The Ten Commandments

You will need to know all ten and be able to explain them in your own words. The commandments do not have to be in numerical order.

Ten Commandments (The Old Law)

Sacred Scripture tells us that God saw all that was happening to his people, so he called Moses up to the mountain. There he gave Moses the Ten Commandments to guide his people in living the Covenant.

1. I am the Lord your God: you shall not have strange gods before me.
God calls us to worship him alone. He calls us to believe in him, hope in him, and love him above all else. We are not to let things such as money and popularity become more important than God.

2. You shall not take the name of the Lord in vain.
We use God’s name in vain when we take an oath and call upon God as witness to the truth of what we are saying when it is a lie. When we do, we commit perjury. We also use God’s name in vain when we curse or swear or use names ‘God’ or ‘Jesus’ in anger or in any other inappropriate way.

3. Remember to keep holy the Lord’s Day.
Taking part in the Mass on the Lord’s Day is a serious responsibility for Catholics. The Lord’s Day is a time set aside to worship God the Creator. We need to rest from unnecessary work.

4. Honor your father and your mother.
We honor our parents and other adults who care for us when we obey them. The family is the first and most important group in society. The heat of our family is the love, honor and respect that binds parents and children.

5. You shall not kill.
Every human life is sacred. We have a serious responsibility to take care of our own life and health and to protect the lives and health of others. Violence toward others or ourselves is against how God wants us to treat one another.

6. You shall not commit adultery.
We are to respect our own sexuality and the sexuality of others. We are to express our friendship and love for others in appropriate ways.

7. You shall not steal.
We are to be generous to others as God is to us. We are to be good stewards of God’s creation. When we cheat, steal or misuse creation, we are not living as children of God. We must not take this without permission or damage things that belong to others.

8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
We are to respect the reputation, or good name, of others. We are not to lie. We are not to join with others and gossip or spread false rumors about people.

9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
We are to respect our own sexuality and the sexuality of others. We are to express our friendship and love for others in appropriate ways.

10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
We are to value the good things that we and other people have that are gifts from God. Just as our gifts have been generously given to us by God, we are to share them generously and freely with others—especially people in need.

Traditional Catechetical Formula,
Catechism of the Catholic Church

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