ten travel commandments

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10 Things You Should Know About the Ten Commandments

More By Kevin DeYoung

This is an adapted excerpt from The 10 Commandments: What They Mean, Why They Matter, and Why We Should Obey Them , published in partnership with Crossway.

1. Moses never actually refers to them as the “ten commandments.”

Exodus 20:1–2 introduces one of the most famous sections in the Bible—indeed, one of the most important pieces of religious literature in the whole world—the Ten Commandments. Oddly enough, they’re never actually called the Ten Commandments.

The Hebrew expression, which occurs three times in the Old Testament (Ex. 34:28; Deut. 4:13; 10:4), literally means “ten words.” This is why Exodus 20 is often referred to as the Decalogue, deka being the Greek word for “ten” and logos meaning “word.” These are the Ten Words that God gave the Israelites at Mount Sinai—and, I would argue, the Ten Words that God wants all of us to follow.

2. They show us who God is.

The law is an expression of the Lawgiver’s heart and character. We must think about that before we say, “I don’t care for laws,” or before we bristle at the thought of do’s and don’ts. The commandments not only show us what God wants; they show us what God is like. They say something about his honor, his worth, and his majesty. They tell us what matters to God. We can’t disdain the law without disrespecting the Lawgiver.

3. They set us apart from the world.

As Christians, we’re a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (1 Pet. 2:9). We must be prepared to stand alone, to look different, and to have rules the world doesn’t understand. Of course, we aren’t always the holy people we should be, but that’s what he has called us to be. That’s who we are. We’re God’s people, set apart to live according to God’s ways.

4. They don’t strip our freedom, but instead provide it.

We too often think of the Ten Commandments as constraining us—as if God’s ways will keep us in servitude and from realizing our dreams and reaching our potential. We forget that God means to give us abundant life (John 10:10) and true freedom (John 8:32). His laws, 1 John 5:3 tells us, aren’t burdensome.

The Ten Commandments aren’t instructions on how to get out of Egypt. They are rules for a free people to stay free.

God isn’t trying to crush us with red tape and regulations. The Ten Commandments aren’t prison bars, but traffic laws. Maybe there are some anarchists out there who think, The world would be a better place without any traffic laws . A few of us drive as if that were so! But even if you get impatient when you’re at a red light, try to zoom through the yellow, and turn left on a stale pink—overall, aren’t you glad that there is some semblance of law and order? People stop and go. People slow down when driving by schools. They stop for school buses. You wouldn’t be able to drive your car to the grocery store without laws. When you drive on a switchback on a mountain pass, do you curse the guard rails that keep you from plunging to an untimely death? No, someone put them there at great expense, and for our good, that we may travel about freely and safely.

5. They were not given so that we could earn our salvation.

Some people view Christianity as: God has rules, and if I follow the rules, God will love me and save me. That’s not what happened in the story of the exodus. The Israelites were an oppressed people, and God said, “I hear your cry. I will save you because I love you. And when you are saved, free, and forgiven, I’m going to give you a new way to live.”

Salvation isn’t the reward for obedience; salvation is the reason for obedience. Jesus doesn’t say, “If you obey my commandments, I will love you.” Instead, he first washes the feet of the disciples and then says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). All of our doing is only because of what he has first done for us.

6. They are more trustworthy than our intuition or cultural code.

We live in a paradoxical age where many will say, “Right and wrong is what you decide for yourself,” and yet these same people will rebuke others for violating any number of assumed commands. As a culture, we may be quite free and liberal when it comes to sex, but we can be absolutely fundamentalist when it comes to the moral claims of the sexual revolution. The old swear words may not scandalize us any longer, but now there are other words—offensive slurs and insults—that will quickly put someone out of polite company. We’re still a society with a moral code.

But the Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov. 9:10). The way to find moral instruction isn’t by listening to your gut but by listening to God. If we want to know right from wrong, if we want to know how to live the good life, if we want to know how to live in a way that blesses our friends and neighbors, we’d be wise to do things God’s way, which means paying careful attention to the Ten Commandments.

7. The church’s most important instruction has been based on them.

The church has historically put the Ten Commandments at the center of its teaching ministry, especially for children and new believers. For centuries, catechetical instruction was based on three things: the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments.

In other words, when people asked, “How do we do discipleship? How do we teach our kids about the Bible? What do new Christians need to know about Christianity?” their answers always included an emphasis on the Ten Commandments.

8. They are critical to our understanding of the rest of the Old Testament law.

While it’s true that the Bible doesn’t say to print the Ten Commandments in boldface, we shouldn’t undersell their special stature in ancient Israel. They came from God as he spoke to the people face-to-face (Deut. 5:1–5), and they came from Mount Sinai amid fire, cloud, thick darkness, and a loud voice (Deut. 5:22–27). Exodus 20 marks a literal and spiritual high point in the life of Israel. It’s no wonder the tablets of the law, along with the manna and Aaron’s staff, were placed inside the ark of the covenant (Heb. 9:4)

There are many more laws in the Old Testament. But these first ten are foundational for the rest. The Ten Commandments are like the constitution for Israel, and what follows are the regulatory statutes.

9. They are central to the ethics of the New Testament.

Think of Mark 10:17, for example. This is where the rich young ruler comes to Jesus and asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus says to him, “You know the commandments.” Then he lists the second table of the law, the commandments that relate to our neighbors: “Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother” (v. 19).

Jesus isn’t laying out a path for earning eternal life. We know from the rest of the story that Jesus is setting the young man up for a fall, because the one command he obviously hasn’t obeyed is the one command Jesus skips—do not covet (vv. 20–22). But it is noteworthy that when Jesus has to give a convenient summary of our neighborly duties, he goes straight to the Ten Commandments.

10. They are still relevant for Christians today.

Can we keep the commandments fully or perfectly? No. Do they serve to show us our sin and lead us to the cross? Absolutely. But the commandments also show us the way to live, the way to love our neighbor, and the way to love God with all our heart and soul.

We still need the Ten Words handed down at Sinai. Have they been changed in some respects by the coming of Christ? For sure—transformed but not trashed. We can no longer keep the Ten Commandments rightly unless we keep them in Christ, through Christ, and with a view to the all-surpassing greatness of Christ. As new creations in Christ, the law is not only our duty but also our delight. If we want to love Christ as he deserves and as he desires, we will keep his commandments (John 14:15).

Is there enough evidence for us to believe the Gospels?

Kevin DeYoung (PhD, University of Leicester) is senior pastor of Christ Covenant Church (PCA) in Matthews, North Carolina, and associate professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary (Charlotte). He is the author of more than 20 books and a popular columnist, blogger, and podcaster. Kevin’s work can be found on clearlyreformed.org . Kevin and his wife, Trisha, have nine children.

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Ten Commandments List

The Ten Commandments were written by God upon two tablets of stone and then given to Moses on Mount Sinai. The record of the Ten Commandments can be found in the Bible, both in Exodus 20:2-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. [Watch 10 Commandments video below]

Ten Commandments list & meaning

• You shall have no other gods before Me.
• You shall make no idols.
• You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
• Keep the Sabbath day holy.
• Honor your father and your mother.
• 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.

Browse article sections:

10 commandments video.

• 10 Commandments explanation
• 10 Commandments KJV

Video by Reasonar.com 1:30 min.

Ten Commandments meaning

1. you shall have no other gods before me.

Explanation: Do we still need this commandment? We certainly do. Whatever holds the supreme place in a person’s life is a god.

The story is told that in a certain museum in China there was an exhibit called "The American God." And what do you suppose it was? A dollar bill, neatly framed.

It is strange how modern men turn away from the living God, who is revealed in nature and the Bible, and invent imaginary gods to fit their unbelieving hearts.

In his book, God and the Cosmos , Dr. Theodore Graebner tells us that some who set themselves up as teachers–many even as religious teachers–say that God is merely “the spirit of the community” (Page 30). One of these modern leaders says, “God is myself” (Page 23). Another says that he worships man (Page 19).

How would you like to pray to "the spirit of the community" or pray to yourself or to mankind in general? These are some of the false gods proclaimed by the wise men of today.

Some worship pleasure; others, reason, philosophy, or business. But all these things are as imperfect as humans themselves, and those who trust in them will be left at last without a light in the vacant and dark night, until the words of the first commandment meet them in the judgment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”

2. You shall make no idols

Explanation : Is there anything wrong with this commandment? Millions in the world need to hear this commandment. Jesus said in John 4:24, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

All representations of the true God or false deities for the purpose of worship are forbidden. An idol image degrades God and it degrades man. God's jealousy against false gods is but infinite love which allows no rival for our heart's affection.

3. You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain

Explanation: Has the world advanced so far that we do not need this commandment any more? Has all profanity ceased? Have men–and women and children, too–ceased to take God’s name in vain? Have they at last learned to honor the holy name of our Saviour?

How many millions violate this commandment every day! And how many do about the same thing with common slang! Let us remember what Jesus said to some careless talkers of His day.

It is recorded in Matthew 12:36, 37, “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

4. Keep the Sabbath day holy

Explanation: We seem to always be busy and need physical rest and spiritual rest. We need the Sabbath or God would not have made it for us. Jesus said that it was “made for man” and that He Himself is the Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:27, 28).

The Sabbath is the memorial of His creative work, and it is also a test of man’s willingness to recognize his Creator’s first claim to his time. Wherever we are and whether we regard God’s holy day or not the commandment is still there. Do you recognize and observe it in your home?

5. Honor your father and your mother

Explanation: In Ephesians 6:2, the apostle Paul says that this is “the first commandment with promise” and God will not go back on His promise. Children owe their parents love, obedience, respect, and helpfulness.

Think of the happiness that obedience to this commandment would bring to thousands of homes today! Then every day would be Mother’s Day and every day would be Father’s Day. So, "honor your father and mother.” Disobedience to parents is one of the ominous signs of the last days, according to 2 Timothy 3:1, 2.

6. You shall not murder

Explanation: This is the shortest of all the commandments, having one less word than the eighth commandment. (Note: according to the King James Version.) God forbids murder, the unlawful taking of human life in private vengance or otherwise.

Do you know that there are many thousands who have broken this commandment living at large in this country. And judging from past records, many thousands who will die at the hands of others.

Crime has become a huge threat to civilization. From the first groan of Abel to the last prayer upon the scaffold, this commandment comes thundering into the hearts of men, “Thou shall not murder.”

7. You shall not commit adultery

Explanation: Do we need a greater regard for the sanctity of the home today? Do we need more honest obedience to marriage vows? Do we need more husbands and wives true to each other? What is the answer? You know the answer. It is YES! A thousand times yes!

In Luke 17:30, our Saviour predicted that a Sodom-like moral condition would precede His return to this earth. Now is the time for every Christian home to stand as an example of right living.

Remember, you can't write SIN in big letters without the law of God. This seventh commandment must stand, or our civilization will go down in disregarding it. Proverbs 14:34 says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people.”

8. You shall not steal

Explanation: According to police and press reports, the world still needs this commandment. The varieties of thieves are almost endless ranging from mere pickpockets and purse-snatchers, to men who steal widows' homes, children’s education, banks, industries, and the good names of their friends.

