Order of Eagles began by posting the commandments in juvenile courts to steer troubled youth; its 1961 gift to Texas survived a 5–4 Supreme Court ruling in 2005.

George Mendenhall likened the covenant form of the Ten Commandments to the treaties of which ancient empire?

Mendenhall likened it to the vassal treaties of the Hittites, which open by recalling the great king's favours, as the commandments open by recalling freeing Israel from Egypt.

Jewish tradition counts 613 commandments in the Torah, known in Hebrew by which name?

Rabbi Simlai counted 613 mitzvot: 365 bans for the days of the solar year and 248 positive commands for the body's limbs; bar mitzvah means 'son of commandment'.

Dekalog, a ten-part television series built around the commandments, came from which country?

Krzysztof Kieślowski's Dekalog (1989) was made in Poland for Polish television; its ten hour-long films all unfold in one Warsaw housing estate, each loosely tied to a commandment.

In Matthew 19, after listing five of the commandments, Jesus adds which further command?

In Matthew 19:18–19 Jesus lists five commandments and then adds 'Love thy neighbour as thyself' from Leviticus 19:18; Paul likewise sums up the second-tablet commands with it in Romans 13:9.

According to Exodus 31:18, what were the stone tablets of the commandments written with?

Exodus 31:18 says the tablets were 'written with the finger of God', the same phrase Pharaoh's magicians used when they failed to copy the plague of lice.

Which surah of the Quran describes Moses meeting God on the mountain and receiving the tablets?

Surah Al-A'raf says Moses asked to see God, watched the mountain crumble to dust and fainted, and was then given tablets holding commandments on all things.

In one rabbinic pairing, "I am the Lord thy God" matches which second-tablet commandment?

Rabbi Chanina ben Gamliel's pairing in the Mekhilta sets 'I am the Lord thy God' opposite 'Thou shalt not murder', because spilling blood diminishes the image of God.

Which ancient Jewish text reads the commandment against stealing as a ban on kidnapping people?

The Talmud reasons that the ban on stealing sits beside murder and adultery, both capital crimes, so it must mean kidnapping; scholar Albrecht Alt later argued the same.

Who produced, directed and narrated the 1956 film The Ten Commandments?

Cecil B. DeMille even appears on screen to introduce the epic, and it was the last film he directed before his death in 1959.

Who plays Moses in the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments?

Charlton Heston plays Moses, and the director cast the actor's three-month-old son, Fraser, as the infant Moses in the basket.

Who plays Rameses, the Pharaoh who says 'So let it be written, so let it be done', in The Ten Commandments?

Yul Brynner plays Rameses II, the Pharaoh whose decrees end 'So let it be written, so let it be done'; the National Board of Review named him Best Actor of 1956 partly for this role.

Who plays the scheming princess Nefretiri in the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments?

Anne Baxter plays Nefretiri, the princess torn between Moses and Rameses; a decade earlier she had won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for The Razor's Edge.

Which greylisted star did the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments cast as the treacherous overseer Dathan?

Edward G. Robinson, greylisted after the HUAC hearings, plays Dathan; in his memoir All My Yesterdays he wrote that the director 'returned me to films' and 'restored my self-respect'.

Which studio released the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments?

Paramount had also released the director's 1923 silent version, which held a Paramount record for 25 years until he broke it again.

Which Hollywood star played Moses in the 1974 TV miniseries Moses the Lawgiver?

Burt Lancaster played the title role, and his son Bill, credited as William Lancaster, played Moses as a young man in the six-hour series.

In which widescreen process was the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments shot?

The film was shot in VistaVision, the studio's high-resolution process that ran 35mm film horizontally through the camera; it was the director's first widescreen picture, photographed in Technicolor by Loyal Griggs.

Which Oscar did the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments win from its seven nominations?

Its only win was Best Visual Effects, then called Best Special Effects, for John P. Fulton, his third Oscar after Wonder Man and The Bridges at Toko-Ri.

Who scored the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments after Victor Young declined for health reasons?

Elmer Bernstein was first hired only to write the film's on-screen Egyptian dance music; when Victor Young fell ill he took over the entire score, which runs well over two hours.

