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What's New
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July 2026
New article: “The Book of Revelation” (Revelation).
New article: “The Letters to the Seven Churches” (Revelation).
New article: “The Liturgy of Heaven” (Revelation).
New article: “The Woman, the Dragon, and the Lamb” (Revelation).
New article: “Babylon and the Judgment” (Revelation).
New article: “The New Jerusalem” (Revelation).
New article: “The Catholic Letters” (Catholic Letters).
New article: “The Letter of James” (Catholic Letters).
New article: “The Letters of Peter” (Catholic Letters).
New article: “The Letters of John” (Catholic Letters).
New article: “The Letter of Jude” (Catholic Letters).
New article: “The Book of Acts” (Acts).
New article: “Pentecost” (Acts).
New article: “The Church of the First Days” (Acts).
New article: “The Gospel to the Nations” (Acts).
New article: “To the Ends of the Earth” (Acts).
New article: “The Book of Hosea” (Hosea).
New article: “The Book of Micah” (Micah).
New article: “The Book of Jonah” (Jonah).
New article: “The Book of Habakkuk” (Habakkuk).
New article: “The Book of Zephaniah” (Zephaniah).
New article: “The Book of Malachi” (Malachi).
New article: “The Book of Daniel” (Daniel).
New article: “Faith in the Trial” (Daniel).
New article: “The Kingdoms That Pass” (Daniel).
New article: “The Son of Man and the Resurrection” (Daniel).
New article: “Susanna and the Wisdom of God” (Daniel).
New article: “The Book of Jeremiah” (Jeremiah).
New article: “Jeremiah, the Tested Prophet” (Jeremiah).
New article: “The New Covenant” (Jeremiah).
New article: “The Fall of Jerusalem and the Lamentations” (Jeremiah).
New article: “Baruch and the Hope of Exile” (Jeremiah).
New article: “The Song of Songs” (Song of Songs).
New article: “The Movement of Love” (Song of Songs).
New article: “The Garden of Symbols” (Song of Songs).
New article: “Love Strong as Death” (Song of Songs).
New article: “The Senses of the Song” (Song of Songs).
New article: “The Book of Job” (Job).
New article: “The Prologue and the Trial” (Job).
New article: “Job and His Friends” (Job).
New article: “God’s Answer” (Job).
New article: “My Eyes Have Seen You” (Job).
New article: “The Book of Ecclesiastes” (Ecclesiastes).
New article: “The Quest for Happiness” (Ecclesiastes).
New article: “A Time for Everything” (Ecclesiastes).
New article: “The Joy That Is God’s Gift” (Ecclesiastes).
New article: “Remember Your Creator” (Ecclesiastes).
New article: “The Book of Wisdom” (Wisdom).
New article: “The Righteous, the Wicked, and Immortality” (Wisdom).
New article: “Wisdom, the Breath of God” (Wisdom).
New article: “Wisdom, Guide of History” (Wisdom).
New article: “Knowing God and the Folly of Idols” (Wisdom).
New article: “The Book of Sirach” (Sirach).
New article: “The Fear of the Lord, Source of Wisdom” (Sirach).
New article: “Wisdom and the Law” (Sirach).
New article: “The Choice of Life and Everyday Wisdom” (Sirach).
New article: “The Praise of the Ancestors” (Sirach).
New article: “The Book of Proverbs” (Proverbs).
New article: “The Fear of the Lord and the Two Ways” (Proverbs).
New article: “Personified Wisdom” (Proverbs).
New article: “Wisdom for Daily Life” (Proverbs).
New article: “The Valiant Woman” (Proverbs).
New article: “The Psalter, Prayer of Israel” (Psalms).
New article: “The Psalms of Praise and Thanksgiving” (Psalms).
New article: “The Psalms of Supplication and Trust” (Psalms).
New article: “The Royal and Messianic Psalms” (Psalms).
New article: “The Psalms of Ascents and Wisdom” (Psalms).
New article: “The Psalms on the Lips of Christ” (Psalms).
New article: “The Crisis and the Profanation of the Temple” (1 Maccabees).
New article: “Eleazar and the Seven Brothers” (2 Maccabees).
New article: “Judas Maccabeus and the Dedication of the Temple” (1-2 Maccabees).
New article: “Jewish Independence” (1 Maccabees).
New article: “Tobit” (Tobit).
New article: “Judith” (Judith).
New article: “Esther” (Esther).
New article: “The Return and the House of God” (Ezra).
New article: “Ezra and the Return to the Law” (Ezra, Nehemiah).
New article: “Nehemiah and the Rebuilt City” (Nehemiah).
New article: “Samuel and the Rise of Kingship” (1-2 Samuel).
New article: “Saul and the Rise of David” (1 Samuel).
New article: “David, the Covenant, and the Promise” (2 Samuel).
New article: “Solomon and the Temple” (1 Kings).
New article: “The Schism and the Northern Kingdom” (1-2 Kings).
New article: “Judah until the Exile” (2 Kings, 2 Chronicles).
New article: “The Entry into the Promised Land” (Joshua).
New article: “The Division of the Land and the Covenant at Shechem” (Joshua).
New article: “The Time of the Judges” (Judges).
New article: “In Those Days There Was No King” (Judges).
New article: “Ruth the Moabite” (Ruth).
New article: “Abraham, Father of Believers” (Genesis).
New article: “Isaac and Jacob” (Genesis).
