Bible Dictionary
Decalogue
The Decalogue, meaning “ten words,” is the name given to the Ten Commandments God gave Israel through Moses. They were written on stone tablets and form a foundational summary of God’s covenant law.
Definition
The Decalogue is the name given to the Ten Commandments, literally “the ten words.” God first wrote them on two stone tablets, which Moses broke, and later wrote them again. They form a foundational statement of Israel’s covenant law.
Biblical Usage
The Ten Commandments are cited or recalled several times in the New Testament, including in the teaching of Jesus and in Paul’s discussions of law, sin, and Christian conduct.
Historical Background
The name comes from the Greek designation used by the Greek fathers. Different Christian traditions have numbered and divided the commandments differently, especially regarding the first and last commandments.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
The name given by the Greek fathers to the ten commandments; “the ten words,” as the original is more literally rendered (Ex. 20:3-17). These commandments were at first written on two stone slabs (31:18), which were broken by Moses throwing them down on the ground (32:19). They were written by God a second time (34:1). The decalogue is alluded to in the New Testament five times (Matt. 5:17, 18, 19; Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20; Rom. 7:7, 8; 13:9; 1 Tim. 1:9, 10). These commandments have been divided since the days of Origen the Greek father, as they stand in the Confession of all the Reformed Churches except the Lutheran. The division adopted by Luther, and which has ever since been received in the Lutheran Church, makes the first two commandments one, and the third the second, and so on to the last, which is divided into two. “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house” being ranked as ninth, and “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife,” etc., the tenth. (See COMMANDMENTS.)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>dek'-a-log.</p><p>See TEN COMMANDMENTS.</p>