Introduction
“If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments” (St. Matt.
19:17).
The Ten Commandments are the laws of God delivered to the people of
Israel through Moses on Mount Sinai. Written originally on two tablets of
stone, they were solemnly kept in the Ark of the Covenant. It is generally
thought that the first table contained the first three commandments, the
second the next seven. In order, they are as follows:
(i)
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before
me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any
likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow
down to them or serve them.
(ii)
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
(iii)
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
(iv)
Honor your father and your mother.
(v)
You shall not kill.
(vi)
You shall not commit adultery.
(vii)
You shall not steal.
(viii)
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
(ix)
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
(x)
You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
There exists no numerical division of the Ten Commandments in the books
of Moses, giving rise to a difference in opinion as to their numeration. The
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