Facing all this dishonesty of men are these four words of God… “You shall not steal.”

9. You shall not bear false witness

Explanation: This commandment forbids bribery and forgery and even the least suggestion contrary to truth. It forbids libel, slander, and backbiting, and calls for the truth and nothing but the truth.

In Revelation 22:15, we are told that “whoever loves and practices a lie” will be outside the gates of the New Jerusalem, and in Revelation 21:27 “But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”

10. You shall not covet

Explanation: In Romans 7:7 the apostle Paul says that he would not have known what sin was, unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” God's commandments point out sin. If Paul needed this commandment, so do we.

Why should you care?

The reason why some people oppose the Ten Commandments is that their lives are out of harmony with God's will as expressed in them. Paul says in Romans 7:12 that “the commandment is holy, and just, and good.” And in verse 14 he says that it is spiritual.

You see, our obligations are not merely to a law, but to Him who enacted that law. God is good, so His commandments are also good. The evil is in us, not in God or in His commandments.

Ten Commandments: King James Version

God's Law , the Ten Commandments, is expressed in Exodus 20:2-17 (KJV) with the following:

“I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

2.  Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

3.  Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

4.  Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

5.  Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

6.  Thou shalt not kill.

7.  Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8.  Thou shalt not steal.

9.  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

10.  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s."

Ten Commandments - Bible Story

The 10 Commandments were given to the nation of Israel through Moses. The nation of Israel was now free from slavery in Egypt and was camped around Mount Sinai when thunder, lightning, a thick cloud, and the sound of trumpets signaled God's presence. Moses met with God, and the 10 Commandments were written for the people to follow.

The Ten Commandments are a set of moral guidelines from the Bible that are meant to provide a basic code of conduct for believers to live by. The Ten Commandments are as follows:

The Ten Commandments

Thou shall have no other gods before me. ( Exodus 20:3 ) Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven images. ( Exodus 20:4-6 ) Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. ( Exodus 20:7 ) Remember the Sabbath day and keep it Holy. ( Exodus 20:8-11 ) Honor your father and mother. ( Exodus 20:12 ) Thou shalt not murder. ( Exodus 20:13 ) Thou shalt not commit adultery. ( Exodus 20:14 ) Thou shalt not steal. ( Exodus 20:15 ) Thou shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. ( Exodus 20:16 ) Thou shall not covet your neighbor. ( Exodus 20:17 )

(Read the entire chapter of Exodus 20 in the Bible section below.)

The 10 Commandments in Exodus 20

1 And God spoke all these words:

2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. 8 “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 13 “You shall not murder. 14 “You shall not commit adultery. 15 “You shall not steal. 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance 19 and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

20 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”

21 The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

The 10 Commandments in Deuteronomy 5

Moses summoned all Israel and said:

Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3 It was not with our ancestors that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today. 4 The Lord spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. 5 (At that time I stood between the Lord and you to declare to you the word of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he said: 6 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 7 “You shall have no other gods before me. 8 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 9 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. 11 “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. 12 “Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. 15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. 16 “Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 17 “You shall not murder. 18 “You shall not commit adultery. 19 “You shall not steal. 20 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. 21 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

22 These are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

Importance of the Ten Commandments 

Three months after God delivered the Israelites from Egypt, He gave Moses the Ten Commandments. Written in stone by the finger of God, each of these statutes was collectively meant to show the Israelites God’s standard of holiness. This standard would give His people a glimpse of God’s character, prove to them that they could never attain righteousness on their own, and plant in their hearts a longing for salvation that would be realized through the sacrifice of God’s Son—Jesus. "So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith." ( Galatians 3:24 )

The Ten Commandments are still relevant today, as they guide living a moral and ethical life. They can be used as a tool for self-reflection and understanding how our actions relate to honoring God and loving our neighbor.

Bible Story of the 10 Commandments

God’s chosen people, Israel, had suffered under Egyptian bondage for over 400 years. He heard their cries, and from a burning bush, God commissioned Moses to lead His people to freedom. Three months after the Exodus, the Israelites found themselves in the wilderness of Sinai. 

At the foot of Mt. Sinai, God spoke to Moses again and gave him an important message to relay to the thousands of wandering Israelites. “You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.  Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.” ( Exodus 19:4-6 ) 

Before that time, God had not issued an official set of laws or specific regulations for His people to obey, nor were they aware of His new covenant. But that would soon be remedied. After two days of consecration and preparation, the people of Israel gathered around the foot of the mountain to hear the word of the Lord. 

Only Moses and Aaron were permitted to ascend Mt. Sinai to be in God’s near presence, but God’s voice thundered through smoke, fire, earthquake, and trumpet blast to reach the ears of the trembling masses standing at the mountain's foot.

10 Commandments Bible Meaning

The ten laws that God gave the Israelites at Sinai have come to be known as The Ten Commandments or the Decalogue , “a Hebrew expression, which occurs three times in the Old Testament and literally means ‘ten words.’” The first four commandments deal with the Israelites' responsibility to God, and the final six commandments address the Israelites' responsibility toward each other. Here is a summary and brief explanation of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20 :

“You shall have no other gods before me.” God desires our complete loyalty and allegiance for our own benefit, not to forget His divine providence. This command forbids placing anyone or anything above God. (New Testament References: 1 Corinthians 8:6 ; 1 Timothy 2:5 )

“You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below….”  This command forbids the use of any man-made image for the purpose of worship. No human has the ability to create a piece of artwork or construct a statue that accurately represents God. He alone is worthy of worship. (New Testament References: 1 John 5:21 , Galatians 4:8 , Romans 1:21-23 )

Don’t misuse God’s name —This command forbids mishandling, lightly using, or speaking in vain the name of God. (New Testament References: 1 Timothy 6:1 , Matthew 5:33-37 ) 

Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy —This commandment required the Israelites to set aside a specific day of the week to dedicate as a day of rest to the Lord—the Sabbath. (New Testament References: Hebrews 4:1-11 tells us that Jesus fulfilled this law completely. Christians find their Sabbath rest in the person of Jesus Christ. Colossians 2:16 confirms that New Covenant Believers are no longer required to adhere to Sabbath laws.) 

Honor your mother and father —This command requires that parents be shown honor and respect. It’s also the only command that comes with a promise. “so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.” (New Testament References: Ephesians 6:1-2 , Matthew 15:4-9 )

Do not murder —This command forbids the premeditated killing of another human being. (New Testament References: Romans 13:9 ; 1 Peter 4:15 )

Don’t commit adultery —This command forbids breaking the sacred marriage covenant by having sexual relations with anyone other than one’s spouse. (New Testament References: 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 , John 8:1-20 )

Don’t steal —This command forbids taking someone else’s possessions without permission. (New Testament References: Ephesians 4:28 , Luke 19:8 )

Don’t give false testimony against your neighbor —This command forbids testifying falsely against someone in court, but the context also implies that lying is forbidden. (New Testament References: Revelation 21:8 , John 8:44 )

  Don’t covet —This command forbids harboring a desire for someone else’s possessions, spouse, or property. (New Testament References: Colossians 3:5 , Ephesians 5:3 )

Why Did God Give These Laws to the Israelites?

God chose Israel as His own special possession. ( Deuteronomy 7:6-9 ) But their sinful nature, inherited from Adam, separated the Israelites from their Holy Father. Out of love for His people, God set Israel apart and provided the law as a first step in His master plan to reconcile Himself with fallen humanity.

The Old Testament lists 613 laws that governed ancient Hebrew society. The Ten Commandments were part of God’s moral law. All these laws served as guardians, guardrails, and teaching tools to help the Israelites understand God’s expectations and to demonstrate to them that they could never live up to those expectations through their own human efforts. ( Romans 3:20 ; 5:20; 7:7-8) 

The law was also an expression of God’s grace. ( Ezekiel 36:26 ) Because the Israelites couldn’t master righteous living on their own, Priests continually offered blood sacrifices on behalf of every violator. ( Leviticus 17:11 ) Without the law, the Israelites would not have recognized their need for atonement. And the required means for atonement—shed blood—foreshadowed the one-time redemptive sacrifice that would be provided through the Lamb of God , Jesus Christ. ( John 1:29 )

Do the Commandments Apply to Christians Today?

The Ten Commandments are essential to our Biblical heritage and integral to every Christian’s origin story. Jesus didn’t “abolish the law when he died on the cross.” Instead, He did something far greater, fulfilling the law. “ Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes .” ( Romans 10:4 )

Believers are set free from the law, which was powerless anyway because of our sinful nature because God sent His own righteous Son to be our once-and-for-all sin offering. ( Romans 8:2-4 )

When someone accepts Christ by faith, the Spirit of God comes to abide inside that person. And when we live “according to the Spirit,” all those laws that Jesus fulfilled are manifest through us in the form of His righteousness. This salvation is God’s new covenant of grace that replaces the old covenant of law. ( Hebrews 8:6 , Jeremiah 31:31 )

Although the gift of salvation is offered with no strings attached to all who believe, the New Testament offers instructional guidelines to help new Christians learn what walking by faith means. In fact, most of the original Ten Commandments are recognized in the New Testament as principles for Christian living. So, what’s the difference? If Christians are still called to live by God’s standards, how does that differ from adherence to the law? 

The differences are astounding. The Old Covenant law demanded compliance or death. The New Covenant was set into motion through the obedience of the only One who could measure up to God’s standards. In love, Christ laid down His life for us—while we were yet sinners. Those who are saved love Jesus because He first loved us. It’s that love that compels Believers to take up our cross and follow Him.— Law vs. Love ( Romans 13:8-10 )  

Under the Old Covenant, God’s chosen people were slaves to sin, a condition made apparent by rules and regulations. Through the New Covenant, Christ not only secured our freedom from slavery, but He also initiated our adoption into God’s family. We are no longer slaves to sin but heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Slaves vs. Heirs ( Galatians 4:4-7 ) 

Under the Old Covenant, even David, a man after God’s own heart, failed to meet God’s righteous requirements. Why? Because all David’s self-effort amounted to filthy rags. Through the New Covenant, the indwelling Holy Spirit manifests Christ’s righteousness through the life of a surrendered Believer. Self vs. Spirit ( Galatians 5:16-26 )

By living out our love for the Father and love for others, through Christ’s power—we are given the desire and the ability to “obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.” ( 1 John 5:3 )

Why Are the Ten Commandments Still Important?

The Ten Commandments are vital to understanding the Holy nature of God as it contrasts with our fallen, sinful nature. The Commandments also played an essential role in God’s overall redemptive plan. 

Our modern culture has a habit of dodging moral absolutes, re-identifying sacred truths, and systematically removing all concrete standards of conduct. Even though most Believers understand their freedom from the law, through Christ, the Ten Commandments are an essential tool in our evangelistic arsenal to help the deceived world rightly define right from wrong.

The Good News is only Good News if a sinner recognizes the death sentence they face due to their unbelief and consequent sin. The Ten Commandments act as a mirror to reveal the filth that only Jesus can erase. 

