Midrash Aseret ha-Dibrot (Hebrew: מדרש עשרת הדיברות) or Midrash of the Ten Statements is one of the smaller midrashim which dates (according to A. Jellinek) from about the 10th century, and which is devoted entirely to the Shavuot holiday; a Vatican library manuscript in fact calls it "an aggadah for Shavuot."
The author of the Midrash seeks to inculcate the doctrines of the Ten Commandments by citing pertinent tales of a moral and religious nature.
In addition to much material from unknown sources, he employs many passages from treatises on the Creation, revelation, and similar topics, which he introduces with the phrase "ameru hakhamim" (the sages say); he seldom cites his authorities.
The separate commandments are prefaced by a general introduction based on Psalms 106:2: "Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord?
[2] This section is followed by a mystic and cosmological discussion of the magnitude of the world, of the waters above and below the firmament, and of the seven heavens.