Which actor played Moses in Ridley Scott's 2014 epic Exodus: Gods and Kings?

Christian Bale played Moses, while Ridley Scott gave God's voice to a child messenger, Malak, played by Isaac Andrews; Egypt banned the film.

Which actor starred as Moses in The Ten Commandments: The Musical at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre in 2004?

Val Kilmer played Moses in the 2004 show, adapted from the French musical Les Dix Commandements; six years earlier he had voiced Moses in an animated film.

On which comedy show did a congressman backing a Ten Commandments display bill struggle to name the commandments?

On The Colbert Report in 2006, Georgia's Lynn Westmoreland named only three on air; his office said he named seven, but four were edited out.

Which body of water does Moses famously part in the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments?

John P. Fulton engineered the Red Sea parting, two decades after making his name on the startling tricks of The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein.

Which film beat The Ten Commandments to the Best Picture Oscar for 1956?

Around the World in 80 Days, Broadway showman Michael Todd's spectacle, won Best Picture, crammed with cameos from stars such as Frank Sinatra and Marlene Dietrich.

The Ten Commandments' director cast his Rameses after seeing him in which Broadway musical?

The director went backstage at The King and I and told its star he was the only person for Rameses; that star then won the Best Actor Oscar for the musical's 1956 film.

Which actress was the first choice for Nefretiri in The Ten Commandments until she was judged too slender for the gowns?

Audrey Hepburn, fresh from her Oscar for Roman Holiday, was the director's first pick, but he judged her not curvaceous enough for Nefretiri's form-fitting gowns.

Since 1973, The Ten Commandments has aired annually on US network television during which season?

The epic has aired every spring on US network television since 1973, timed to Passover and Easter, the holidays tied to the Exodus and to Holy Week.

What was the production budget of the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments, then the most expensive film ever?

The budget was about $13 million, far above Quo Vadis's $7.6 million record, and it paid off as the most successful film of 1956.

Which rapper's 1997 track 'Ten Crack Commandments' lays out rules for drug dealers?

Notorious B.I.G.'s track sampled Chuck D counting from Public Enemy's 'Shut 'Em Down', and Chuck D sued because he didn't want his voice backing a drug-dealing song.

Which horror star plays Baka, the master builder Moses kills, in the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments?

Vincent Price plays Baka, the master builder whom Moses kills while rescuing Joshua; Price had just begun his horror career with House of Wax (1953).

Which novel did the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments draw on?

Prince of Egypt, Dorothy Clarke Wilson's 1949 novel, is one of three novels the film credits, alongside the ancient historians Philo and Josephus.

The Ten Commandments' 1956 Moses was partly cast for resembling whose famous sculpture of Moses?

Michelangelo's marble Moses in Rome's San Pietro in Vincoli wears horns, from the Latin Vulgate's wording; the director found his star uncannily like it.

Which US state's sand dunes hide parts of the Egyptian set from the 1923 silent The Ten Commandments?

The 1923 film's Egyptian set was buried in California's Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes after filming, and a 2014 dig there unearthed a prop sphinx.

What happened to The Ten Commandments' 73-year-old director after he climbed the 107-foot Egyptian gate set?

He suffered a heart attack atop the set in Egypt in November 1954, yet finished the epic, which became the last film he directed.

In The Ten Commandments, Moses's red robe with black and white stripes turned out to match which Israelite tribe's colours?

Arnold Friberg designed the robe, and the film's researchers only later discovered that red, black and white were traditionally linked to the tribe of Levi, Moses's own.

Who plays Sephora, the shepherdess who becomes Moses's wife, in the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments?

Yvonne De Carlo plays Sephora, the Midianite shepherdess Moses marries in exile; she later became famous as Lily Munster in TV's The Munsters (1964–66).

Rabbinic tradition binds all humanity to seven basic laws named after which biblical figure?

The Seven Laws of Noah, which the rabbis say bind all his descendants, ban idolatry, murder and theft, and even eating a limb torn from a living animal.

Which Babylonian king's law code, famed for 'an eye for an eye', is carved on a basalt stele in the Louvre?

