Did the Church Alter the Commandments?

Here is the text in a Catholic Bible, Exodus 20:

[2] I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. [3] Thou shalt not have strange gods before me. [4] Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, nor of those things that are in the waters under the earth. [5] Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them: I am the Lord thy God, mighty, jealous, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me: [6] And shewing mercy unto thousands to them that love me, and keep my commandments. [7] Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that shall take the name of the Lord his God in vain. [8] Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day. [9] Six days shalt thou labour, and shalt do all thy works. [10] But on the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: thou shalt do no work on it, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy beast, nor the stranger that is within thy gates. [11] For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them, and rested on the seventh day: therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it. [12] Honour thy father and thy mother, that thou mayest be longlived upon the land which the Lord thy God will give thee. [13] Thou shalt not kill. [14] Thou shalt not commit adultery. [15] Thou shalt not steal. [16] Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. [17] Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house: neither shalt thou desire his wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.

As you can see, there are no Roman Numerals above each commandment here. Nor are there here, Deuteronomy 5:

[6] I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. [7] Thou shalt not have strange gods in my sight. [8] Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any things, that are in heaven above, or that are in the earth beneath, or that abide in the waters under the earth. [9] Thou shalt not adore them, and thou shalt not serve them. For I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon their children unto the third and fourth generation, to them that hate me, [10] And shewing mercy unto many thousands, to them that love me, and keep my commandments. [11] Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for he shall not be unpunished that taketh his name upon a vain thing. [12] Observe the day of the sabbath, to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. [13] Six days shalt thou labour, and shalt do all thy works. [14] The seventh is the day of the sabbath, that is, the rest of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not do any work therein, thou nor thy son nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy ox, nor thy ass, nor any of thy beasts, nor the stranger that is within thy gates: that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest, even as thyself. [15] Remember that thou also didst serve in Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out from thence with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm. Therefore hath he commanded thee that thou shouldst observe the sabbath day. [16] Honour thy father and mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that thou mayst live a long time, and it may be well with thee in the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee. [17] Thou shalt not kill. [18] Neither shalt thou commit adultery. [19] And thou shalt not steal. [20] Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour. [21] Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife: nor his house, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.

And here is how a Catholic would usually divide this in Commandments, with numerals:

I

[6] I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. [7] Thou shalt not have strange gods in my sight. [8] Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of any things, that are in heaven above, or that are in the earth beneath, or that abide in the waters under the earth. [9] Thou shalt not adore them, and thou shalt not serve them. For I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon their children unto the third and fourth generation, to them that hate me, [10] And shewing mercy unto many thousands, to them that love me, and keep my commandments.

II

[11] Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for he shall not be unpunished that taketh his name upon a vain thing.

III

[12] Observe the day of the sabbath, to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. [13] Six days shalt thou labour, and shalt do all thy works. [14] The seventh is the day of the sabbath, that is, the rest of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not do any work therein, thou nor thy son nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy ox, nor thy ass, nor any of thy beasts, nor the stranger that is within thy gates: that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest, even as thyself. [15] Remember that thou also didst serve in Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out from thence with a strong hand, and a stretched out arm. Therefore hath he commanded thee that thou shouldst observe the sabbath day.

IV

[16] Honour thy father and mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee, that thou mayst live a long time, and it may be well with thee in the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee.

V

[17] Thou shalt not kill.

VI

[18] Neither shalt thou commit adultery.

VII

[19] And thou shalt not steal.

VIII

[20] Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.

IX

[21] Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife:

X

nor his house, nor his field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.

The forbidding of images is not away from our Bibles, as it is commented on by Challoner in Exodus 20, 4:

[4] "A graven thing, nor the likeness of any thing": All such images, or likenesses, are forbidden by this commandment, as are made to be adored and served; according to that which immediately follows, thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them. That is, all such as are designed for idols or image-gods, or are worshipped with divine honour. But otherwise images, pictures, or representations, even in the house of God, and in the very sanctuary so far from being forbidden, are expressly authorized by the word of God. See Ex. 25. 15, and etc.; chap. 38. 7; Num. 21. 8, 9; 1 Chron. or Paralip. 28. 18, 19; 2 Chron. or Paralip. 3. 10.

Let's take a look to prove that Exodus 20:4 and its parallel Deuteronomy 5:8 does not in general overall forbid images:

Description of Ark in Exodus 25:

[16] And thou shalt put in the ark the testimony which I will give thee. [17] Thou shalt make also a propitiatory of the purest gold: the length thereof shall be two cubits and a half, and the breadth a cubit and a half. [18] Thou shalt make also two cherubims of beaten gold, on the two sides of the oracle. [19] Let one cherub be on the one side, and the other on the other. [20] Let them cover both sides of the propitiatory, spreading their wings, and covering the oracle, and let them look one towards the other, their faces being turned towards the propitiatory wherewith the ark is to be covered.

Exodus 38:7 parallels preceding verse Exodus 25:15 and so implies the cherubim were also made, at least later, by King Solomon.

Numbers 21:[8] And the Lord said to him: Make brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: whosoever being struck shall look on it, shall live. [9] Moses therefore made a brazen serpent, and set it up for a sign: which when they that were bitten looked upon, they were healed.

I Chronicles 28:[18] And for the altar of incense, he gave the purest gold: and to make the likeness of the chariot of the cherubims spreading their wings, and covering the ark of the covenant of the Lord. [19] All these things, said he, came to me written by the hand of the Lord that I might understand all the works of the pattern.

II Chronicles 3:[10] He made also in the house of the holy of holies two cherubims of image work: and he overlaid them with gold.

This is a reason why the forbidding of images is not seen as a separate commandment, but as part of the first one.

So also Luther divided the beginning of commandments, he only changed the last two, taking Exodus 20 instead of Deuteronomy 5:

IX

[17] Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house:

X

neither shalt thou desire his wife, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is his.

LXX has Exodus 20 in agreement with Deuteronomy 5:

IX

[17] οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις τὴν γυναῖκα τοῦ πλησίον σου

X

οὐκ ἐπιθυμήσεις τὴν οἰκίαν τοῦ πλησίον σου οὔτε τὸν ἀγρὸν αὐτοῦ οὔτε τὸν παῖδα αὐτοῦ οὔτε τὴν παιδίσκην αὐτοῦ οὔτε τοῦ βοὸς αὐτοῦ οὔτε τοῦ ὑποζυγίου αὐτοῦ οὔτε παντὸς κτήνους αὐτοῦ οὔτε ὅσα τῷ πλησίον σού ἐστιν

Gynaika means woman or wife. If house is translated τὴν οἰκίαν, meaning the material building, perhaps with garden and so on, it is obvious that it is less offensive to God to desire that than to desire the neighbour's wife. On the other hand, some would perhaps (I think Luther might have done so) have taken "house" as household, ton oikon, meaning that the desire to be lord where someone else is lord of his household is even worse : we Catholics would of course consider that as against the IV commandment, we don't agree with that either.

No, we have not taken commandments out of the Bible. But we have divided them differently from Calvinist and similar Protestants later than we, and this means that when we state them in shorter terms, as in the catechism, we sometimes leave out part of commandments rather than memorise all the text of each.

Hans Georg Lundahl
Paris
St Zeno of Verona*
12.IV.2018

* Veronae passio sancti Zenonis Episcopi, qui inter persecutionis procellas eam Ecclesiam mira constantia gubernavit, et, Gallieni tempore, martyrio coronatus est.