Use the articles, videos, and audio below to further your understanding of the significance and relevance of the 10 Commandments in our lives.

Annette Marie Griffin  is an award-winning author and speaker who has managed and directed children’s and youth programs for over 20 years. Her debut children’s book, What Is A Family?, was released through Familius Publishing in 2020. Annette has also written a curriculum for the character growth and development of elementary-age children and has developed parent training seminars to benefit the community. Her passion is to help wanderers find home. She and her husband have five children—three who have already flown the coop and two adopted teens still roosting at home—plus two adorable grands who add immeasurable joy and laughter to the whole flock.

Photo credit: ©GettyImages

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Understanding israel’s 10 commandments.

Are the 10 Commandments really a moral code?

“Thou shalt not kill!” The voice of God thunders across the mountain as Charlton Heston’s Moses watches the fiery finger of God etch the words onto the stone tablets of Israel’s foundational moral code. This iconic moment in cinema captures the awe and reverence given the 10 Commandments over the last 2,500 years. Photo: World History Archive / Alamy Stock Photo.

Everyone knows that God gave the Israelites the 10 Commandments . Some of you may even be able to list them from memory. But do a search for the phrase “10 commandments” in your Bible and you might be surprised to find that it actually never appears anywhere. (Your translation may supply a subheading at the beginning of these sections that says “The 10 Commandments,” but there is no such subheading in the original Hebrew.) And, for those who have memorized them, which list—of a possible three—is it that you’re reciting? Further, even if we agree on the list, how do you count them to arrive at 10?

The “10 Commandments” are listed in Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5 and Exodus 34. The first two lists (Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5) are virtually identical, with a few differences in wording and order. Exodus 34, however, seems to be a completely different (and less familiar) set of commandments.

The list in Exodus 20 is the one to which most people are referring when they cite the 10 Commandments, and it’s introduced in the text as follows: “And God spoke all these words, saying…”

While in Exodus 20 we’re not told how many of “these words” there are, Deuteronomy 4:13, 10:5 and Exodus 34:28 will tell us that there are 10 (in the Greek translation, “deka logous,” meaning “10 words,” and giving us the English “decalog”); but nowhere in the Hebrew will they be referred to as the “10 Commandments.”

A 10 Commandments stone tablet—believed by some to be the oldest stone copy of the 10 Commandments—was sold at an auction in November 2016 for $850,000. Photo: Courtesy Heritage Auctions/HA.com.

But if we can agree that Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 give us a decalog, 10 “words”—and they are clearly more than suggestions, so “commandments” is an appropriate descriptor, even if one that the text doesn’t use specifically to refer to these “words” here—we next need to note that they are not actually enumerated in either place. How should we count them?

Although in agreement that there are indeed 10, Jews, Catholics and Protestants all count them differently. For example, while Jews consider the substance of both verses 2 and 3 as the first commandment, Christians take verse 2 as a preface to the actual first commandment in verse 3; but some Christians see this commandment as continuing through verse 6, while others agree with the Jewish tradition that the second commandment begins in verse 4. I’ve noted the differences in the chart below.

You might also notice in my chart that my wording differs from the more familiar “I am the LORD thy God … thou shalt have no other gods before me,” etc. While the King James Version dominates in modern Biblical quotations, its usage of English is 400 years out of date with ours; if we want to understand the Bible’s Hebrew in a way that makes sense to us today, we need to update our translation based on information we now have about Biblical Hebrew that wasn’t available in King James’s day.

FREE ebook: Ancient Israel in Egypt and the Exodus .

I’ll get into the specifics of my translation below. As we go through them, we are trying to understand the commandments on two levels: first, the meaning of each individual rule; and second, the meaning of the whole. Taken together as a Decalog, what kind of document is this? Is it a religious text? Or a moral code? This question matters, because the anti-establishment clause in the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment has been invoked on both sides of the debate about the appropriateness of displaying the Bible’s 10 Commandments in government spaces and on public property. Even though the Bible is a religious document, proponents of such Decalog monuments in courthouses and schoolrooms argue that the 10 Commandments themselves are not necessarily religious, but represent rather the moral and legal foundations of society and the historical source of present-day law codes. This understanding of the commandments as universally applicable relies on common conceptions about their meaning, transmitted over thousands of years of Jewish and Christian interpretation. But what if, to paraphrase The Princess Bride ’s Inigo Montoya, they do not mean what you think they mean? What if we read them as products of an ancient civilization, with a different language, culture, religion and form of government?

The Princess Bride ’s Inigo Montoya.

While it’s customary to begin at the beginning, and as such, to start our discussion of the commandments with the first one, I will defer that for the moment and skip right to what Jews and some Christians take as the second:

No images of anything ! This commandment literally bans all art , apparently on the basis that images that could be construed as representing another god were not to be tolerated, let alone bowed down to or worshiped. The reason: YHWH is passionate (“jealous” or “zealous” work as translations for this word as well). Beyond the plain meaning of this prohibition, we are further reminded here of a fundamental Biblical principle: justice works down through the generations. Why obey this (or any) commandment? Because if you don’t, God may punish your great-grandchildren for your disobedience. A central aspect of the Decalog is corporate responsibility—over space and time. The community is responsible for enforcing God’s laws among themselves, not only because they want to continue to benefit from God’s commitment to the people in the present, but because their actions have consequences for the continuity of their lineages.

The third commandment is often understood as a prohibition against “taking the Lord’s name in vain,” i.e., uttering a cuss-phrase that includes the word “God” in it. This misunderstanding is based on two misreadings of this line. First, the name YHWH (probably pronounced Yahweh ) is a name , that is, not the same as the title “God”—the two are not interchangeable in a world in which many gods were worshiped (see previous commandments), and each had his or her own name(s). The god who is dictating the commandments here is named YHWH; and this commandment underscores the idea that his name is sacred and should be invoked with great care. Second, rather than being about “swearing” as in cursing, this is about “swearing” as in oaths; that is, if you swear an oath that invokes the holy name, you had better keep it.

This one is interesting for a number of reasons. Other ancient cultures prescribed rest days, usually based on cycles of the moon, but the Israelites instituted the seven-day week that culminated with a mandatory rest day, independently of lunar cycles. In other words: we can thank ancient Israel for the invention of weekends. Here in Exodus 20, this commandment is tied to the creation narrative in Genesis 1. In Deuteronomy 5’s version of the Decalog, the reason for all members of a household to cease their labors on the seventh day is so that “your manservant and your maidservant will rest, like you” (Deuteronomy 5:14). As such, Deuteronomy frames commemoration of the Sabbath as an ethical directive based on Israel’s servitude in Egypt: “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt … for this reason, YHWH your God has commanded you to make the Sabbath day” (Deuteronomy 5:15).

Although unusual in a list of laws, I don’t know any parent who would frown at this suggestion, or even at the idea of elevating it to the status of a divine commandment. Its position in the list also signals a transition from commandments concerned with God and ritual (the first four) to one that is focused on the human community (the final 6). As such, it is noteworthy that this earthly focus begins within familial hierarchy, and not at a tribal or a state level. One is commanded by God here to honor one’s parents—both of them—and nowhere in the list to honor any other human authority figures. The connection between honoring parents and lengthened days on the Promised Land is telling, as well, and speaks to the issue of community responsibility extending across time as well as space; just as the ban on graven images reminds the people that their actions have consequences for future generations, the present commandment extends this responsibility back to generations of the past. One honors one’s parents in life, but also in death, as ancestors would have been buried on the ancestral land that God will allocate to each tribe later in the narrative. In other words, “the land that YHWH, your God, is giving to you” is inalienable, ancestral land; the better you honor your parents in life and in death, the longer this land will remain in your family.

The second law pertaining to the human community is:

While at first glance this might seem to not require further explanation, the history of translation of this commandment necessitates it. Long understood to read “Thou shalt not kill,” this commandment has been invoked in debates about capital punishment, abortion, warfare, vegetarianism and euthanasia. However, like English, Biblical Hebrew has a variety of words to describe the act of taking a life; and, like English, it has a different word for “kill” than for “murder.” The Hebrew word for “murder” is used in this commandment and refers to the taking of a human life, forbidden here and elsewhere (e.g., Genesis 9:5–6) and subject to the death penalty only when committed with malicious intent; “kill” in English has a much broader range, and is an appropriate translation of different words in Hebrew—not of the one that is used here. “Thou shalt not kill ” is simply a mistranslation. Murder is the only kind of killing that is forbidden in the Decalog.

Similar misunderstandings abound concerning the seventh (in this list; in Deuteronomy 5 it is the eighth) commandment:

In this case, it is not translation that is at issue, but rather the cultural context of ancient Israel versus that of the modern West. In our world, adultery is defined as sexual relations with someone who is not your spouse. It is an equal opportunity crime, with one’s gender having no bearing on one’s culpability. The Biblical understanding of adultery , however, is gender-specific. In the ancient world, a married man could engage in sexual relations with wives, concubines and prostitutes; a married woman could only have sex with her husband. Thus, committing adultery for a man consisted of sleeping with a woman who was someone else’s wife; for a woman, adultery was defined as sex with someone other than her husband. The same law and definition is ubiquitous throughout the ancient world; the difference is that in Babylonian, Assyrian and Hittite laws, the woman’s husband had the final say on punishment for the adulterous couple. In the Hebrew Bible, however, this authority is removed from the husband, as the prescribed consequence for both adulterers is death.

The eighth commandment (seventh in Deuteronomy 5) requires the least explanation:

This one actually means exactly what you might think: Don’t take things that don’t belong to you.

The ninth commandment also means what it says, but the context of its prohibition is often misunderstood:

Usually translated as an injunction against “bearing false witness,” people often interpret this one as forbidding humans to lie. A proper understanding of the terms used in the Hebrew, however, indicate that this is not the case—there is no law against lying! Rather, this commandment specifically prohibits testifying falsely, i.e., in court, where someone’s life may hang in the balance. Remember, there were no Bibles yet on which people could swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Instead, a directive from God in his top 10 was designed to provide incentive to testify truthfully.

The final commandment is a bit strange, when you think about it:

Rather than prohibit any kind of action , this one prohibits thoughts . What’s wrong with fantasizing about how great life would be if you only had your neighbor’s ox? The key to understanding why a ban on coveting is included in the Decalog is that doing so could lead to actions forbidden in the previous four commandments, thereby undermining the fabric of human community. Coveting people or property that do not belong to you might instigate activities like adultery, murder, theft and even bearing false witness—for the latter case, look at what happens when Ahab covets Naboth’s vineyard in 1 Kings 21!

Now that we’ve reconstructed the meaning of nine of the commandments based on what we know about ancient Israel and how the people were likely to have understood them, we can turn that same lens to understanding both the first commandment and the document as a whole, as we seek to answer the question of whether it is a “religious” statement or a more universally applicable “moral” one. As evident in my chart, the first commandment tends to be understood as part or all of the following:

This statement at the beginning of Exodus 20 follows 19 chapters of in-depth exploration of YHWH as the name of the God of Israel and his deliverance of the people from Egypt . This begs the question of a need to restate the obvious here at the beginning of the Decalog. However, comparison with other ancient Near Eastern texts demonstrates that similar statements were common opening themes of a particular, well-known document: the suzerain-vassal treaty. These were covenants made between a conquering overlord (the suzerain) and a subject population (the vassal).

