Item 5 in Ten Commandments
Honour Father and Mother
Treat parents with honour and recognise responsibilities arising from family relationships.
- Position
- 5
- Form
- Positive duty or instruction
- Obligation
- Mandatory
- Wording status
- Editorial paraphrase
- Intended audience
- Originally Israel; subsequently interpreted within Jewish and Christian traditions
- Last reviewed
- 28 June 2026
Names and terminology
Canonical name: Honour Father and Mother
Source wording
Editorial paraphrase: Treat parents with honour and recognise responsibilities arising from family relationships.
Literal meaning
Treat parents with honour and recognise responsibilities arising from family relationships.
Broader interpretation
The principle does not by itself settle conflicts involving abusive parents, unjust authority or competing duties.
Ethical purpose
To shape conduct or character in a way consistent with the wider ethical framework.
Modern application
Modern application requires attention to consent, rights, evidence, foreseeable harm and changing social conditions.
Criticism and difficult cases
Application can become difficult when this principle conflicts with another duty, when harm is indirect, or when ancient social assumptions do not fit modern conditions.
Truth By Reason analysis
Truth By Reason assesses this principle according to evidence, rights, intentions, foreseeable consequences and consistency with the treatment of all affected beings.
Ethical themes
Sources
- Deuteronomy 5 Primary source
- Exodus 20 Primary source