The Ten Commandments: the Catholic list, explained

What are the Ten Commandments?

The Ten Commandments, also called the Decalogue (Greek for “ten words”), are the heart of God’s moral law. God revealed them to Moses on Mount Sinai and wrote them, Scripture says, “with his own finger”. They are recorded in two places in the Bible, Exodus 20:2–17 and Deuteronomy 5:6–21 (CCC 2056–2057). The Church holds them to be a privileged expression of the natural law, written in some way on every human heart and binding on everyone.

When a young man asked Jesus what he must do to have eternal life, Jesus answered: “If you would enter life, keep the commandments” (CCC 2052). The commandments are not God’s arbitrary demands but the shape of a life set free from the slavery of sin (CCC 2057). Jesus did not abolish them; he brought them to fulfillment and gathered them into a single law of love.

The Ten Commandments: the Catholic list

Here are the Ten Commandments in the traditional Catholic catechetical form, in the order in which the Church numbers them. The first three concern our love of God; the remaining seven, our love of neighbor.

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.

This division into “two tablets”, three commandments and then seven, is not accidental: it mirrors the two great commandments on which, Jesus said, the whole Law depends (CCC 2067). The seven deadly sins are a useful companion to this list, because they name the inner roots from which breaking the commandments tends to grow.

The first three commandments: loving God

The first commandment — “you shall not have strange gods before me” — calls us to worship the one true God in faith, hope and love, and to put nothing in his place (CCC 2084). It forbids idolatry, superstition, divination and the occult, and also despair of God’s mercy and presumption upon it. In ordinary life its rival gods are often money, success or self.

The second commandment asks reverence for the name of God (CCC 2142). It forbids blasphemy, cursing, and swearing falsely or carelessly by his name. Positively, it asks that we speak of God, and of holy things, with respect, and that we keep the promises and oaths we make in his name.

The third commandment, to keep holy the Lord’s Day, recalls the holiness of the sabbath rest (CCC 2168). For Christians it is fulfilled on Sunday, the day of the Resurrection: we are to take part in Mass and to rest from needless work, keeping the day for God, for family, and for the poor.

The fourth to the seventh commandments: loving your neighbor

The fourth commandment, “honor your father and your mother”, opens the second tablet (CCC 2197). It asks respect, gratitude and care between children and parents across a whole lifetime, and more widely it orders the duties of families, and of citizens and those in lawful authority.

The fifth commandment, “you shall not kill”, guards the sacredness of human life from conception to natural death (CCC 2258). It forbids murder, abortion, euthanasia and suicide, and also calls us to let go of hatred, revenge and reckless harm, whether to others or to our own health.

The sixth commandment, “you shall not commit adultery”, calls everyone to the virtue of chastity according to their state in life (CCC 2331). It forbids adultery and every misuse of the gift of sexuality, and asks faithfulness, self-mastery and reverence for the body in love.

The seventh commandment, “you shall not steal”, requires justice and charity in the use of earthly goods (CCC 2401). It forbids theft, fraud and cheating, and asks us to respect what belongs to others, to keep our contracts and promises, and to care for the poor.

The eighth, ninth and tenth commandments

The eighth commandment, “you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor”, forbids every misrepresentation of the truth (CCC 2464). It rules out lying, detraction, calumny and rash judgment, and asks honesty, discretion, and respect for the good name of others.

The ninth commandment, “you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife”, reaches past the act to the heart: it forbids lustful desire and asks purity of intention and of vision (CCC 2514). It is the inward companion of the sixth commandment.

The tenth commandment, “you shall not covet your neighbor’s goods”, forbids greed and envy, the disordered craving for what belongs to another (CCC 2534). It asks a trust in God’s providence that frees the heart from the endless hunger for more.

How to use the Ten Commandments for an examination of conscience

Because they name the matter of serious sin, the Ten Commandments are the oldest and clearest framework for an examination of conscience before Confession. Go through them one by one and ask, honestly and without anxiety, where you have failed in love of God or neighbor. The seven deadly sins are a good companion, showing the roots beneath the acts.

Keep the great commandment in view: to love God with your whole heart, and your neighbor as yourself (CCC 2055). The commandments are ten ways of loving. If a particular failure may be a mortal sin, bring it to Confession, and if you are unsure of its gravity, simply tell the priest and let him help you.

Keep the list close, but let it lead you to the Lord who gave it. He did not carve his law in stone to trap you, but to walk with you out of slavery and into life.

Why do Catholic and Protestant numberings differ?

Catholics and some Protestants number the commandments differently, though the content is the same. The Catholic Church follows the division made by St Augustine, which is also used by Lutherans: the command against false worship and graven images is counted as one (the first), and the prohibition of coveting is divided in two (the ninth and tenth) (CCC 2066).

Many Reformed and Orthodox Christians instead follow the division of the Greek Fathers, counting the ban on graven images as a separate second commandment and combining the two commandments on coveting into one. Nothing is added or taken away: the same law of God is simply grouped in two ways.

Sources

Cited by paragraph and verse, so you can read them in full. In the end, your priest has the final word.

• –Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2052–2082
• –Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2055
• –Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2066–2068
• –Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2084, 2142, 2168, 2197, 2258, 2331, 2401, 2464, 2514, 2534
• –Exodus 20:1–17
• –Deuteronomy 5:6–21
• –Matthew 22:34–40

Confession Compass is an independent educational tool, not an official body of the Catholic Church. It never absolves sins: only a priest, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, can absolve.