Understanding the genre helps us to contextualize and understand what is usually taken as the first commandment, which, it turns out, contains both a preface and a primary covenant stipulation.

The typical ancient suzerain-vassal treaty begins with an introduction of the suzerain, followed by a historical prologue in which the suzerain reminds the vassal of his beneficence toward them and why they owe him loyalty. This is what we have in the introduction and prologue to “these words” in Exodus 20:

These opening words of the treaty frame this covenant in political terms that indicate that God is the new king, or overlord, for the Israelites. These are followed by the primary stipulation in any suzerain-vassal covenant relationship—exclusive loyalty from the vassal to the suzerain:

A vassal cannot divide his loyalties between overlords but must be faithful to only one. This makes sense in terms of demands of vassalhood, such as sending troops to support the suzerain when he is at war. But in framing the covenant relationship between YHWH and Israel in terms of a suzerain-vassal treaty, exclusive loyalty to the conquering sovereign acquires a further dimension: exclusive worship of one god. In equating Israel’s god with the notion of a suzerain, covenant loyalty sets Israel on a path to monotheism .

In suzerainty treaties, secondary stipulations follow, which typically include the number of supporting troops and taxes that the suzerain expects his subjects to send. In the case of the Decalog, the secondary stipulations contain instead the basic ritual, ethical and communal ideals by which YHWH expects his people to govern themselves under his suzerainty.

Esarhaddon’s Succession Treaty is an example of a suzerain-vassal treaty. In it, Neo-Assyrian king Esarhaddon (r. 681–669 B.C.E.) aims to secure royal succession and the loyalty of his vassals after his death. The treaty has been extensively studied as a major model for the book of Deuteronomy. The fragments seen here from Nimrud comprise a treaty between Esarhaddon and Humbaresh, the ruler of Nashshimarta in Media. Photo: © The Trustees of the British Museum/CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

The Decalog belongs firmly to the genre of political treaty, a staple text in a world of monarchies and expanding empires. But it is unique among other such ancient treaties, in that the suzerain dictating the terms is divine, and the vassal agreeing to abide by them is the people of Israel. Thus the covenant symbolized by the Decalog is the basis, not for imperial rule, but rather for a theocracy in which a god is conceived as the overlord, and the Israelites his subjects. And so, although moral and religious laws are included in the list, the overall document would have been understood as neither a moral code nor a religious text in the ancient world. Rather, it represented the rules by which a group of people agreed to abide in exchange for the overlordship of the god YHWH.

Related reading in Bible History Daily :

Should We Take Creation Stories in Genesis Literally?

Love Your Neighbor: Only Israelites or Everyone?

Did the Ancient Israelites Think Children Were People?

Ten Commandments Dead Sea Scroll to Be Displayed in Israel

Sold! Earliest Surviving 10 Commandments Stone

This Bible History Daily feature was originally published on June 14, 2017.

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44 responses.

You won’t find “10 Commandments” but you will find “Ten Commandments”! Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13; 10:4

In terms of the “Ten Words,” it is pars pro toto (part for the whole) of the covenantal treaty between Yahweh and Israel which parallels the structure of the suzerainty treaties: 1. Preamble; in which the name of the sovereign is identified. 2. Historal Prologue; describing the previous relationship between vassal and king. This sets the satge for the obligations to be issued. 3. Stipulations; whereby the authority of the suzerain is unlaterally imposed upon the kingdom subjects. 4. Depository; or provison for the preservation, succession arangements, and periodic reading of the covenant document. 5. Witnesses; involving an otah or solemn charge. 6. Sanctions; stipulating both blessings and curses according to the subsequent action of the vassal.

The central role of the Decalogue is to be seen in the “covenant scheme” by which international relationships were governed in the Mosaic era. The practical importance of the Ten Words in their hisrorical context will come to the forefront when the concept of the covenantal cannocity is understood and applied (cf. Exod. 19:5; Lev. 26:9, 42; Deut. 31:16, 20; Josh. 7:11; Judges 2:20; 1 Kings 11:11; Psm. 50:16; 89:28-34; Isa. 56:4-6; et al).

In the article the quiestion is asked,”Taken together as a Decalog, what kind of document is this? Is it a religious text? Or a moral code? ” The answer is that it is a Suzerainty Treaty. It is pars pro toto of the formal and legal elements of the covenant between Yahweh and Israel expressed in terms which were in existence in the ancient Near Eastern treaties. It represents the suzerain-vassal relationship.

Michael Kahn, like so many sincere Christians, claims “A long drawn out expansion on the two greatest commandments of Lord Jesus:”Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul and all thy mind;”And the second is like unto it.”Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self and all the other commandments are like unto them.”(Jesus).”

This is yet another example of Christianity ripping off the Torah, then attributing it to Jesus. Let’s tell the truth for a change.

”Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul and all thy (mind)” was *not* invented by Jesus. It is explicitly stated in the Torah, long before Jesus was born, in the Biblical portion titled D’vareem (Deuteronomy) Chapter 6, Verse 5, where Moshe (Moses) tells this to the Jewish People who are about to cross the Jordan River. (There are different interpretations/translations of the Hebrew word mi’odecha here, which Mr. Kahn and others translate as “mind.” Some Jewish sages, such as Rashi, render it “resources,” meaning that even if it costs you all your money you must still love God above all else. Others translate it as loving God with all “your might” or “your being.”

”Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy self” is also in the Torah, specifically in Vayikra (Leviticus) Chapter 19 verse 18. If Jesus used those same words, he was speaking as a Jew and reminding his coreligionists that the Torah itself commanded it.

To summarize, these teachings which Christians credit to Jesus are direct quotes from the Torah. It is time for Christians to acknowledge that Jesus was a Jew and familiar with the Torah, from which he quoted.

Charles, you are correct in stating that these two ‘commands’ are located in Torah. They were juxtaposed by R. Hillel as the totality of Torah with all other commandments relegated to the status of ‘commentary’. They were regularly used to distinguish the primary beliefs of the different sub-groups of the pharisees – viz Hillel vs Shammai schools. The only mistake you have made in your article is to attribute the plagiarism to Christianity when the Brit Hadasah states the these commands were quoted by Yeshua himself in a purely Jewish context. Christianity did not exist at the time,nor for several hundred years afterwards. It is very unfortunate that the anti-semitic stance of the early ‘church fathers’ has led to the demise of true reading of scripture by many adherents of Christianity and their continued regurgitation of erroneous teachings due to accepting everything they are told and not fact-checking their poor quality teachers.

I’d like to make a couple of points:

1. God has not evolved, but our understanding of Him and his commandments *has* evolved down the centuries.

2. When speaking Hebrew, we Jews do not use the phrase “10 Commandments.” Instead, we did and do call them the “10 *Deebrot,” which is best rendered as the “10 Sayings/Speakings/Words.” The term “Decalogue” is therefore a decent translation.

3. Context is everything. The Torah does indeed say “You should not make for yourself an idol or any other image,” but it is immediately followed by “You shall not bow down to them or worship them.” This is the true meaning. There are no separate verses in the Torah — ideas and phrases run together. Thus, the rationale of the prohibition here is the injunction to not worship them.

There is so much more to say and learn about these 10 Deebrot. One who seeks to understand them is best served by learning Hebrew. And even those who do speak and read Hebrew will be best served by using a bible such as that of the ArtScroll series, which is far better than relying on non-Jewish translations. As an added bonus, the ArtScroll series includes lucid commentaries drawn from Jewish sages such as Rashi and Rambam, among others. If you don’t know who these sages are, you should research articles about them.

A long drawn out expansion on the two greatest commandments of Lord Jesus:”Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul and all thy mind;”And the second is like unto it.”Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self and all the other commandments are like unto them.”(Jesus).

God Hates Art and Statues? Only those who worship in barren halls make that assertion.

God Commands The Creation of Sacred Images!

People who oppose religious statuary forget about the many passages where the Lord commands the making of statues. For example: “And you shall make two cherubim of gold [i.e., two gold statues of angels]; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end; of one piece of the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be” (Ex. 25:18–20).

David gave Solomon the plan “for the altar of incense made of refined gold, and its weight; also his plan for the golden chariot of the cherubim that spread their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord. All this he made clear by the writing of the hand of the Lord concerning it all” (1 Chr. 28:18–19). David’s plan for the temple included statues of angels.

Similarly Ezekiel 41:17–18 describes graven (carved) images in the idealized temple he was shown in a vision, for he writes, “On the walls round about in the inner room and [on] the nave were carved likenesses of cherubim.” The Religious Uses of Images

During a plague of serpents sent to punish the Israelites during the exodus, God told Moses to “make [a statue of] a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and every one who is bitten, when he sees it shall live. So Moses made a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live” (Num. 21:8–9).

One had to look at the bronze statue of the serpent to be healed, which shows that statues could be used ritually, not merely as religious decorations.

The 10 commandments were part of the Mosaic Law which consisted of over 600 other laws, ALL of which had equal force and binding on the Israelite nation, no other nation was given that law. (Psalm 147:19,20; Deuteronomy 5:1-3) The law conclude with the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 3:19-24; Romans 10:4; Romans 6:14; Colossians 2:13-18; Ephesians 2:11-17) Although not under that law, Christians today can glean many fine principles from that law. As Galatians 5:13,14 and Romans 13:8-10 show that love is the overriding factor for Christians………love of God and love of neighbour.

O.k. Nothing mysterious. I suggest to remind the “author” of it (Dekalog) as the R source in order to see how a long time it had taken to understand that “YHWH liberated people” few centuries before this (Dekalog)writing down.When? 2nd century BC?

We are commanded not to change any of the Holy writings given by God, Jesus nor the Holy Spirit. This world is surely coming to a sad ending for the majority of non believers. I pray that All may change their evil minds before it is to late. A firm believer in the Holy Bible. Kenneth Blevins.

And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote upon the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. Exodus 34:28 And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. Deuteronomy 4:13 And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the Lord gave them unto me. Deuteronomy 10:4 I’m quite surprised that you would say the Bible never mentions 10 commandments when there are 3 very clear references to them right here? Explain please. Cheers Mike

Enjoyed Ms Dolansky. Thank you.

Actually “Volkswagen” is correctly pronounced “Folks-Vah-Gen”. However it has been English/American-ized” as “Volks-wag-on”

Also for German words “Y” is pronounced just like “Ö”.

In modern English for many, many years, the name of YHVH is “God”, just a custom that ministers never discussed in my days of Sunday School in the 1950s and later. You must know this and what you have written is misleading! Therefore, expressing “G– damn…” takes the name of the “Lord” in vain. In some Jewish congregations “the Lord” is translated as HASHEM, meaning, “The Name” formed from SHEM (name) with the definite article.