Hammurabi's stele shows him before the sun god Shamash, often read as receiving the laws, much as Moses received tablets; an Elamite king later carried it to Susa as plunder.

The Ten Commandments ranked tenth among AFI's top ten epics in 2008; which film ranked first?

Lawrence of Arabia topped AFI's 2008 epic list, with Ben-Hur second; The Ten Commandments had already joined the National Film Registry in 1999.

Which group commissioned a goat-headed Baphomet statue to stand beside Oklahoma's Capitol Ten Commandments monument?

The Satanic Temple unveiled its bronze Baphomet in Detroit in 2015, then brought it to a 2018 rally against a new Ten Commandments monument at Arkansas's Capitol.

Which Mel Brooks film features a satirical scene about the Ten Commandments?

In History of the World, Part I (1981), Mel Brooks's Moses comes down the mountain with three tablets, announces 'fifteen commandments', drops one and hastily corrects it to ten.

Which plague does the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments show as a creeping green cloud?

The film shows the death of the firstborn as a green cloud that kills Egypt's first-born sons, including the child of Rameses and Nefretiri.

Who plays Moses's brother Aaron in the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments?

John Carradine plays Aaron, Moses's brother and spokesman before Pharaoh; the gaunt character actor had earlier appeared in Stagecoach (1939) and The Grapes of Wrath (1940).

What does Moses's staff turn into before Pharaoh's court in the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments?

Before Rameses's court Moses's staff becomes a cobra that swallows the snakes conjured by the magician Jannes, echoing Exodus 7:8–12, where Aaron's rod swallows the Egyptians' rods.

The 1631 'Wicked Bible' dropped 'not' from a commandment, ordering readers to commit which sin?

Adultery became a divine order when one line lost its 'not'. The royal printers were hauled before the Star Chamber, fined £300 and stripped of their printing licence.

In a 1991 Simpsons episode, Lisa fears Homer is breaking the eighth commandment by stealing what?

Cable TV arrives through an illegal hookup, and Lisa pictures the whole family in Hell for watching it. The episode became the second in the show's history to win the Emmy for animated programme.

Which Broadway musical counts out the rules of a pistol fight in the song 'Ten Duel Commandments'?

Hamilton borrowed the countdown from a 1997 rap track, a debt its filmed version acknowledges in the credits. The song walks through the etiquette of a duel one step at a time.

Which US president popularised an 'Eleventh Commandment' against speaking ill of fellow Republicans?

Ronald Reagan adopted the rule during his 1966 run for governor and credited it to state party chairman Gaylord Parkinson. Parkinson coined it to stop primary attacks from splitting the party.

Which wobbly dessert was sliced in two to part the waters in the 1923 silent The Ten Commandments?

Jell-O, filmed in close-up as it jiggled, stood in for the towering walls of water. The trick kept the waves apart while the Israelites appeared to walk between them.

A Latin translation of Moses's shining face in Exodus led Western artists to give him what?

Horns appeared because a Hebrew word meaning both 'ray' and 'horn' was rendered as 'horned' in the Latin Vulgate. Western art showed Moses that way for centuries.

What did Moses wear over his shining face after bringing down the second tablets of the commandments?

A veil went on once Moses had finished speaking, because his glowing skin frightened the Israelites. Exodus says he had no idea his face shone after talking with God.

How was Arkansas's Capitol Ten Commandments monument destroyed less than a day after going up in 2017?

A driver rammed it with his car, filmed the crash and was arrested at the scene. The same man had flattened Oklahoma's monument the same way in 2014.

After grinding the Israelites' idol to powder, what did Moses make the people do with the dust?

Drink it they did, once Moses had scattered the powder on water, swallowing the idol they had just been dancing around. He had burned it first.

In the commandment against bowing down to idols, God describes himself as what kind of God?

Jealous is the word God uses in Exodus 20, warning that worship is not to be shared with idols. Exodus 34 goes further and says God is actually called Jealous.

In the King James Bible, the Ten Commandments open by calling Egypt 'the house of' what?

Bondage, because the commandments begin by reminding Israel who freed them from slavery. Moses had used the same phrase on the day the people walked out of Egypt.

