Contents
Introduction
Editor’s Note
Verse 1: And God Spoke All These Words
Verses 2–6: You Shall Not Have Other Gods before My Face
Verse 7: You Shall Not Utter the Name of Jehovah Your God Unworthily
Verses 8–11: Remember the Sabbath Day, to Consecrate It
Verse 12: Honor Your Father and Your Mother
Verse 13: You Shall Not Kill
Verse 13: You Shall Not Commit Adultery
Verse 13: You Shall Not Steal
Verse 13: You Shall Not Testify as a Lying Witness against Your Neighbor
Verse 14: You Shall Not Covet Your Neighbor’s House; You Shall Not Covet Your Neighbor’s Wife, or His Male Servant or His Female Servant, or His Ox or His Donkey
Leading a Life According to the Commandments
The First Commandment: You Shall Not Make Other Gods for Yourselves
The Second Commandment: You Shall Not Profane the Name of God
The Third Commandment: Keep the Sabbath Holy
The Fourth Commandment: Parents Should Be Honored
The Fifth Commandment: You Shall Not Steal
The Sixth Commandment: You Shall Not Commit Adultery
The Seventh Commandment: You Shall Not Kill
The Eighth Commandment: You Shall Not Bear False Witness
The Ninth Commandment: You Shall Not Covet Your Neighbor’s House
The Tenth Commandment: You Shall Not Covet (or Pursue) Your Friend’s Wife, His Male Servant or Female Servant, His Ox, or His Donkey
About the Ten Commandments in General
The Ten Commandments Tell Us Which Evils Are Sins
All Kinds of Murder, Adultery, Theft, and False Witness, Together with Urges toward Them, Are Evils on Which We Must Turn Our Backs Because They Are Sins
To the Extent That We Turn Our Backs on All Kinds of Killing Because They Are Sins, We Have Love for Our Neighbor
To the Extent That We Turn Our Backs on All Kinds of Adultery Because They Are Sins, We Love Chastity
To the Extent That We Turn Our Backs on All Kinds of Theft Because They Are Sins, We Love Honesty
To the Extent That We Turn Our Backs on All Kinds of False Witness Because They Are Sins, We Love Truth
The Only Way to Abstain from Sinful Evils So Thoroughly That We Develop an Inner Aversion to Them Is to Do Battle against Them
We Need to Abstain from Sinful Evils and Fight against Them As Though We Were Doing So on Our Own
If We Turn Our Backs on Evils for Any Other Reason Than That They Are Sins, We Are Not Turning Our Backs on Them but Are Simply Making Sure They Are Not Visible in the Eyes of the World
The Catechism, or Ten Commandments, Explained in Both Its Outer and Its Inner Meanings
The Ten Commandments Were the Holiest Thing in the Israelite Church
In Their Literal Meaning, the Ten Commandments Contain General Principles to Be Taught and Lived; in Their Spiritual and Heavenly Meanings, They Contain Absolutely Everything
The First Commandment: There Is to Be No Other God before My Face
The Second Commandment: You Are Not to Take the Name of Jehovah Your God in Vain, Because Jehovah Will Not Hold Guiltless Someone Who Takes His Name in Vain
The Third Commandment: Remember the Sabbath Day in Order to Keep It Holy; for Six Days You Will Labor and Do All Your Work, but the Seventh Day Is the Sabbath for Jehovah Your God
The Fourth Commandment: Honor Your Father and Your Mother So That Your Days Will Be Prolonged and It Will Be Well with You on Earth
The Fifth Commandment: You Are Not to Kill
The Sixth Commandment: You Are Not to Commit Adultery
The Seventh Commandment: You Are Not to Steal
The Eighth Commandment: You Are Not to Bear False Witness against Your Neighbor
The Ninth and Tenth Commandments: You Are Not to Covet Your Neighbor’s Household; You Are Not to Covet Your Neighbor’s Wife or His Servant or His Maid or His Ox or His Donkey or Anything That Is Your Neighbor’s
The Ten Commandments Contain Everything about How to Love God and How to Love Our Neighbor
Biographical Note