Today we are learning about the commandments and how they help Christians to be free and responsible.

The ten commandments: God's a guide for God’s people

People who want to live or work together make rules for themselves.The rules give them freedom to live as they wish, but at the same time,be responsible for the happiness of the whole group.

After Moses led them from slavery in Egypt, the Israelites wandered inthe desert for many years. Nearly always, they rejoiced in theirfreedom; sometimes, they suffered hardships; sometimes, even hungerand thirst, but always God provided for them, in spite of their grumbles!

In their wanderings, they came together as a special group, learning to care for each other ’s needs, learning to defend themselves against enemies, above all learning to know and worship the God who they believed had saved them.

They had travelled together more than three months and were already two hundred miles from Egypt, when they reached a very high mountain called Sinai. Moses ordered the people to camp at the foot of the mountain and not to climb its slopes, for he said it was a holy mountain, God’s mountain.

Moses himself began to climb and asked the people to pray so that God would teach them the laws which would bind them together as a people. Moses remained on the mountain for a very long time, praying and talking with God. Then he returned to God’s people and told them God’s Laws: the ten commandments.

The Ten Commandments

I am the Lord your God.Love, serve and honour me.Keep my name holy.Keep my day holy.Love and obey your parents and those who have charge of you.Do not kill, do not be angry or bad tempered.Respect and care for yourself and other people.Do not steal, or cheat or want things that do not belong to you.Tell the truth and speak kindly of others.Do all you can to care for others and make them happy.

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.  You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.  You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, )visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing loving kindness to thousands, to 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 leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  

Exodus 20:2-17

Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the 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.

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

 You shall not murder.

 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 male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

The Ten CommandmentsCatholic Version

I.

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

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

Remember to keep holy the LORD'S Day! IV.

Honour your father and your mother! V.

You shall not kill! VI.

You shall not commit adultery! VII.

You shall not steal! VIII.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor! IX.

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife! X.

You shall not covet your neighbor's goods!