According to the Ten Commandments given in Exodus 20, what must never be taken 'in vain'?

The Lord's name carries its own warning: the verse adds that God will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses it.

Which word completes the Exodus 20 commandment 'Remember the sabbath day, to keep it ...'?

Holy is the word, and the rest it demands reaches everyone: sons, daughters, servants, visitors and even cattle are told to stop work.

Which word completes the King James commandment 'Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven ...'?

Image is the missing word, and the verse rules out likenesses of anything in heaven, on earth or in the water below. Bowing to them or serving them is banned in the next line.

Which two words end the King James Bible's commandment 'Thou shalt have no other gods'?

Before me ends the line that follows God's introduction as the one who brought Israel out of Egypt. Loyalty to that rescuer comes ahead of every other rule.

The last of the Ten Commandments forbids coveting, which means doing what?

Wanting others' things is forbidden even when the desire stays hidden in the heart. The verse lists a house, a wife and servants among the things not to crave.

Which two animals are listed by name in the last of the Ten Commandments?

An ox and a donkey close the list, after a house, a wife and servants. The King James Bible calls the second animal an ass.

Which reason does Exodus 20 give for the commandment to stop work on the Sabbath?

God rested after creation, so the day was blessed and set apart. The second telling of the commandments gives a different reason: Israel's own years as slaves in Egypt.

Which instrument sounded louder and louder as God came down on the mountain in Exodus 19?

A trumpet sounded through thunder, lightning and thick cloud until everyone in the camp trembled. Moses then spoke, and God answered him aloud.

What were the Israelites told to wash while preparing for God to give the Ten Commandments?

Their clothes had to be clean by the third day, when God would come down in sight of all the people. Moses also fenced off the mountain, since touching it meant death.

Which Love Me Tender co-star of Elvis Presley plays the slave girl Lilia in The Ten Commandments?

Debra Paget was borrowed from 20th Century-Fox after MGM refused to loan out the director's first choice for Lilia. Love Me Tender, released the same year, was Elvis Presley's film debut.

Which English stage knight plays Pharaoh Sethi in the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments?

Cedric Hardwicke was one of the first actors signed, taking the part of Sethi 'the Just' in May 1954. His 1934 knighthood had made him the youngest actor yet to receive one.

Which actress, Mrs Danvers in Hitchcock's Rebecca, plays the servant Memnet in The Ten Commandments?

Judith Anderson plays the servant who recognises the baby in the basket as Hebrew. Memnet keeps the cloth he was wrapped in, and it later proves where Moses came from.

Which winner of a record eight costume Oscars dressed the leading women of The Ten Commandments?

Edith Head handled the main female characters, one of five costume designers credited on screen. The team shared an Oscar nomination for colour costume design.

The voice of God giving the tablets in the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments belonged to a bass singer from which ensemble?

Mormon Tabernacle Choir bass Jesse Delos Jewkes supplied the voice for the tablet-giving scene. It was enhanced with the vox humana stop of the Salt Lake Tabernacle organ.

Which kingdom has General Moses just conquered early in the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments?

Ethiopia falls to Moses the general, who then turns its king into an ally of Pharaoh. The episode comes from the ancient historian Josephus.

Whom does Moses unknowingly save from being crushed in the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments?

His mother, Yochabel, is the elderly slave woman he pulls clear, though he has no idea who she is. Moses then reprimands the master builder for letting it happen.

Which colour process brightened some sequences of the 1923 silent film The Ten Commandments?

Technicolor, in its early two-colour form, picked out scenes such as the Israelites leaving Egypt. The film was lauded for its colour as well as its 'immense and stupendous' scenes.

How did the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments turn a flooding studio tank into the parting of the waters?

Reversed the footage is the answer: about 360,000 gallons were released into a U-shaped trough, and printing the film backwards made the flood appear to open.

Which Dutch master's 1659 canvas shows Moses about to break the tablets of the Ten Commandments?

Rembrandt caught the moment just before the stone shatters, on a canvas nearly 1.7 metres tall. The painting now hangs in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.

Which Anglo-Saxon king opened his law code with a version of the Ten Commandments?

