Speak Out For Jesus The Ten Commandments Introduction Sixth Commandment First Commandment Seventh Commandment Second Commandment Eighth Commandment Third Commandment Ninth Commandment Fourth Commandment Tenth Commandment Fifth Commandment A Note to Parents About this essay: We will follow the Protestant sequence of Exodus 20, in both the King James Version (KJV) and New Internation Version (NIV), since that is the format most familiar to North Americans. Introduction The Ten Commandments are precepts bearing on the fundamental obligations of religion and morality and embodying the revealed expression of the Creator's will in relation to man's whole duty to God and to his fellow-creatures. They are found twice recorded in the Bible, in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. Written by the finger of God on two tables of stone, this Divine code was received from the God by Moses amid the thunders of Mount Sinai, and by him made the ground-work of the Mosaic Law. Christ resumed these Commandments in the double precept of charity--love of God and of the neighbour; He proclaimed them as binding under the New Law in Matthew 19 and in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5). He also simplified or interpreted them, e.g. by declaring unnecessary oaths equally unlawful with false, by condemning hatred and calumny as well as murder, by enjoining even love of enemies, and by condemning indulgence of evil desires as fraught with the same malice as adultery (Matthew 5). The Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord's Day. (The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. xix) condemns those who deny that the Ten Commandments are binding on Christians.) 1st Commandment Exodus 20:3 "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (KJV) "You shall have no other gods before (beside) me." (NIV) Click here to read detailed analysis of this commandment 2nd Commandment Exodus 20:4-6 "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments." (KJV) "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments." (NIV) Click here to read detailed analysis of this commandment 3rd Commandment Exodus 20:7 "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." (KJV) "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name." (NIV) Click here to read detailed analysis of this commandment 4th Commandment Exodus 20:8-11 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy 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 sabbath day, and hallowed it." (KJV) "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (NIV) Click here to read detailed analysis of this commandment 5th Commandment Exodus 20:12 "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee." (KJV) "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." (NIV> Click here to read detailed analysis of this commandment 6th Commandment Exodus 20:13 "Thou shalt not kill." (KJV) "You shall not murder." (NIV) Click here to read detailed analysis of this commandment 7th Commandment Exodus 20:14 "Thou shalt not commit adultery." (KJV) "You shall not commit adultery." (NIV) Click here to read detailed analysis of this commandment 8th Commandment Exodus 20:15 "Thou shalt not steal." (KJV) "You shall not steal." (NIV) Click here to read detailed analysis of this commandment 9th Commandment Exodus 20:16 "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour." (KJV) "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor." (NIV) Click here to read detailed analysis of this commandment 10th Commandment Exodus 20:17 "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's." (KJV) "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." (NIV) Click here to read detailed analysis of this commandment A Note To Parents One of the saddest and most tragic features of our century's "Civilization" is the awful prevalence of disobedience on the part of children to their parents during the days of childhood, and their lack of reverence and respect when they grow up. This is evidenced in many ways, and is general, alas, even in the families of professing Christians. Children who are self-willed or spoiled, not only bring themselves into perpetual unhappiness but also inflict discomfort upon all who come into contact with them, and auger, by their conduct, evil things for the days to come. In the vast majority of cases the children are not nearly so much to be blamed as the parents. Failure to honor father and mother, wherever it is found, is in large measure due to parental departure from the Scriptural pattern. Click here to read more of this note to parents. Information on the Ten Commandments is taken from a compilation of sources from ReligiousTolerance.Org and from the writings of Arthur Walkington Pink (1886-1952)