Moses

Prophet and lawgiver of Judaism

Ancient influential 144 sayings

Sayings by Moses

When a man has taken a new wife, he shall not go out to war, neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home one year, and shall cheer up his wife which he has taken.

Approx. 1400 BCE — Deuteronomic law on marriage
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

You shall not let any of your children pass through the fire to Molech.

Approx. 1440 BCE — Leviticus condemning child sacrifice
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death.

Approx. 1440 BCE — Leviticus on sexual ethics
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.

Approx. 1440 BCE — Leviticus on grooming
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.

Approx. 1440 BCE — Exodus on restitution
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young.

Approx. 1400 BCE — Deuteronomy on animal ethics
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.

Approx. 1400 BCE — Deuteronomy on animal labor
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die.

Approx. 1400 BCE — Deuteronomy on adultery
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

You shall not plant your field with two kinds of seed.

Approx. 1440 BCE — Leviticus on agricultural laws
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves.

Approx. 1400 BCE — Deuteronomy on polygamy
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death.

c. 1400-1200 BCE (traditional dating of the Exodus) — Leviticus 24:17, as part of the Mosaic Law.
Controversial Unverifiable

If anyone injures his neighbor, as he has done it shall be done to him, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him.

c. 1400-1200 BCE — Leviticus 24:19-20, as part of the Mosaic Law (Lex Talionis).
Controversial Unverifiable

For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him.

c. 1400-1200 BCE — Leviticus 20:9, as part of the Mosaic Law.
Controversial Unverifiable

A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death. They shall be stoned with stones; their blood is upon them.

c. 1400-1200 BCE — Leviticus 20:27, as part of the Mosaic Law.
Controversial Unverifiable

Anyone who shows contempt for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering there to the Lord your God is to be put to death. You must purge the evil from Israel.

c. 1400-1200 BCE — Deuteronomy 17:12, as part of the Mosaic Law.
Controversial Unverifiable

He who kidnaps a man and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, shall surely be put to death.

c. 1400-1200 BCE — Exodus 21:16, as part of the Mosaic Law.
Controversial Unverifiable

He who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

c. 1400-1200 BCE — Exodus 21:15, as part of the Mosaic Law.
Controversial Unverifiable

You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

c. 1400-1200 BCE — Exodus 31:14, as part of the Mosaic Law.
Controversial Unverifiable

If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang his body on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God.

c. 1400-1200 BCE — Deuteronomy 21:22-23, as part of the Mosaic Law.
Controversial Unverifiable

But if a man lies with a female slave who is betrothed to another man, but has not been ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free; but he shall offer a trespass offering to the Lord.

c. 1400-1200 BCE — Leviticus 19:20-21, a law regarding sexual relations with a betrothed slave.
Controversial Unverifiable