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The Ten Commandments
The Full Story
Hugo Lj. Odhner
Preface
This little volume is prepared for private reading or for use in public worship.
The TEN COMMANDMENTS, also called the DECALOGUE, are a
summary of all things of religion (TCR 286). They are explained in their
natural and interior meanings in the Divinely inspired Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) written for the use of the New Church which is meant by
"the New Jerusalem." In his last published work, The True Christian
Religion, a chapter (nos. 282-331) is devoted to this subject. And in the
posthumous work The Apocalypse Explained the Ten Commandments are dealt within
a series of inserts — especially between paragraphs 948-1028. In the exegetical
text The Arcana Coelestia their spiritual meaning is laid clear in the setting
of chapter twenty of the book of Exodus (nos. 8860-8912). Further explanations
are given in The Doctrine of Life, 53-91 and nos. 108ff., in The Doctrine of
the Sacred Scripture 67, and in The Divine Providence nos. 329 ff., etc.
For the sake of completeness a copy of the two versions of the Commandment are
prefaced.
And in order to facilitate the use of these Scripture passages in worship, a selection of lessons from the threefold Word is also given.
Hugo Lj. Odhner
Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania
April 1971
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The Ten Commandments from Deuteronomy
Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep and do them.
I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have no other gods before My face. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow thyself down 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 showing mercy unto a thousand generations of them that love Me and keep My commandments.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him innocent that taketh His name in vain.
Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Six days shalt thou labor 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, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm; therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
Honor thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or anything that is thy neighbor's.
Deuteronomy 5:1, 6-22
The Ten Commandments from Exodus
And God spake all these words, saying:
I am the Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thou shalt have no other gods before My face. Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow thyself down 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 showing mercy unto a thousand generations of them that love Me and keep My commandments.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him innocent that taketh His name in vain.
Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor 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 beast, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.
Honor thy father and thy mother that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. Exodus 20:1-17
The Ten Commandments in the New Testament
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
Matthew 22:37-40
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
John 13:34,35
LESSONS
(select lesson to review)
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