 Similarly, historically in Jewish tradition, a distinction was made between lying in general and bearing false witness (perjury) specifically.On the one hand, bearing false witness (perjury) was always prohibited according to the decalogue's commandment against bearing false witness, yet on the other, lying in general was acknowledged to be, in certain circumstances "permissible or even commendable" when it was a white lie, and it was done while not under oath, and it was not "harmful to someone else".The book of Exodus describes the Ten Commandments as being spoken by God, inscribed on two stone tablets by the finger of God, broken by Moses, and rewritten on replacement stones by the Lord.