Alfred the Great placed a modified Ten Commandments at the head of his Doom Book, which gathered up three earlier Saxon codes. Its name comes from the Old English for judgment.

The oldest complete copy of the Ten Commandments, numbered 4Q41, belongs to which manuscript find?

The Dead Sea Scrolls include it: Bedouin found the scroll in a cave at Qumran in 1952. Scholars then bought it on the black market for several thousand dollars.

Rabbinic tradition says the tablets of the Ten Commandments were cut from which blue gemstone?

Sapphire was said to recall the sky, the heavens and God's own throne. Exodus 24 describes a pavement of the same stone beneath God's feet on the mountain.

Which other name does the Bible use for the mountain where Moses received the Ten Commandments?

Horeb is the name used when Moses retells the story near the end of his life, and it is thought to mean 'dry place'. Most scholars treat the two names as one mountain.

Which future leader of Israel climbed the mountain as Moses's assistant when the tablets were given?

Joshua heard the uproar in the camp on the way down and mistook the idol feast for the noise of war.

Earlier in Exodus, God first spoke to Moses on the mountain of the commandments from inside what?

A burning bush that was never consumed caught his eye while he was herding his father-in-law's flock. Exodus already calls the place the mountain of God.

After the Israelites built their idol, God called them a people stiff in which part of the body?

The neck, as in 'a stiffnecked people', a charge God makes three times in the chapters after the idol. Moses repeats the word himself when he pleads for their pardon.

Which address in Matthew's Gospel has Jesus revisit the commandments with the phrase 'you have heard'?

The Sermon on the Mount takes the ban on killing and pushes it inward, to anger and insults. Jesus says there that he came to fulfil the law, not to destroy it.

Which actor hosts the ten commandment-themed stories of the 2007 comedy The Ten as Jeff Reigert?

Paul Rudd introduces each tale while wrestling with a dilemma of his own: choosing between his wife and a younger mistress.

Who played Pharaoh's chariot host in the location scenes of the 1956 epic The Ten Commandments?

Egyptian army cavalry drove the chariots, supplied by the Cavalry Corps of the country's armed forces. The location work used one of the largest exterior sets ever built for a film.

By rabbinic tradition, Moses came down with the second tablets on which day of the Jewish calendar?

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, falls on the date Moses returned once God had agreed to forgive the people for their idol. Atonement and repentance remain its themes.

Which monastery stands at the foot of the Egyptian peak long identified as the mountain of Moses?

Saint Catherine's was built between 548 and 565 and is often called the world's oldest continuously inhabited Christian monastery.

Which father-in-law of Moses urged him to appoint judges shortly ahead of the Ten Commandments?

Jethro, a priest of Midian, watched Moses hear disputes from morning to evening and warned that he would wear himself out. Moses took the advice and shared the load.

Hidden in a cleft of rock, Moses was allowed to glimpse which part of God in Exodus 33?

His back was all Moses was allowed to see, because nobody could look on God's face and live. God shielded him with a hand until the glory had passed by.

According to Exodus 19, in what did God come down on the mountain to give the commandments?

Fire is how God descended on the mountain, and the smoke rose like that of a furnace while the whole mountain quaked.

In which George Orwell novel are Seven Commandments quietly rewritten until only one remains?

Animal Farm ends with the list cut down to a single line: 'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.' The rules had been painted in large letters on the barn.

According to Exodus 32, how were the two tablets that Moses carried down the mountain inscribed?

On both sides is the detail Exodus gives as Moses heads downhill, moments ahead of shattering them at the foot of the mountain.

Which comedian's 2001 album Complaints and Grievances includes 'Why We Don't Need 10 Commandments'?

George Carlin recorded the album live at New York's Beacon Theatre in November 2001. The commandments routine runs just over seven minutes.

Terrified by the thunder and lightning at the mountain, the Israelites begged that God stop doing what?

Speaking to them directly was more than they could bear, so they asked Moses to relay God's words instead, 'lest we die'.

Which word completes the King James Bible's commandment 'Thou shalt not bear false ...'?

Witness is the word: the line bans lying testimony against another person, the kind that could ruin them in a dispute.