Rather than looking at these statements by God, on the mountain with Moses, as “the Ten Commandments”, they should be thought of, and referred to, as the LAWS OF GOD!! He gave even more laws later on, through Moses. But these first ones were called Commandments because they were the WORDS of God, how He expected His people TO ACT. “I am the Lord thy God” and “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” cannot be explained to separate God from the many gods other cultures worshipped. It clearly means that there IS ONLY ONE GOD and it is YHWH, and has been emphasized over and over again throughout the bible. Reducing the Word of God to an academic manuscript to be broken down into different “explanations” or “theoretical understandings” reduces and imputes the divine messages contained within it. You either BELIEVE the Word, or you DON’T!! If you can deconstruct the passages, as Ms. Dolansky has done, and still believe in the TRUTH of the Word, then good for you! BUT, if this deconstructing causes you to doubt the TRUTH, or turn away from the divine and only GOD, AND His Son, Jesus Christ, then you have been LOST!! This kind of academic endeavor is a dangerous activity in my opinion, humble though it may be. I believe in the Word of God, and it’s Truth, His Son, and what God has said will happen at the end of our (humans) time on this earth. When academic theory creates a void in a person’s belief system, it leaves it open for Satan to take possession!!! I DO NOT BELIEVE OUR GOD WOULD APPROVE OF THIS KIND OF ACADEMIC TEACHING!!! We have enough of Satan’s influence in this world to fight now, and you’re just giving him an open door to capture more souls to take to hell with him. You are a brilliant academic, Ms. Dolansky — you should use your knowledge to influence people to COME TO CHRIST instead of creating situations that might turn people away from Him!! I haven’t read any other writings of yours, so I can only go by what I have just read. If you do, indeed, encourage people to come to God and Jesus to be forgiven, and assured of eternal life in heaven, that would change the opinion this article has created, and I would beg your pardon! Sincerely, I hope I do have the chance to beg your pardon, because, as a person of knowledge and immense influence, you are in the unique position of creating belief in God, and in the Truth of His Word, and of the Truth about Jesus. I pray you will use your influence and knowledge to do just that! In the love of Christ, I ask God’s blessings upon you!!

Well written article. Very informative. I just have one question. Pronouncing YHWH.

I thought the W was from German translators who didn’t want us to pronounce the name correctly. They translated it two ways YHWH and JHVH, producing YaHWeh and JeHoVaH. In German, J sounds just like Y as in Yellow. V and W are also identical – the V sound. In German that car is pronounced Volks Vagon, not Volks Wagon. The correct pronunciation was supposedly YHVH, with whatever vowels you thought fit. What are your ideas?

Actually, the literal words “Ten Commandments” (Heb. aseret ha-d’varim) IS written in Exodus 34:28 Deuteronomy 4:13,10:4:

Exodus 34:28 So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments. (NASB)

Deuteronomy 4:13 So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone. (NASB)

Deuteronomy 10:4 He wrote on the tablets, like the former writing, the Ten Commandments which the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly; and the Lord gave them to me. (NASB)

So, once again, Shawna Dolansky FAILS as a “biblical scholar.” Honestly, does anyone fact check these articles? To see what Christ thought of the Pharisees, examine Matthew 23. Pharisaism became modern day rabbinic Judaism. Honestly, how can “I am Yahoah your God” be a commandment? It is a STATEMENT OF FACT of the Most High’s Name! [Note: The ”vav” in the Tetragrammaton is pronounced like the “o” in Torah, menorah, Eloah, and Yehoshu’a; the latter is Christ’s REAL Name].

It is clear that for Gentiles, the ruling of the Council of Jerusalem is applicable; see Acts 15:1-35 concentrating on vv19-20 including abstaining from:

1) things contaminated by idols, 2) fornication, 3) what is strangled, and 4) blood.

However, believing Gentiles in Christ (and all the Elohim including the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, seraphim, cherubim, archangels, angels, and the other Heavenly Hosts), are grafted into Israel; see Romans 11 concentrating on vv17-24. With the indwelling Holy Spirit sent on the Feast of Weeks 36 CE in circumcised hearts, believers will naturally be inclined to follow ALL of God’s commandments — including the Ten Commandments written in stone; see Galatians 4:4-6. Did not Abram/Abraham do the same? Did he have the Law of Moses?

Shema Yisrael!

#QuestionEverything

I would have liked to see more on the one in Exodus ch. 34; and which version you thought was the oldest.

Covet is claimed to concern thoughts. It is not desire, want, too broad. It is action, the enticement of servant, spouse, away. “He came to me, I did nothing wrong.” It is easy to see in inheritances. Mom signed the will. She gave me everything. Legally, I did not break God’s commandment to steal. Crooked lawyers – that is effective, slick, find ways to acquire property, foreclose, etc. Lobbyists help write regulations that are enforceable to their clients advantage. It is all legal. Being legal it is especially repugnant to a Righteous God.

Great article. Although some may have minor issues with some numbering in the chart, the overarching concept of preface/numbering is fascinating. As is the language and cultural context of some of the ten. This is one of those articles that I will remember, and try to memorize sections of, so I can discuss with others.

I’m trying to figure what Hebrew manuscript the author used in order to come to the conclusion that Deuteronomy 5 has a different order for the Commandments than has Exodus 20. In the BHS, the order of commandments is, in fact, identical. What am I missing?

The presupposition behind this article is “The Bible must be read as literature coming out of the culture of the day it was written.” In other words, literature is subject to one’s personal analysis of the culture at that time.” It therefore follows that the more accurate is one’s interpretation of the culture then one is more accurate about the meaning of its literature.

This presupposition comes out of the “Critical Theory of Frankfurt” and the school of thought that nurtured Wescott of “Wescott and Hort” fame. It is designed to destroy the Bible as “objective and Divine truth.

The numeration in the column: Christians: Catholics, Anglican, Lutheran, is incorrect in regard to 1 and 2 and 9 and 10. Catholics distinguish wife coveting from property coveting – neighbor’s wife is 9 and neighbors property is 10, Protestants – Anglicans, Lutherans and Reformed, lump them together as 10 and make an extra one at the beginning.

Interesting work by Shawna… As a Seventh-day Adventist, I’m particularly interested about the beginning and end of the Sabbath day. Clearly, God created the Sabbath in Genesis long before the Israelites came to being, and the author of the above article associates Sabbath keeping for the Israelites as remembrance of their servitude in Egypt, according to Deuteronomy.

There is ongoing debate about whether the Jewish Sabbath – evening to evening – is the correct day of rest for the seventh-day Sabbath keepers or whether the Sabbath begins and ends at dawn as in Matt. 28:1. I wish the author could explain these further.

It might be a “mustard after meal ” question/reply since your article was written 6+ years ago , but as you are a SDA member perhaps you could shed a light on some some claims by your church which are causing great turbulence in our family since one of my children and her family have joined the SDA church. All of a sudden we, as their parents and siblings are being treated as pagan worshippers and condemned to the hell-fires by celebrating Xmas and other religious customs if we do not adhere with their view of the 7th day rest (Sabbath) . In my view a religion based on one of our Lords commandments only, and who takes the liberty to judge all others, is in violation of a number of other commandments.

An excellent article especially in the explanation of the original Hebrew words and their usage. Thank you!!

No “10 Commandments”? Wow! Don’t guess it ever occurred to the author to look for “Ten Commandments” instead (See Deuteronomy 10:4).

Very informative, thank you very much 🙂

What about these ones?

7. Three times a year your boys shall all appear before the Lord. 8. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven. 9. The sacrifice of the Passover shall not be left over till morning. 10. Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.

Excellent “down and dirty” guide to the original meaning.

The Decalog makes an excellent guide for civil living among fellow humans. It’s both good morality as well as practical governance.

@C – remember that the Decalog was given to ppl who came out of Egypt where natural phenomena were worshiped as deities. Solomon’s rule has a different context. Even so, part of him fell away with all those foreign wives. Furthermore, the Canaanites, Philistines, Assyrians, and Babylonians all had statuary dedicated to their deities. Israel and Judah both succumbed to following those and were Exiled for it. When YHWH started His People out, He started them out intentionally “different” fm the other ppl they would interact with over time. This injunction was to help them stay different, not to prohibit artistic expression.

Not sure I can agree with your conclusion re “You will not make for yourself a statue or any image”. Of course we can make images so long as we don’t get the crazy idea that they suddenly have power and we should bow down to them. 1 Kings 7:18 He made pomegranates in two rows encircling each network to decorate the capitals on top of the pillars. He did the same for each capital. 19 The capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were in the shape of lilies, four cubits high. There are more examples like this in the scriptures. Draw, paint, sculpt, use those gifts God gave you for our delight and His.

She seems to have missed the point in not translating the commandments as conditional statements. They say ” IF you would have me as your God, you would want to go these things.” You should want to keep these commandments! Luther used the original Greek, Hebrew and Latin in his Bible whereas King James Version used the Latin Vulgate. Maybe Ms Dolansky isn’t familiar with Luther’s Bible. Hope this helps.

Anglicans number the 10 as the Reformed and Orthodox do: see the 1662 English Book of Common Prayer, pages 143-144 and 165-66, or the 1979 US Book, pages 317-318 or 350 and 847-848. The Lutherans seem to be the only Protestant denomination that counts with the Church of Rome.

Outstanding article that should be required reading for all who seek the truth of the origins of what Christians would call the Old Testament. Thank you for your work!

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The Ten Commandments

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

1. I AM THE LORD THY GOD: THOU SHALT NOT HAVE STRANGE GODS BEFORE ME.

COMMANDS: faith, hope, love, and worship of God; reverence for holy things; prayer.

FORBIDS: idolatry; superstition; spiritism; tempting God; sacrilege; attendance at false worship.

2. THOU SHALL NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN VAIN.

COMMANDS: reverence in speaking about God and holy things; the keeping of oaths and vows.

FORBIDS: blasphemy; the irreverent use of God's name; speaking disrespectfully of holy things; false oaths and the breaking of vows.

3. KEEP THE SABBATH HOLY.

COMMANDS: going to church on Sundays and holy days of obligation.

FORBIDS: missing church through one's own fault; unnecessary servile work on Sunday and holy days of obligation.

4. HONOUR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER.

COMMANDS: love; respect; obedience on the part of children; care on the part of parents for the spiritual and temporal welfare of their children; obedience to civil and religious superiors.

FORBIDS: hatred of parents and superiors; disrespect; disobedience.

5. THOU SHALT NOT KILL.

COMMANDS: safeguarding of one's own life and bodily welfare and that of others.

FORBIDS: unjust killing; suicide; abortion; sterilization; dueling; endangering life and limb of self or others.

6. THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.

COMMANDS: chastity in word and deed.

FORBIDS: obscene speech; impure actions alone or with others.

7. THOU SHALT NOT STEAL.

COMMANDS: respect for the property of rights and others; the paying of just debts; paying just wages to employees; integrity in public office.

FORBIDS: theft; damage to the property of others; not paying just debts; not returning found or borrowed articles; giving unjust measure or weight in selling; not paying just wages; bribery; graft; cheating; fraud; accepting stolen property; not giving an honest day's work for wages received; breach of contract.

8. THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST THY NEIGHBOR.

COMMANDS: truthfulness; respect for the good name of others; the observance of secrecy when required.

FORBIDS: lying; injury to the good name of others; slander; talebearing; rash judgment; contemptuous speech and the violation of secrecy.

9. THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR'S WIFE.

COMMANDS: purity in thought.

FORBIDS: wilful impure thought and desires.

10. THOU SHALT NOT COVET THY NEIGHBOR'S GOODS.

COMMANDS: respect for the rights of others.

FORBIDS: the desire to take, to keep, or damage the property of others.

UPLOADED BY MICHAEL G HAINS SYSOP CATHOLICS' RESOURCE NETWORK COMPUSERVE ID 76711,1340

StarTribune

Thou shalt not blend church and state, new minnesota jail is told.

DULUTH — The new Itasca County jail includes a two-story display of the Ten Commandments, a choice that's come under fire by many who discovered it and other religious quotes on the walls during recent tours of the northeast Minnesota facility.

The display was so overwhelming it made Grand Rapids resident Dana Butler tremble, she said, while she walked through the new $75 million jail last week.

"The whole time I was thinking if I were in here, it would be very clear to me that I was not in a safe place," she said.

The Madison, Wis.-based Freedom From Religion Foundation has fielded 20 complaints, it said, many contending that the displays are unconstitutional. It sent a letter this week to the county asking it to investigate and remove the displays. "Repaint and repent," the group said in a press release.

Itasca County Sheriff Joe Dasovich, who took the role in 2023, said he didn't make the decision to install the words, but he took responsibility for it. He's weighing the decision to remove the religious displays but said he's heard an overwhelming call to keep them.

A social media post from the pastor of the Grand Rapids Solid Rock Church of God called on people to tell the Itasca County Board to leave the jail quotes as they are. The post said a "group of atheists" wanted them painted over.

When Dasovich first saw the walls, "I knew that it would cause people to feel a certain way," he said, but he didn't sense there would be opposition from inmates because voluntary faith-based programs offered at the jail are well-attended.

"I'll take everything into account and make a decision, and I may not be happy with my decision," Dasovich said, acknowledging the potential of a lawsuit.

Jail administrator Lucas Thompson, who Dasovich credited for the jail's efficient, "well-thought out model," was responsible for overseeing the project.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation argues that the religious displays violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment, which says government must remain neutral about religion. One quote painted on cell block walls and attributed to former President Ronald Reagan reads, "Within the covers of the Bible are the answers for all the problems men face."

"What the county has essentially done is to say to these inmates ... that if they want the answers to their woes, it has to come from the Bible," said Hirsh Joshi, a legal fellow with the foundation who wrote the letter to the county.

And it's a captive audience, he said, with no way to avoid the apparent proselytizing.

Last year, county government fielded complaints about a different constitutional controversy: an under-the-radar county board approval of a gun-rights resolution stating opposition to new laws that would infringe on Second Amendment rights.

The jail quotes seem like another way Itasca County government is showing its "authoritarian" leanings, said Grand Rapids resident Brian Vroman, who sent a complaint to the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

"This is government imposing religion" on incarcerated people who still have rights, he said. "It's pretty audacious and pretty reckless."

Grand Rapids' Grace Bible Chapel Pastor Greg Rhodea said that as a Christian he likes the inclusion of the Ten Commandments, but he understands why those with other beliefs may not.

"What I dislike the most is the way this gets everybody on edge against each other in the community," he said. "My ultimate goal is to serve the Lord and love our neighbors."

Aside from the overt religious tone, some have pointed out that a few quotes are inaccurately attributed. One credited to the first U.S. president, George Washington, was actually said by George Washington Carver, a Black scientist and inventor.

The Itasca County justice center in Grand Rapids includes government offices and a courthouse addition, increased space for inmates and programs and a mental health practitioner, a rarity in northern Minnesota. It includes 184 beds for inmates, up from 75 at the current jail. The county of just over 45,000 residents overwhelmingly approved a 1% sales tax to pay for the project in 2022.

Jana Hollingsworth is a reporter covering a range of topics in Duluth and northeastern Minnesota for the Star Tribune. Sign up to receive the new North Report newsletter.

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The trains and stations of the Moscow Metro

2 Comments · Posted by Alex Smirnov in Cities , Travel , Video

The Moscow Metro is the third most intensive subway system in the world after Tokyo and Seoul subways. The first line was opened on May 15, 1935. Since 1955, the metro has the name of V.I. Lenin.

The system consists of 12 lines with a total length of 305.7 km. Forty four stations are recognized cultural heritage. The largest passenger traffic is in rush hours from 8:00 to 9:00 and from 18:00 to 19:00.

Cellular communication is available on most of the stations of the Moscow Metro. In March 2012, a free Wi-Fi appeared in the Circle Line train. The Moscow Metro is open to passengers from 5:20 to 01:00. The average interval between trains is 2.5 minutes.

The fare is paid by using contactless tickets and contactless smart cards, the passes to the stations are controlled by automatic turnstiles. Ticket offices and ticket vending machines can be found in station vestibules.

Tags:  Moscow city

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Tomás · August 27, 2012 at 11:34 pm

The Moscow metro stations are the best That I know, cars do not.

Alberto Calvo · September 25, 2016 at 8:57 pm

Great videos! Moscow Metro is just spectacular. I actually visited Moscow myself quite recently and wrote a post about my top 7 stations, please check it out and let me know what you think! :)

http://www.arwtravels.com/blog/moscow-metro-top-7-stations-you-cant-miss

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The Moscow Metro Museum of Art: 10 Must-See Stations

There are few times one can claim having been on the subway all afternoon and loving it, but the Moscow Metro provides just that opportunity.  While many cities boast famous public transport systems—New York’s subway, London’s underground, San Salvador’s chicken buses—few warrant hours of exploration.  Moscow is different: Take one ride on the Metro, and you’ll find out that this network of railways can be so much more than point A to B drudgery.

The Metro began operating in 1935 with just thirteen stations, covering less than seven miles, but it has since grown into the world’s third busiest transit system ( Tokyo is first ), spanning about 200 miles and offering over 180 stops along the way.  The construction of the Metro began under Joseph Stalin’s command, and being one of the USSR’s most ambitious building projects, the iron-fisted leader instructed designers to create a place full of svet (radiance) and svetloe budushchee (a radiant future), a palace for the people and a tribute to the Mother nation.

Consequently, the Metro is among the most memorable attractions in Moscow.  The stations provide a unique collection of public art, comparable to anything the city’s galleries have to offer and providing a sense of the Soviet era, which is absent from the State National History Museum.  Even better, touring the Metro delivers palpable, experiential moments, which many of us don’t get standing in front of painting or a case of coins.

Though tours are available , discovering the Moscow Metro on your own provides a much more comprehensive, truer experience, something much less sterile than following a guide.  What better place is there to see the “real” Moscow than on mass transit: A few hours will expose you to characters and caricatures you’ll be hard-pressed to find dining near the Bolshoi Theater.  You become part of the attraction, hear it in the screech of the train, feel it as hurried commuters brush by: The Metro sucks you beneath the city and churns you into the mix.

With the recommendations of our born-and-bred Muscovite students, my wife Emma and I have just taken a self-guided tour of what some locals consider the top ten stations of the Moscow Metro. What most satisfied me about our Metro tour was the sense of adventure .  I loved following our route on the maps of the wagon walls as we circled the city, plotting out the course to the subsequent stops; having the weird sensation of being underground for nearly four hours; and discovering the next cavern of treasures, playing Indiana Jones for the afternoon, piecing together fragments of Russia’s mysterious history.  It’s the ultimate interactive museum.

Top Ten Stations (In order of appearance)

Kievskaya station.

Kievskaya Station went public in March of 1937, the rails between it and Park Kultury Station being the first to cross the Moscow River.  Kievskaya is full of mosaics depicting aristocratic scenes of Russian life, with great cameo appearances by Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin.  Each work has a Cyrillic title/explanation etched in the marble beneath it; however, if your Russian is rusty, you can just appreciate seeing familiar revolutionary dates like 1905 ( the Russian Revolution ) and 1917 ( the October Revolution ).

Mayakovskaya Station

Mayakovskaya Station ranks in my top three most notable Metro stations. Mayakovskaya just feels right, done Art Deco but no sense of gaudiness or pretention.  The arches are adorned with rounded chrome piping and create feeling of being in a jukebox, but the roof’s expansive mosaics of the sky are the real showstopper.  Subjects cleverly range from looking up at a high jumper, workers atop a building, spires of Orthodox cathedrals, to nimble aircraft humming by, a fleet of prop planes spelling out CCCP in the bluest of skies.

Novoslobodskaya Station

Novoslobodskaya is the Metro’s unique stained glass station.  Each column has its own distinctive panels of colorful glass, most of them with a floral theme, some of them capturing the odd sailor, musician, artist, gardener, or stenographer in action.  The glass is framed in Art Deco metalwork, and there is the lovely aspect of discovering panels in the less frequented haunches of the hall (on the trackside, between the incoming staircases).  Novosblod is, I’ve been told, the favorite amongst out-of-town visitors.

Komsomolskaya Station

Komsomolskaya Station is one of palatial grandeur.  It seems both magnificent and obligatory, like the presidential palace of a colonial city.  The yellow ceiling has leafy, white concrete garland and a series of golden military mosaics accenting the tile mosaics of glorified Russian life.  Switching lines here, the hallway has an Alice-in-Wonderland feel, impossibly long with decorative tile walls, culminating in a very old station left in a remarkable state of disrepair, offering a really tangible glimpse behind the palace walls.

Dostoevskaya Station

Dostoevskaya is a tribute to the late, great hero of Russian literature .  The station at first glance seems bare and unimpressive, a stark marble platform without a whiff of reassembled chips of tile.  However, two columns have eerie stone inlay collages of scenes from Dostoevsky’s work, including The Idiot , The Brothers Karamazov , and Crime and Punishment.   Then, standing at the center of the platform, the marble creates a kaleidoscope of reflections.  At the entrance, there is a large, inlay portrait of the author.

Chkalovskaya Station

Chkalovskaya does space Art Deco style (yet again).  Chrome borders all.  Passageways with curvy overhangs create the illusion of walking through the belly of a chic, new-age spacecraft.  There are two (kos)mosaics, one at each end, with planetary subjects.  Transferring here brings you above ground, where some rather elaborate metalwork is on display.  By name similarity only, I’d expected Komsolskaya Station to deliver some kosmonaut décor; instead, it was Chkalovskaya that took us up to the space station.

Elektrozavodskaya Station

Elektrozavodskaya is full of marble reliefs of workers, men and women, laboring through the different stages of industry.  The superhuman figures are round with muscles, Hollywood fit, and seemingly undeterred by each Herculean task they respectively perform.  The station is chocked with brass, from hammer and sickle light fixtures to beautiful, angular framework up the innards of the columns.  The station’s art pieces are less clever or extravagant than others, but identifying the different stages of industry is entertaining.

