What are the Catholic Ten Commandments?

Answer

The Ten Commandments from the Bible can be found in Exodus 20:1–17 and Deuteronomy 5:6–21. They are outlined as follows:

(1) “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:2-3;Deuteronomy 5:6-7).

(2) “You shall not make for yourself a carved 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 on 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” (Exodus 20:4-6;Deuteronomy 5:8-10).

(3) “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” (Exodus 20:7;Deuteronomy 5:11).

(4) “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. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, 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 on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Exodus 20:8-11;Deuteronomy 5:12-15).

(5) “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12;Deuteronomy 5:16).

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you” (Exodus 20:12;Deuteronomy 5:16).

“You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13;Deuteronomy 5:17).

“You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14;Deuteronomy 5:18).

“You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15;Deuteronomy 5:19).

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16;Deuteronomy 5:20).

“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, or anything that is your neighbor’s” (Exodus 20:17;Deuteronomy 5:21).

However, in the Catholic Catechism and most official Catholic documents (see the official Vatican website), the first and second commandments are combined to read, “I am the Lord your God. You shall not have other gods beside me.” To get the number of commandments back to ten, the tenth commandment is then split into “you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife” and “you shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.”

It is not necessarily wrong for the Catholic Church to combine the first and second commandments and split the tenth commandment into two commandments. After all, the numerals 1—10 do not appear in any ancient Hebrew manuscripts that contain the Ten Commandments to officially settle how the commandments should be divided. Technically, the second commandment contains two c

Commandments: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image” and “You shall not bow down to them or serve them.” Furthermore, the tenth commandment includes seven distinct, yet interconnected, prohibitions.

It is questionable, however, that the Catholic Church would summarize the second commandment as “You shall not have other gods beside me” and omit “You shall not make for yourself a carved image” and “You shall not bow down to them or serve them,” especially considering that the Catholic Church has long faced accusations of idolatry due to its use of images and iconography in worship.

Given the significance of the initial two commandments, and considering the historical struggle of the ancient Israelites with idolatry, retaining the explicit condemnation of graven images appears to be the biblically prudent decision. The Catholic Church excludes a portion of the second commandment, seemingly attempting to conceal the fact that their own images and icons violate that very commandment.