New article: “Joseph” (Genesis).
New article: “The Creation and the Rest” (Genesis).
New article: “The Garden and the Fall” (Genesis).
New article: “From Cain to Babel” (Genesis).
New article: “Personal Responsibility” (Ezekiel).
New article: “The Ministry of the New Covenant” (2 Corinthians).
New article: “The Collection for the Saints” (2 Corinthians).
New article: “Strength in Weakness” (2 Corinthians).
New article: “The Decalogue.”
New article: “The Law of the Neighbor.”
New article: “The Law of Worship and Holiness.”
New article: “The Law and Christ.”
New article: “The Law, Gift of the Covenant.”
New article: “Freedom and idols” (1 Corinthians 8-10).
New article: “The charisms and the assembly” (1 Corinthians 12 and 14).
New article: “The Cardinal Virtues”.
New article: “Prudence”.
New article: “Temperance”.
The French Bible of the site is now the Chérubin translation, with section headings in the reader.
New article: “Resentment and Forgiveness”.
New article: “Judging One’s Neighbour”.
New article: “The New Temple and the River of Life” (Ezekiel).
New article: “The Restoration of Israel” (Ezekiel).
New article: “The Oracles Against the Nations” (Ezekiel).
New article: “The Symbolic Actions and the Judgment of Jerusalem”.
New article: “Ezekiel, the Prophet of the Exile”.
New article: “Anger and Meekness”.
New article: “Love”.
New article: “The Desire to Feel the Spirit”.
New article: “The Dark Night of the Soul”.
June 2026
New article: “Consolation and Desolation”.
New article: “Discerning the Movements of the Heart”.
New article: “The Fall of Nineveh”.
New article: “The God Who Judges and Who Saves”.
New article: “Nahum and the Assyrian Empire”.
New article: “Justice, the Day of the Lord, and Hope”.
New article: “The Visions and the Rejected Worship”.
New article: “The Judgment of the Nations and of Israel”.
New article: “Amos, the Shepherd Prophet”.
New article: “The Glory of the Second Temple”.
New article: “The Four Oracles”.
New article: “Haggai and the Rebuilding of the Temple”.
New article: “The Expansion of Christianity”.
New article: “All Under Sin”.
New article: “The Epistle to the Romans”.
New article: “Sinai and the covenant”.
New article: “The deliverance”.
New article: “The bondage and the call”.
New article: “The oracles against the nations”.
New article: “Sadness”.
New article: “Fear”.
New article: “The finger of God”.
New article: “The baptism of Christ”.
New article: “The Resurrection and the Glorification”.
New article: “Holy Week”.
New article: “The third year: the opposition”.
New article: “The second year: popularity”.
New article: “The first year: the inauguration”.
New article: “The preparation for the ministry”.
New article: “The prologues and the coming of Christ”.
New: the “Memorise” tool.
New article: “The Real Presence.”
New article: “The four Servant Songs”.
New article: “Trito-Isaiah”.
New article: “Deutero-Isaiah”.
New article: “Proto-Isaiah”.
New article: “Predestination”.
New article: “The Angel of the Lord”.
New article: “Wars of Extermination in the Bible”.
New article: “Slavery in the Bible”.
New article: “The Nature of God”.
New article: “The Age of the Martyrs”.
New article: “The Abode of the Dead”.
New article: “The Canon and the Deuterocanonical Books”.
New article: “The Deacon”.
New article: “The Priest”.
New article: “Sola Scriptura”.
New article: “The Angels”.
New article: “Sola Fide”.
New article: “Once Saved, Always Saved”.
New article: “Elijah at Horeb”.
New article: “Turning the Other Cheek”.
New article: “Buy a Sword”.
New article: “Let the Dead Bury Their Dead”.
New article: “Jesus before Pilate”.
New article: “Jesus and Nicodemus”.
New article: “Invincible Ignorance”.
New article: “The Prophet and His Time”.
New article: “The Eight Night Visions”.
New article: “Joshua, the Branch and the Crown”.
New article: “Fasting and Restoration”.
New article: “First Oracle: The King Who Comes”.
New article: “The Book of Obadiah”.
New article: “Second Oracle: The Pierced One”.
New article: “The Day of the Lord”.
New article: “The Plague and the Day of the Lord”.
New article: “Conversion and the Spirit Poured Out”.
New article: “The Judgment of the Nations and the Salvation of Zion”.
New article: “The Three Ways of the Interior Life”.
New article: “Freedom and Responsibility”.
New article: “The Moral Conscience”.
New article: “Doubt and the Moral Systems”.
New article: “Doing Evil for a Good”.
New article: “Adoration and Praise”.
New article: “Why God Asks for Adoration”.
New article: “Faith and Science”.
New article: “The Theory of Evolution”.
New article: “The Woes of Isaiah”.
New article: “The Dwelling, the Priesthood and the Sacrifices”.
New article: “The Forty Years in the Desert”.
New article: "The Discourses of Moses".
New article: "The Death of Moses".
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Sign in
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The Decalogue

