Three Versions of the 10 Commandments

The Ten Commandments hold significant religious and moral importance in Protestantism, Catholicism, and Judaism, although their interpretation and emphasis can differ across these traditions. In Protestantism, particularly in Reformed and Evangelical branches, the emphasis is placed on the individual's personal relationship with God. The commandments are seen as a moral guide for believers, highlighting the importance of worshiping God alone, refraining from idolatry, and living a righteous life.

Catholicism, while recognizing the moral aspects of the commandments, places additional emphasis on the sacramental life and the authority of the Church. The Catholic tradition divides the commandments differently, combining the first and second commandments and splitting the last commandment into two separate ones.

Judaism views the Ten Commandments as the foundation of the covenant between God and the Jewish people. The commandments guide Jewish religious and ethical life, encompassing not only moral principles but also specific rituals and observances.

[stevenzeoli]

Still love that joke: Moses comes down from the mountain. He says, “Okay, I got him down from 15 to 10, but the adultery clause is still in.”

[elimanic]

One of the big changes I didn't see you cover was the change from "Do not Murder" to "do not kill" which is a big difference.

Edit: What have I done.

[galashery]

Hi, Hebrew speaker here, לא תגנוב is definitely “do not steal”.

[fourleafclover]

And then there is the Wicked Bible with the typo "Thou SHALT commit adultery"

[DANtheMANofSIPA]

Another thing to note is that “Thou shalt not bear false witness against your neighbor” in the classical Hebrew understanding actually refers to lying under oath or in court, not lying in general. There are many times the Bible views lying as permissible or even good, but especially protestants view it as lying is bad no matter what even if it may bring more harm to tell the truth rather than lie

[dragondaniel]

The version in Hebrew is directly translated to "Do not steal" However scholars believed it's refering to stealing people, i.e kidnapping. So basically the versions which have "Do not steal" Are mostly direct translations of the ten Commandments from Hebrew to English.

[PotatoesAreNeat]

As someone who is not Christian, I greatly appreciate this very objective analysis of Christianity presented here. I love to learn about the religion without being preached to.

[hambone]

I remember the Catholic church my mom went to had the town split in 2 in the late 90s/early 2000s because there was a massive campaign to put up a 10 commandments statue on the church grounds and the church was refusing because of the commandment "thou shalt not covet items" and the Fathers even pulled out the stories about worshipping false idols (you should be worshipping God and Jesus in all their glory, not just the 10 commandments, especially not creating an idol out of the commandments themselves) It was a crazy time to be around town. There were protests, there were people on both sides getting people to sign petitions, town hall meetings...etc. In the end, some guy from a neighboring suburb donated a large amount of money to the church and then paid for the 10 commandments to be put on the church grounds; then about 2 months later a guy drove his truck into the statue, crumbled part of it and his truck finally stopped a few feet inside the church. What a time.

[IzzyMoonbow]

My sister’s religion teacher told her that “adultery is not a sin and people who think it is are crazy” and I was just like “isn’t adultery cheating on your spouse?” 😭

[Killer_Tortoise]

As a Jewish who grew up religious, I have no idea where you got the claim that the 8th commandment is "do no kidnap".
It's 'LOH TIGNOV', which literally means 'Do not steal'.

[SomehowTechReturned]

I thought those potatoes were rocks at first

[mingthan]

I knew it.
Stealing other people's properties is always okay. It's just borrowing indefinitely.
God allows it. Don't just steal humans 😇😇😇

[mattyberenblut]

According to Jewish Tradition, they are actually not "Ten Commandments" but "Aseret Hadibrot" which translates to "Ten Sayings".
The word for commandment in Hebrew is actually "Mitzvah" from the verb "Tzav" (to command)

[PhantomKING]

Hello from Spain!
I myself am not religious, but some of these sounded a bit off to me, so I googled it just in case and, like I thought, here in Spain they're a little different. Here they are:

1: Amarás a Dios sobre todas las cosas.
(You will love God above all things.)
2: No tomarás el nombre de Dios en vano. (the exact wording may change)
(You will not take the name of God in vain.)
3: Santificarás las fiestas.
(You will... make celebrations holly? I guess?)
4: Honrarás a tu padre y a tu madre.
(You will honour your father and your mother.)
5: No matarás.
(You will not kill.)
6: No cometerás actos impuros.
(You will not commit impure acts.)
7: No robarás.
(You will not steal.)
8: No dirás falso testimonio ni mentirás. (the exact qording may vary)
(You will not tell false testimony or lie.)
9: No consentirás pensamientos ni deseos impuros. (the exact wording may vary)
(You will not accept impure thoughts or desires.)
10: No codiciarás los bienes ajenos.
(You will not want the goods of others.)

[ManuelFernandez-dilx]

In Spanish we say, and I'm gonna translate as best as I can, for the 10th is "do not covet the possession of others", while for the 9th is "thou shall not have/ tolerate/contemplate impure thoughts", which I see how it transforms into covet someone's wife, but as you can see it is more generalized, which has soooo many downsides when they teach you this as a teenager and they use the "thou shall not have",

[samuellawrencesbookclub]

A lot of people are saying that the Catholic Church writes out the prohibition on idols in its version, this is not the case. The prohibition on idols is included in the long-form version as part of the first, it is not mentioned as part of the short form because it is contained in the statement 'I am the lord your god'.

[TheAutisticApologist]

The thing to note is that they aren't actually "three completely different versions." The Hebrew text is the same. The differences came in when cardinal Stephen Langton first divided the Bible into chapters and verses in 1205, and then when translating to different languages things start to break up differently than they read in the Hebrew. And then there's the question of different Bible traditions believing that certain parts required more emphasis than other parts. (For instance, when they decided to translate dabar as "commandments" rather than "words", yet some of the "commandments" seemed to not read as commandments so they used the ones that seemed emphatic as commandments and used the rest as prologue. Nothing has actually really changed in the Hebrew text however, and really the meaning of the passage is still fairly clear.

Ganab is a word that can mean kidnap... or it can mean steal; it depends on the context. For instance, in Genesis 31:19 it talks about Rachel stealing the household gods. I assume that could be "kidnapping" of a sort. In Genesis 30:33 Jacob separates the spotted sheep from the pure white ones and they declare that if any white ones are found among Jacob's sheep, they will be considered ganab. Well, since they're sheep, maybe they were kids? In Genesis 31:20 Jacob "stole away" or "deceived" Laban by not telling him he intended to flee. You could translate it "he kidnapped himself" but it's a bit of a clunky English translation. Elsewhere it's used for stealing oxen, stealing household goods, for being stealthy (2 Samuel 19:3), and for (figuratively) stealing hearts (2 Samuel 15:6). So there seems to be an over-arching concept behind the word that means taking something that isn't yours, and doing so covertly.

[philb]

Don't forget that in the OT there are three places where ten commandments are given. The one that is actually called "The Ten Commandments" in the text is *not* the set in Exodus 20, and it is substantially different. So if you want to ask "which Ten Commandments, " it's not just about Christian v Jewish understanding, it's about which passage in the Bible. Most believers wouldn't be able to name the commandments that the Bible itself calls "The Ten Commandments" and many don't even know it's there.

[serpentofchaos]

Technically it is to not steal but oral tradition specify it's to not steal a person (which is kidnapping)

[erinwojcik]

As a Catholic, I never remember being told which commandments were on each tablet. Instead, I remember being taught that the first three were about loving God and the other seven were about loving they neighbor such that when Jesus was asked which commandment was greatest and He answered, "Love your God with all your heart and mind and strength, " it was a nod and a summation of the first three.