Exodus 20:2-17  

I am the LORD your God,
who brought you out
of the land  of Egypt ,
out of the house of bondage.  

You shall have no other gods before
me. You shall not make for yourself
a graven image, or any likeness of
anything that is in heaven above,
or that is in the earth beneath, or
that is in the water under the earth;
you shall not bow down to them
or serve them; for I the LORD your
God am a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the
children to the third and the fourth
generation of those who hate me,
but showing steadfast love to
thousands of those who love me
and keep my commandments.  

You shall not take
the name of the LORD
your God in vain;
for the LORD will not hold him
guiltless who takes his name in vain.  

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it
holy. Six days you shall labor, and
do all your work; but the seventh day
is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in
it you shall not do any work, you, or
your son, or your daughter, your
manservant, or your maidservant, or
your cattle, or the sojourner who is
within your gates; for in six days the
LORD made heaven and earth, the sea,
and all that is in them, and rested the
seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed
the sabbath day and hallowed it.

Honor your father and your
mother, that your days may
be long in the land which
the LORD your God
gives you.

You shall not kill.

You shall not
commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false
witness against your
neighbor.  

You shall not covet your
neighbor’s house; you shall not
covet your neighbor’s wife, or his
manservant, or his maidservant,
or his ox, or his ass, or anything
that is your neighbor’s.

Deuteronomy 5:6-21  

  I am the LORD
your God, who
brought you out of
the land  of Egypt ,
out of the house of bondage.

You shall have no other
gods before me...

You shall not take
the name of the
LORD your God in
vain:...

Observe the sabbath
day, to keep it holy...

Honor your father
and your mother...

You shall not kill.  

Neither shall you
commit adultery.

Neither shall you steal.

Neither shall you bear
false witness against
your neighbor.  

Neither shall you covet
your neighbor’s wife...

You shall not desire...
anything that is your
neighbor’s.

A Traditional Catechetical Formula

1. I am the LORD
your God: you
shall not have
strange Gods before me.

2. You shall not
take the name of
the LORD your
God in vain.

3. Remember to
keep holy the
LORD’S day.

4. Honor your father
and your mother.

5. You shall not kill.

6. You shall not
commit adultery.

7. You shall not steal.  

8. You shall not bear
false witness against
your neighbor.

9. You shall not covet
your neighbor’s wife.

10. You shall not covet
your neighbor’s goods.

434. “Teacher, what good must I do to have eternal life?” (Matthew 19:16).

2052-2054
2075-2076

To the young man who asked this question, Jesus answered, “If you would enter into life, keep the commandments”, and then he added, “Come, follow Me” (Matthew 19:16-21). To follow Jesus involves keeping the commandments. The law has not been abolished but man is invited to rediscover it in the Person of the divine Master who realized it perfectly in himself, revealed its full meaning and attested to its permanent validity.

435. How did Jesus interpret the Law?

2055

Jesus interpreted the Law in the light of the twofold yet single commandment of love, the fullness of the Law: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).

436. What does “Decalogue” mean?

2056-2057

Decalogue means “ten words” (Exodus 34:28). These words sum up the Law given by God to the people of Israel in the context of the Covenant mediated by Moses. This Decalogue, in presenting the commandments of the love of God (the first three) and of one's neighbor (the other seven), traces for the chosen people and for every person in particular the path to a life freed from the slavery of sin.

437. What is the bond between the Decalogue and the Covenant?

2058-2063
2077

The Decalogue must be understood in the light of the Covenant in which God revealed himself and made known his will. In observing the commandments, the people manifested their belonging to God and they answered his initiative of love with thanksgiving.

438. What importance does the Church give to the Decalogue?

2064-2068

The Church, in fidelity to Scripture and to the example of Christ, acknowledges the primordial importance and significance of the Decalogue. Christians are obliged to keep it.

439. Why does the Decalogue constitute an organic unity?

2069
2079

The Ten Commandments form an organic and indivisible whole because each commandment refers to the other commandments and to the entire Decalogue. To break one commandment, therefore, is to violate the entire law.

440. Why does the Decalogue enjoin serious obligations?

2072-2073
2081

It does so because the Decalogue expresses the fundamental duties of man towards God and towards his neighbor.

441. Is it possible to keep the Decalogue?

2074
2082

Yes, because Christ without whom we can do nothing enables us to keep it with the gift of his Spirit and his grace.