Baumanskaya Statio

Baumanskaya Station is the only stop that wasn’t suggested by the students.  Pulling in, the network of statues was just too enticing: Out of half-circle depressions in the platform’s columns, the USSR’s proud and powerful labor force again flaunts its success.  Pilots, blacksmiths, politicians, and artists have all congregated, posing amongst more Art Deco framing.  At the far end, a massive Soviet flag dons the face of Lenin and banners for ’05, ’17, and ‘45.  Standing in front of the flag, you can play with the echoing roof.

Ploshchad Revolutsii Station

Novokuznetskaya Station

Novokuznetskaya Station finishes off this tour, more or less, where it started: beautiful mosaics.  This station recalls the skyward-facing pieces from Mayakovskaya (Station #2), only with a little larger pictures in a more cramped, very trafficked area.  Due to a line of street lamps in the center of the platform, it has the atmosphere of a bustling market.  The more inventive sky scenes include a man on a ladder, women picking fruit, and a tank-dozer being craned in.  The station’s also has a handsome black-and-white stone mural.

Here is a map and a brief description of our route:

Start at (1)Kievskaya on the “ring line” (look for the squares at the bottom of the platform signs to help you navigate—the ring line is #5, brown line) and go north to Belorusskaya, make a quick switch to the Dark Green/#2 line, and go south one stop to (2)Mayakovskaya.  Backtrack to the ring line—Brown/#5—and continue north, getting off at (3)Novosblodskaya and (4)Komsolskaya.  At Komsolskaya Station, transfer to the Red/#1 line, go south for two stops to Chistye Prudy, and get on the Light Green/#10 line going north.  Take a look at (5)Dostoevskaya Station on the northern segment of Light Green/#10 line then change directions and head south to (6)Chkalovskaya, which offers a transfer to the Dark Blue/#3 line, going west, away from the city center.  Have a look (7)Elektroskaya Station before backtracking into the center of Moscow, stopping off at (8)Baumskaya, getting off the Dark Blue/#3 line at (9)Ploschad Revolyutsii.  Change to the Dark Green/#2 line and go south one stop to see (10)Novokuznetskaya Station.

Check out our new Moscow Indie Travel Guide , book a flight to Moscow and read 10 Bars with Views Worth Blowing the Budget For

Jonathon Engels, formerly a patron saint of misadventure, has been stumbling his way across cultural borders since 2005 and is currently volunteering in the mountains outside of Antigua, Guatemala.  For more of his work, visit his website and blog .

Photo credits:   SergeyRod , all others courtesy of the author and may not be used without permission

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The 10 Best Spring Travel Outfits at Amazon This Month — All Under $50

These comfy and stylish outfits will take you from the airport to dinner.

Travel + Leisure / Tyler Roeland

The best way to make your travels stress-free is by packing a range of comfortable, versatile staples that can be mixed and matched throughout your trip. For just that, I look to two-piece sets as the ultimate travel hack for a stylish yet cozy look that works for any destination. And my pro tip for finding the best ones? Amazon’s fashion section , of course. 

And because I’ve got a few of my own vacations coming up, I’ve gone ahead and curated a list of the 10 best two-piece outfits at Amazon right now that are equal parts cute and comfortable — and all under $50. Complete with a dreamy linen shorts set to an ultra-soft sweatsuit , these picks are easy to style perfect for all of your upcoming travels. 

Automet Two-piece Linen Shorts Set

One Travel + Leisure editor gushed that this on-sale set is “is lightweight, breathable, and comfortable for all-day wear, especially in the summer months when it starts to get unbearably hot and humid.” With its boxy squared neckline and elastic shorts, this linen set is the ultimate one-and-done outfit for both spring and summer. And since it's available in 20 different colors, I suggest you snag a set or two before your next vacation. 

Zeagoo Women’s Button-down Two-piece Shorts Set

This 100 percent cotton set comes with a relaxed button-down shirt and drawstring shorts, a duo that's perfect for seemingly endless mix-and-match options. Wear the set together or dress up the shirt with a pair of jeans (or down over your swimsuit as a beach cover-up). I'm eyeing this set because I can style these easy breezy shorts with practically any shirt in my wardrobe. Available in sizes XS to 4XL and 26 different colorways, including brown and navy blue , the set comes in a style for everyone. 

Anrabess Two-piece Knit Sweater Set

This ultrasoft knit two-piece is what travel wardrobe dreams are made of. As an Amazon best-seller , it has been dubbed “ simply gorgeous ” by shoppers — and even better, they reported that it's lightweight and breathable enough to wear in the summer Florida heat . Plus, thanks to its simple yet stylish silhouette, this set will seemingly miraculously expand your outfit possibilities with its monochrome sleeveless sweater and loose-fitting pants. 

Anrabess Two-piece Knit Shorts Sweater Set

Anrabess also has a shorter version of its best-selling knit set that hit shelves not too long ago — and shoppers are already calling it a “transitional staple” that you can wear together, or separately to “extend your wardrobe.” On sale for just $36 and available in 17 different colors, it's already in my cart; I’m eyeing the classic white and black styles for my next vacation. 

Anrabess Two-piece Wide-leg Set

The best two-piece sets are the ones that offer versatile pieces that double your suitcase options, and this linen blend set does precisely that. It’s complete with a pair of loose-fitting wide-leg pants and a peplum-style tank that looks great together and separately, making it ideal for long travel days, exploring a new city, and even a dinner date. Available in 23 colors, like sky blue and army green , and a size range of S to 2XL, this two-piece set is perfect for all of your upcoming warm-weather travel. 

Lingswallow Two-piece Shorts Lounge Set

As far as wardrobe staples go, a pair of cozy shorts and a versatile tank go a long way. Worn together for travel, gym days, and lounging or separately with a pair of jeans, this waffle-knit set has a flexible, four-way-stretch thanks to its cotton blend that makes it up for any adventure. 

Coofandy Men’s Linen Two-piece Set

Amazon also has plenty of two-piece travel outfits for men as well, starting with this on-sale combo from Coofandy. My personal go-to fabric for spring and summer is linen because of its moisture-wicking properties and a breathable feel, which is why this set is a warm-weather travel must. On sale for $43, this two-piece set is comfortable enough to wear everywhere from a vacation in the tropics to a nice brunch in your hometown. Plus, it’s available in an impressive size range of S through 5XL. 

Coofandy Men’s Two-piece Shorts Set

This top-rated set has earned the highly coveted spot as Amazon’s best-selling men’s tracksuit , in part to its lightweight material and availability in plenty of stylish options that’ll turn heads wherever you go. Shoppers are also absolutely enamored with this two-piece, hailing it as a “ perfect vacation outfit .”

Prettygarden Ribbed Two-piece Set

This matching set comes with a pair of cozy ribbed drawstring pants that feature a flexible, elastic waistband and a scoop neck tank that’s both stretchy and stylish. It’s so versatile that you’ll be able to wear the tank on its own with a pair of jeans and a jacket or add the pants to your loungewear collection. It’s also 10 percent off right now and available in 15 colors, including trendy neutrals like royal blue and classic black . 

Fixmatti Two-piece Sweatsuit

If you prioritize comfort during your travels, then look no further than this under-$50 matching set that comes with a cozy hoodie and a pair of extra-soft sweatpants. It’s available in sizes S to  XL and 15 different colorways. And although it'll definitely keep you snug, it's made with a lightweight yet breathable material, so you can easily customize your layers depending on the temperature of your destination or the plane cabin thermostat. 

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Claudia Looi

Touring the Top 10 Moscow Metro Stations

By Claudia Looi 2 Comments

Komsomolskaya metro station looks like a museum. It has vaulted ceilings and baroque decor.

Hidden underground, in the heart of Moscow, are historical and architectural treasures of Russia. These are Soviet-era creations – the metro stations of Moscow.

Our guide Maria introduced these elaborate metro stations as “the palaces for the people.” Built between 1937 and 1955, each station holds its own history and stories. Stalin had the idea of building beautiful underground spaces that the masses could enjoy. They would look like museums, art centers, concert halls, palaces and churches. Each would have a different theme. None would be alike.

The two-hour private tour was with a former Intourist tour guide named Maria. Maria lived in Moscow all her life and through the communist era of 60s to 90s. She has been a tour guide for more than 30 years. Being in her 60s, she moved rather quickly for her age. We traveled and crammed with Maria and other Muscovites on the metro to visit 10 different metro stations.

Arrow showing the direction of metro line 1 and 2

Moscow subways are very clean

To Maria, every street, metro and building told a story. I couldn’t keep up with her stories. I don’t remember most of what she said because I was just thrilled being in Moscow.   Added to that, she spilled out so many Russian words and names, which to one who can’t read Cyrillic, sounded so foreign and could be easily forgotten.

The metro tour was the first part of our all day tour of Moscow with Maria. Here are the stations we visited:

1. Komsomolskaya Metro Station  is the most beautiful of them all. Painted yellow and decorated with chandeliers, gold leaves and semi precious stones, the station looks like a stately museum. And possibly decorated like a palace. I saw Komsomolskaya first, before the rest of the stations upon arrival in Moscow by train from St. Petersburg.

2. Revolution Square Metro Station (Ploshchad Revolyutsii) has marble arches and 72 bronze sculptures designed by Alexey Dushkin. The marble arches are flanked by the bronze sculptures. If you look closely you will see passersby touching the bronze dog's nose. Legend has it that good luck comes to those who touch the dog's nose.

Touch the dog's nose for good luck. At the Revolution Square station

Revolution Square Metro Station

3. Arbatskaya Metro Station served as a shelter during the Soviet-era. It is one of the largest and the deepest metro stations in Moscow.

Arbatskaya Metro Station

4. Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station was built in 1935 and named after the Russian State Library. It is located near the library and has a big mosaic portrait of Lenin and yellow ceramic tiles on the track walls.

Lenin's portrait at the Biblioteka Imeni Lenina Metro Station

5. Kievskaya Metro Station was one of the first to be completed in Moscow. Named after the capital city of Ukraine by Kiev-born, Nikita Khruschev, Stalin's successor.

Kievskaya Metro Station

6. Novoslobodskaya Metro Station  was built in 1952. It has 32 stained glass murals with brass borders.

Novoslobodskaya metro station

7. Kurskaya Metro Station was one of the first few to be built in Moscow in 1938. It has ceiling panels and artwork showing Soviet leadership, Soviet lifestyle and political power. It has a dome with patriotic slogans decorated with red stars representing the Soviet's World War II Hall of Fame. Kurskaya Metro Station is a must-visit station in Moscow.

Ceiling panel and artworks at Kurskaya Metro Station

8. Mayakovskaya Metro Station built in 1938. It was named after Russian poet Vladmir Mayakovsky. This is one of the most beautiful metro stations in the world with 34 mosaics painted by Alexander Deyneka.

Mayakovskaya station

One of the over 30 ceiling mosaics in Mayakovskaya metro station

9. Belorusskaya Metro Station is named after the people of Belarus. In the picture below, there are statues of 3 members of the Partisan Resistance in Belarus during World War II. The statues were sculpted by Sergei Orlov, S. Rabinovich and I. Slonim.

