Auction house Sotheby's auctions Ten Commandments marble Bible

Admin User 06 February 2025

Weighing 52 kilograms, measuring 60 centimeters high and worth up to two million dollars: it is the oldest known inscription of the Ten Commandments carved in stone that Sotheby's is auctioning.

A "ten for two" promotion of a different kind: The luxury auction house Sotheby's is selling a 1500-year-old white marble slab with a well-known inscription: the Ten Commandments of God.

The stone weighs 52 kilograms, is 60 centimeters high and is said to be worth up to two million dollars: On Wednesday, the auction house Sotheby's is auctioning off the white marble slab on which the oldest known inscription of the Ten Commandments carved in stone can be read. Around 1500 years ago, someone carved the fundamental commandments of God for Judaism and Christianity in ancient Hebrew.

Ten Commandments serve as a doormat for years

The stone was discovered in 1913 during construction work for a train line on the south coast of what is now Israel, in an area where early churches and synagogues were built. However, the finders were not aware of the stone's preciousness. The marble slab was used as a paving stone and ended up at a house entrance - with the inscribed side facing upwards.

For three decades, passersby could walk over the Ten Commandments until the stone was sold to a scientist in 1943. The man had recognized that the inscription on the paving stone was the Decalogue, which could have been in a synagogue or a private home. These buildings were destroyed either by the Romans between 400 and 600 AD or by the Crusaders in the 11th century.
Only nine instead of ten instructions

The 20 lines engraved on the stone correspond to the biblical verses in Exodus, but the tablet contains only nine of the commandments listed in the Bible, the third, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain," was omitted. Instead, the stone contains the commandment to pray on Mount Gerizim in what is now the West Bank, which was holy to the Samaritans.

Auction house Sotheby's auctions Ten Commandments marble Bible