Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne: Church in Melbourne, Australia > Catholic Faith > Church Teaching

The Ten Commandments

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.


A Traditional Catechetical Formula	Exodus 20 2-17	Deuteronomy 5:6-21
1. I am the LORD your God: you shall not have strange Gods before me.	I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.	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 have no other gods before me . . .
2. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.	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.	You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain . . .
3. Remember to keep holy the LORD'S Day.	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.	Observe the sabbath day, to keep it holy . . .
4. Honor your father and your mother.	Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.	Honor your father and your mother . . .
5. You shall not kill.	You shall not kill.	You shall not kill.
6. You shall not commit adultery.	You shall not commit adultery.	Neither shall you commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.	You shall not steal.	Neither shall you steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.	You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.	Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. 10. You shall not covet your neighbor's goods.	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.	Neither shall you covet your neighbor's wife . . . You shall not desire . . . anything that is your neighbor's.


Source: Catechism of the Catholic Church http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/command.htm