TEN COMMANDMENTS+ FAQ

אנכי יהוה אלהיך אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים מבית עבדים לא יהיה לך אלהים אחרים על פני
Exodus 20:2

I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt from the house of slaves, you shall have no other gods before me

לא תעשה לך פסל וכל תמונה אשר בשמים ממעל ואשר בארץ מתחת ואשר במים מתחת לארץ-לא תשתחוה להם ולא תעבדם כי אנכי יהוה אלהיך אל קנא פקד עון אבת על בנים על שלשים ועל רבעים לשנאי-ועשה חסד לאלפים לאהבי ולשמרי מצותי
Exodus 20:3-6

You shall not make for yourself a statue or any image that is in the skies above, or that is in the earth below, or that is in the water beneath the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, do not be jealous. And do kindness to thousands to love and keep my commandments.

 

 

לא תשא את שם יהוה אלהיך לשוא כי לא ינקה יהוה את אשר ישא את שמו לשוא
Exodus 20:7

You shall not use the name of Jehovah your God in vain, for Jehovah will not cleanse him who takes his name in vain

 

זכור את יום השבת לקדשו-ששת ימים תעבד ועשית כל מלאכתך-ויום השביעי שבת ליהוה אלהיך לא תעשה כל מלאכה אתה ובנך ובתך עבדך ואמתך ובהמתך וגרך אשר בשעריך-כי ששת ימים עשה יהוה את השמים ואת הארץ את הים ואת כל אשר בם וינח ביום השביעי על כן ברך יהוה את יום השבת ויקדשהו
Exodus 20:8-11

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy – six days you shall worship and do all your work – and on the seventh day a Sabbath to the Lord your God you shall not do any work, you and your son and your daughter your servant and your truth and your livestock and your flock that is in your gates – for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth the sea and everything in them and rested on the seventh day Therefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy

 

כבד את אביך ואת אמך למען יארכון ימיך על האדמה אשר יהוה אלהיך נתן לך
Exodus 20:12
Honor your father and your mother so that your days may be long on the land that the Lord your God has given you

לא תרצח
Exodus 20:13

Shall not murder

לא תנאף
Exodus 20:13

Do not commit adultery

לא תגנב
Exodus 20:13

Shall not steal

 לא תענה ברעך עד שקר
Exodus 20:13

“Shall not bear false witness” is the semi accurate translation from the original Bible. The more accurate is: DON’T ANSWER/TORTURE YOUR ACQUAINTANCE WITH A LIE AS A WITNESS.

There is much more to it than the simplistic inaccurate translation. After all, GOD could have simply written “Do Not Lie”. Interestingly, there is no such commandment. The commandment is even not as simple as “don’t lie in court”.

What do GOD mean?

The commandment explained:

• The Biblical verb תענה ta-ane has double meaning of “answering” and “torturing”
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Can a witness say the truth and lie at the same time?

Example of: Literal Truth and Deceptive Content

At times, what is understood from a person’s words may differ from their literal meaning. In his short stories about the world of crime in New York, the humorist author Damon Runyon recounts the story of a man named Lance McGowan who was suspected of murdering two people on January 5th at midnight, and who was seen in the vicinity of the crime at that time. The accused was aided by a woman of importance named Miss Abigail Ardsley, who provided him with an alibi and testified that she had a large grandfather clock in her living room. When asked by the prosecutor if she noticed what time it was according to the clock in her home when the accused left her place, she answered: “Yes, when the accused left me, I chanced to glance at the large clock, and it struck precisely eleven.”

As a result of her testimony, the judge acquitted the accused and reprimanded the prosecution team. However, Miss Abigail Ardsley did not disclose to the court that forty-five years prior to her testimony, she had stopped all the clocks in her home and set them to the last hour she saw her beloved, which was eleven o’clock at night.

Does Miss Ardsley’s testimony amount to perjury? Is it considered that she provided false testimony, since the meaning inferred from her words by the court and by any ordinary person is untrue, even though the literal meaning of her words is true?

לא תחמד בית רעך לא תחמד אשת רעך ועבדו ואמתו ושורו וחמרו וכל אשר לרעך
Exodus 20:14