The Ten Commandments

Q.  What are the Ten Commandments?

A.  The Ten Commandments are the laws give to Moses and the people of Israel.

Q.  What do we learn from these commandments?

A.  We learn two things: our duty to God, and our duty to our neighbors.

Q.  What is our duty to God?

A.  Our duty is to believe and trust in God;

1. To love and obey God and to bring others to know him;
2. To put nothing in the place of God;
3. To show God respect in thought, word, and deed;
4. And to set aside regular times for worship, prayer, and the study of God's ways.

Q.  What is our duty to our neighbors?

A.  Our duty to our neighbors is to love them as ourselves, and to do to other people as we wish them to do to us;

5. To love, honor, and help our parents and family; to honor those in authority, and to meet their just demands;
6. To show respect for the life God has given us; to work and pray for peace; to bear no malice, prejudice, or hatred in our hearts; and to be kind to all the creatures of God;
7. To use our bodily desires as God intended;
8. To be honest and fair in our dealings; to seek justice, freedom, and the necessities of life for all people; and to use our talents and possessions as ones who must answer for them to God;
9. To speak the truth, and not to mislead others by our silence;
10. To resist temptations to envy, greed, and jealousy; to rejoice in other people's gifts and graces; and to do our duty for the love of God, who has called us into fellowship with him.

Q.  What is the purpose of the Ten Commandments?

A.  The Ten Commandments were given to define our relationship with God and our neighbors.

Q.  Since we do not fully obey them, are they useful at all?

A.  Since we do not filly obey them, we see more clearly our sin and our need for redemption.

The Decalogue: Traditional

God spake these words, and said:
I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have none other gods but me.
Lord have mercy upon us,and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them.
Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Lord have mercy upon us,and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.
Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Honor thy father and thy mother.
Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Thou shalt do no murder.
Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Thou shalt not steal.
Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Thou shalt not covet.
Lord have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

The Decalogue: Contemporary

Hear the commandments of God to his people:
I am the Lord your God who brought you out of bondage.
You shall have no other gods but me.
Amen. Lord have mercy.

You shall not make for yourself any idol.
Amen. Lord have mercy.

You shall not invoke with malice the Name of the Lord your God.
Amen. Lord have mercy.

Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
Amen. Lord have mercy.

Honor your father and your mother.
Amen. Lord have mercy.

You shall not commit murder.
Amen. Lord have mercy.

You shall not commit adultery.
Amen. Lord have mercy.

You shall not steal.
Amen. Lord have mercy.

You shall not be a false witness.
Amen. Lord have mercy.

You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Amen. Lord have mercy.

    Question. You said that your Sponsors did promise for you, that you should keep God's Commandments. Tell me how many there are?
    Answer. Ten.
    Question. Which are they?
    Answer. The same which God spake in the twentieth Chapter of Exodus, saying, I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
   I. Thou shalt have none other gods but me.
   II. Thou shalt not make to thyself any graven image, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down to them, nor worship them; for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and show mercy unto thousands in them that love me and keep my commandments.
   III. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his Name in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless, that taketh his name in vain.
   IV. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt do no manner of work; thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, thy cattle, and the stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it.
   V. Honour thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
   VI. Thou shalt do no murder.
   VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
   VIII. Thou shalt not steal.
   IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
   X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his servant, nor his maid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.
    Question. What dost thou chiefly learn by these Commandments?
    Answer. I learn two things; my duty towards God, and my duty towards my Neighbour.
    Question. What is thy duty towards God?
    Answer. My duty towards God is To believe in him, to fear him, And to love him with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my soul, and with all my strength: To worship him, to give him thanks: To put my whole trust in him, to call upon him: To honour his holy Name and his Word: And to serve him truly all the days of my life.
    Question. What is thy duty towards thy Neighbour?
    Answer. My duty towards my Neighbour is To love him as myself, and to do to all men as I would they should do unto me: To love, honour, and succour my father and mother: To honour and obey the civil authority: To submit myself to all my governors, teachers, spiritual pastors and masters: To order myself lowly and reverently to all my betters: To hurt nobody by word or deed: To be true and just in all my dealings: To bear no malice nor hatred in my heart: To keep my hands from picking and stealing, and my tongue from evil speaking, lying, and slandering: To keep my body in temperance, soberness, and chastity: Not to covet nor desire other men's goods; But to learn and labour truly to get mine own living, And to do my duty in that state of life unto which it shall please God to call me.