The Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments is correspondingly known as Decalogue, which derives from the Greek words: deka (meaning 10) and logoi (meaning words). The Decalogue is a list of biblical precepts given by God to his followers, the first 4 relating to ones relationship with God and the last 6 dealing with our relationships to one another, in terms of morality. The Commandments appear in the Old Testament, in the books of Exodus (20: 2-17) and Deuteronomy (5: 6-21) – 2 out of the 5 books of Moses. These biblical scriptures say:

“God made a promise to Abraham, who was a man of great faith and the founding father of the Jewish nation in Israel, that Abraham will have many Israelite descendants. Therefore, to fulfill this promise, God called on Moses - a Hebrew Prophet - to save the people of Israel from slavery by leading them out of Egypt to a desert near Mount Sinai. It was there that God called Moses to the top of Mount Sinai where God gave Moses two stone tablets – each with 5 written laws for the people to follow…

1. You must not have any other God but me
2. You must not make any other idol, nor bow down to one, nor worship it
3. You must not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy
5. Honor your Father and your Mother
6. You must not kill
7. You must not commit adultery
8. You must not steal
9. You must not tell lies
10. You must not covet anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Today the Ten Commandments are still practiced and it’s believed that the Ten Commandments are written through various gospels in the New Testament; such as, Mathew 22:37 “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (equivalent to the First Commandment) and Mathew 19:18 “He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness” (equivalent to Commandments Six through Nine).