At the summit of the moral law stand the ten commandments, which the Bible calls the ten words, the Decalogue. God himself spoke them at Sinai, from the midst of fire and cloud, before a trembling people, and he engraved them with his own finger on two tablets of stone. This detail says everything: these words are not a human wisdom, but the will of God, written to last. They form the heart of the covenant, and divide into two tables, the love of God first, the love of neighbor next, in which all the teaching of Christ will later hold.

The Ten Words, Engraved by God

That God himself engraves these commandments, and not Moses, marks their authority and their permanence: they come from on high, and no one can undo them. Twice Scripture reports them, in Exodus at the foot of Sinai, then in Deuteronomy when Moses says them again to the generation about to enter the promised land, a sign that they are to cross the ages. The Catholic tradition numbers them by distinguishing the duties toward God, borne by the first table, and the duties toward the neighbor, borne by the second. So ordered, the ten words are not a list of scattered prohibitions, but the concrete form of one single movement: to render to God what is his, and to the neighbor what is due to him.

The First Table: The Love of God

The first commandment asks that God alone be adored, and he alone. “You shall have no other gods before my face.” Exodus 20:3 It forbids at the same stroke the making of an idol, a carved image served in place of the living God, for no object, no creature can take the place of the one who made all things. This commandment aims further than the statues of the pagans: it reaches all that man sets at the summit of his life in place of God, money, power, himself. The jealousy God claims is not petty; it is the demand of a love that is not shared.

The second commandment asks that God’s name be honored and not spoken in vain. “You shall not invoke the name of the Lord your God in vain.” Exodus 20:7 The Name, in the Bible, is God himself insofar as he lets himself be called; to treat it lightly, by a false oath, a blasphemy or an empty word, is to fail the very person of God. To respect his Name is to hold it holy on the lips as in the heart.

The third commandment sets apart a day for God, the sabbath, a day of rest and worship. “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy… the seventh day is a sabbath for the Lord your God: you shall do no work.” Exodus 20:8-10 This rest recalls that God created the world and rested, and that the life of man is not reduced to his work; it extends to servants, to animals, and to the stranger, making rest a work of mercy. The Christian lives this commandment on Sunday, the day of the Resurrection, on which the new people gathers for the Eucharist. These three words say one same thing: God holds the first place, in the heart, in speech, and in time.

The Second Table: The Love of Neighbor

The second table opens on the family. The fourth commandment asks that one honor his parents, and it is the only one to carry a promise. “Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long on the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12 It makes the bridge between the two tables, for parents hold before the child the place of God who gives life; through them, the commandment extends to the respect of all lawful authority.

Then come the commandments that protect the neighbor in his most precious goods. The fifth forbids killing, and guards human life as a sacred gift of God, from its beginning to its end. The sixth forbids adultery, and guards the fidelity of marriage, where man and woman give themselves to each other without division. The seventh forbids theft, and guards the goods of the neighbor, recalling that property has a measure and that the necessities of some come before the superfluity of others. The eighth forbids false witness, and guards the truth and the honor of another, for a lying word can destroy a life as surely as a blow.

Finally, the last two commandments reach the very heart, the hidden root of faults, by asking that one not covet what belongs to the neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbour.” Exodus 20:17 Before the act, there is the desire that prepares it; by watching even over this desire, the Law goes further than the codes of men, which judge only acts. It aims at the heart, from which all proceeds.

A Law Inscribed in the Heart

The Decalogue was not engraved on stone alone. It expresses the law that every man already bears within him, that natural law which reason and conscience acknowledge before any revelation: that murder, theft, and lying are evils, and that good is to be done. This is why these commandments hold everywhere and always, for all peoples, and will not pass away. They form also a whole, so that to despise them on one point is to fail the whole. “whoever keeps the whole Law but stumbles on a single point becomes guilty of all of it.” James 2:10 And God promises one day to write them no longer on stone, but within man, by his grace. “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Jeremiah 31:33

Christ and the Commandments

Christ confirms the commandments and uncovers their depth. To the one who asks him the way of life, he answers to keep them, and he names them. “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 19:17-19 Then he leads them further, to the hidden source of acts. It no longer suffices not to shed blood, one must tear out the anger and hatred that lead to it. “everyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court.” Matthew 5:21-22 It no longer suffices not to commit adultery, one must guard the gaze and the heart. “everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Matthew 5:27-28 Thus the ten words find their fullness in love, which sums them all. “You shall not commit adultery, you shall not commit murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet, and all the others, are summed up in this word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Romans 13:9 And Christ adds to them his own measure, which becomes the measure of the Christian. “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.” John 13:34

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