10. Teatralnaya Metro Station (Theatre Metro Station) is located near the Bolshoi Theatre.

Teatralnaya Metro Station decorated with porcelain figures .

Taking the metro's escalator at the end of the tour with Maria the tour guide.

Have you visited the Moscow Metro? Leave your comment below.

January 15, 2017 at 8:17 am

An excellent read! Thanks for much for sharing the Russian metro system with us. We're heading to Moscow in April and exploring the metro stations were on our list and after reading your post, I'm even more excited to go visit them. Thanks again 🙂

December 6, 2017 at 10:45 pm

Hi, do you remember which tour company you contacted for this tour?

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Gore Verbinski Assembles a Fan-Favorite Cast For His Time-Travel Adventure

Sam Rockwell, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz, and Juno Temple will star in the film.

The Big Picture

• Gore Verbinski returns to directing after eight years with a new movie starring Sam Rockwell and Haley Lu Richardson.
• The time-travel adventure film features Rockwell as a man from the future recruiting a group to save the world.
• Verbinski's past successes include Pirates of the Caribbean, but recent films like The Lone Ranger disappointed at the box office.

Eight years after his last feature, Gore Verbinski is coming back to the director's chair. His new movie, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die , will star Sam Rockwell , Haley Lu Richardson , Michael Peña , Zazie Beetz , and Juno Temple . Deadline reports that the time-travel adventure has begun production in South Africa.

The film will star Rockwell ( Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ) as a man from the future who comes back in time to present-day Los Angeles. There, he visits a diner and recruits a seemingly-unconnected group of patrons ( The White Lotus ' Richardson, Ant-Man 's Peña, Joker 's Beetz, and Fargo 's Temple) to join him on a one-night adventure to save the world. The script is from Matthew Robinson , of The Invention of Lying , Monster Trucks , and Love and Monsters . It will be Verbinski's first feature since the 2016 horror film A Cure for Wellness , which grossed a disappointing $26 million USD on a $40 million budget.

Who is Gore Verbinski?

A director of music videos and commercials (the most famous of the latter being the debut of the Budweiser Frogs), Verbinski made his feature film debut in 1997 with the Nathan Lane slapstick comedy Mouse Hunt . He followed that up with the modestly received Brad Pitt / Julia Roberts vehicle The Mexican , but then followed that up with The Ring , which grossed almost $250 million and kicked off a spate of American j-horror remakes. Off the success of The Ring , Verbinski was brought in to helm Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and its two increasingly-weird sequels , which collectively pillaged the global box office of over $2 billion. He also directed the animated film Rango , starring Pirates lead Johnny Depp . However, Verbinski's commercial touch seemed to falter afterward, as the much-hyped The Lone Ranger proved to be one of the most costly flops of all time, and A Cure for Wellness faltered as well. Verbinski has subsequently been attached to a number of projects that did not come to fruition, including the Sebastian Stan thriller Beat the Reaper , an adaptation of George R.R. Martin 's sci-fi novelette Sandkings , a movie version of the popular video game series BioShock , and Channing Tatum 's X-Men movie Gambit .

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die will be produced by Robert Kulzer , Erwin Stoff , and Oly Obst . Oliver Berben of Constantin Film, Michael Rothstein and Samuel Hall of north.five.six, George Parra , and Robinson will executive produce.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die is now in production; no release date has yet been set . Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

Exodus 20 New King James Version

The ten commandments ( a ).

20  And God spoke ( B ) all these words, saying:

2  ( C ) “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, ( D ) out of the house of [ a ] bondage.

3  ( E ) “You shall have no other gods before Me.

4  ( F ) “You shall not make for yourself a carved image—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; 5  ( G ) you shall not bow down to them nor [ b ] serve them. ( H ) For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, ( I ) visiting [ c ] the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6  but ( J ) showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

7  ( K ) “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord ( L ) will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

8  ( M ) “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9  ( N ) Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10  but the ( O ) seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, ( P ) nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11  For ( Q ) in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

12  ( R ) “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be ( S ) long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

13  ( T ) “You shall not murder.

14  ( U ) “You shall not commit ( V ) adultery.

15  ( W ) “You shall not steal.

16  ( X ) “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17  ( Y ) “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; ( Z ) you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”

The People Afraid of God’s Presence

18  Now ( AA ) all the people ( AB ) witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain ( AC ) smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. 19  Then they said to Moses, ( AD ) “You speak with us, and we will hear; but ( AE ) let not God speak with us, lest we die.”

20  And Moses said to the people, ( AF ) “Do not fear; ( AG ) for God has come to test you, and ( AH ) that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.” 21  So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near ( AI ) the thick darkness where God was.

The Law of the Altar

22  Then the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen that I have talked with you ( AJ ) from heaven. 23  You shall not make anything to be ( AK ) with Me—gods of silver or gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves. 24  An altar of ( AL ) earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, ( AM ) your sheep and your oxen. In every ( AN ) place where I [ d ] record My name I will come to you, and I will ( AO ) bless you. 25  And ( AP ) if you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you ( AQ ) use your tool on it, you have profaned it. 26  Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your ( AR ) nakedness may not be exposed on it.’

• Exodus 20:2 slaves
• Exodus 20:5 worship
• Exodus 20:5 punishing
• Exodus 20:24 cause My name to be remembered

Cross references

• Exodus 20:1 : Deut. 5:1–22
• Exodus 20:1 : Deut. 5:22
• Exodus 20:2 : Hos. 13:4
• Exodus 20:2 : Ex. 13:3; Deut. 7:8
• Exodus 20:3 : Deut. 6:14; 2 Kin. 17:35; Jer. 25:6; 35:15
• Exodus 20:4 : Lev. 19:4; 26:1; Deut. 4:15–19; 27:15
• Exodus 20:5 : Is. 44:15, 19
• Exodus 20:5 : Ex. 34:14; Deut. 4:24; Josh. 24:19; Nah. 1:2
• Exodus 20:5 : Num. 14:18, 33; Deut. 5:9, 10; 1 Kin. 21:29; Ps. 79:8; Jer. 32:18
• Exodus 20:6 : Deut. 7:9; Rom. 11:28
• Exodus 20:7 : Lev. 19:12; Deut. 6:13; 10:20; [Matt. 5:33–37]
• Exodus 20:7 : Mic. 6:11
• Exodus 20:8 : Ex. 23:12; 31:13–16; Lev. 26:2; Deut. 5:12
• Exodus 20:9 : Ex. 34:21; 35:2, 3; Lev. 23:3; Deut. 5:13; Luke 13:14
• Exodus 20:10 : Gen. 2:2, 3
• Exodus 20:10 : Neh. 13:16–19
• Exodus 20:11 : Gen. 2:2, 3; Ex. 31:17
• Exodus 20:12 : Lev. 19:3; Deut. 27:16; Matt. 15:4; 19:19; Mark 7:10; 10:19; Luke 18:20; Eph. 6:2
• Exodus 20:12 : Deut. 5:16, 33; 6:2; 11:8, 9
• Exodus 20:13 : [Matt. 5:21, 22]; 19:18; Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20; Rom. 13:9; [1 John 3:15]
• Exodus 20:14 : Matt. 5:27; Mark 10:19; Luke 18:20; Rom. 13:9; James 2:11
• Exodus 20:14 : Lev. 20:10; Deut. 5:18
• Exodus 20:15 : Ex. 21:16; Lev. 19:11, 13; Matt. 19:18; Rom. 13:9
• Exodus 20:16 : Ex. 23:1, 7; Deut. 5:20; Matt. 19:18
• Exodus 20:17 : [Luke 12:15]; Rom. 7:7; 13:9; [Eph. 5:3, 5]; Heb. 13:5
• Exodus 20:17 : 2 Sam. 11:2; [Matt. 5:28]
• Exodus 20:18 : Heb. 12:18, 19
• Exodus 20:18 : Rev. 1:10, 12
• Exodus 20:18 : Ex. 19:16, 18
• Exodus 20:19 : Gal. 3:19; Heb. 12:19
• Exodus 20:19 : Deut. 5:5, 23–27
• Exodus 20:20 : Ex. 14:13; [Is. 41:10, 13]
• Exodus 20:20 : Ex. 15:25; [Deut. 13:3]
• Exodus 20:20 : Deut. 4:10; 6:24; Prov. 3:7; 16:6; Is. 8:13
• Exodus 20:21 : Ex. 19:16; Deut. 5:22
• Exodus 20:22 : Deut. 4:36; 5:24, 26; Neh. 9:13
• Exodus 20:23 : Ex. 32:1, 2, 4; Deut. 29:17
• Exodus 20:24 : Ex. 20:25; 27:1–8
• Exodus 20:24 : Ex. 24:5; Lev. 1:2
• Exodus 20:24 : Deut. 12:5; 16:6, 11; 1 Kin. 9:3; 2 Chr. 6:6
• Exodus 20:24 : Gen. 12:2
• Exodus 20:25 : Deut. 27:5
• Exodus 20:25 : Josh. 8:30, 31
• Exodus 20:26 : Ex. 28:42, 43

Exodus 20 Tree of Life Version

The ten words.

20  Then God spoke all these words saying,

2  “I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3  “You shall have no other gods before Me. 4  Do not make for yourself a graven image [ a ] , or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or on the earth below or in the water under the earth. 5  Do not bow down to them, do not let anyone make you serve them. For I, Adonai your God, am a jealous God, bringing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6  but showing lovingkindness to the thousands of generations of those who love Me and keep My mitzvot .

7  “You must not take the Name of Adonai your God in vain, for Adonai will not hold him guiltless that takes His Name in vain.

8  “Remember Yom Shabbat , to keep it holy. 9  You are to work six days, and do all your work, 10  but the seventh day is a Shabbat to Adonai your God. In it you shall not do any work—not you, nor your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, your cattle, nor the outsider that is within your gates. 11  For in six days Adonai made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Thus Adonai blessed Yom Shabbat , and made it holy.

12  “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long upon the land which Adonai your God is giving you.

13  “Do not murder.

14  “Do not commit adultery.

15  “Do not steal.

16  “Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17  “Do not covet your neighbor’s house, your neighbor’s wife, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

18  All the people witnessed the thundering and the lightning, and the sound of the shofar , and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled and stood far off. 19  So they said to Moses, “You, speak to us, and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.”

20  So Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, for God has come to test you, so that His fear may be in you, so that you do not sin.” 21  The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

22  Then Adonai said to Moses, “Say this to Bnei-Yisrael : You yourselves have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven. 23  Do not make gods of silver alongside Me, and do not make gods of gold for yourselves. 24  You are to make an altar of earth for Me, and there you will sacrifice your burnt offerings, your fellowship offerings—your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause My name to be mentioned I will come to you and bless you. 25  When you make for Me an altar of stones, do not build it from cut stone, for if you use a tool on it, you will have profaned it. 26  Nor are you to go up to My altar on steps, so that your nakedness would not be uncovered while on it.”

• Exodus 20:4 Heb. Pe-sel , lit. “ crafted idol ”.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.