1. Thou shalt not have strange Gods before me.

This Commandment tells believers that God should be the most important thing that they believe in. Some people take this to mean that God is the only “real” God, but it can also be understood as meaning that faith is more important than anything else. For example, it might mean that people shouldn’t hold things like wealth or possessions above their faith.

2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.

Similar to the Commandment above, this one tells people not to make any representations (like carvings or paintings) of any type of God, including the Christian God. Representations of gods are called “idols”.

This Commandment exists to make sure that people honor God and worship Him in the proper way.

3. Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

Like the previous two Commandments, this one is about having the proper faith in God. It tells people not to misuse God’s name as a swear word, or by dropping it into conversation where it doesn’t belong.

4. Remember to keep the Lord’s Day holy.

This Commandment instructs people to take the Sabbath day as a day of rest, both physical and mental. This comes from the story of the creation of the world in which God took the seventh day as a day rest.

Jewish people honor Shabbat as a day of rest. They don’t do any work from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday to follow this Commandment. Often, they will have a big meal on a Friday night with their whole family to celebrate.

After the sun has gone down, they are not allowed to do anything that is considered “work” – this includes cooking and cleaning. Different families interpret this differently, but most Jewish people will honor the Shabbat by taking a day off to rest and contemplate their relationship with God.

5. Honor thy father and thy mother.

This might be a little old-fashioned phrasing for today. We can interpret it as meaning that people should be polite and respectful to their parents or guardians, or to adults in general.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

This one is quite straightforward! Even though it uses the old-fashioned version of “you”, it is still applicable to modern life. In fact, several of these Commandments are quite good rules to follow, whether you are a Christian, have another faith, or have no faith at all.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

Some of the Commandments, like this one, are about faithfulness. The first one is about faithfulness to God, and this one is about faithfulness to marriage vows. This Commandment says that married people should be loyal to each other and to the vows that they make when they get married.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

Another easy one! Whether it’s toys from your siblings or bigger thefts, this Commandment says that people should respect other people’s possessions and not steal from them.

You can see from this Commandment that there is an overlap between Christian values, secular (non-religious) values, and the law. The Commandments can simply be seen as a way to help people understand right and wrong.

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

This Commandment says that we should be honest and truthful at all times. It means that we cannot tell lies about other people because that can be very hurtful.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.

This means that people should not want things that belong to other people. That could lead to temptation and doing something wrong, like stealing it.