Ten Commandments: Background 2 『十誡』1956年電影介紹 Movie Version

Many people think that the 1956 Ten Commandments movie is the best version ever made. The spoken English in this version is not so easy to understand (people speak using old-fashioned words from an old translation of the Bible), but the movie is quite beautiful to look at and the acting is excellent. They don't make movies like this anymore! These are clips that show important scenes from the movie:

Pharaoh tried to kill all of the baby boys of the Hebrews, but Yocheved saved her son Moses. She put him in a basket and sent it down the River Nile. Pharaoh's daughter took the basket out of the water and raised Moses as her own son.

As a young man, Moses saw a slavemaster beating a Hebrew. Although he was now a prince of Egypt, Moses knew in his bones that letting the slavemaster do this was very wrong. Moses killed the slavemaster, so Pharaoh sent him far away to die in the desert without food or water.

Many years later, God spoke to Moses from a burning bush. He told Moses to return to Egypt to free his people, the Hebrew slaves.

Moses showed signs that God had sent him, but Pharaoh thought these were simple tricks. Moses then asked Pharaoh to let God's people go, but Pharaoh refused.

God brought Ten Plagues to Egypt, each one worse than the other. He started by turning the waters of the Nile into blood. In the last plague, the firstborn son of each Egyptian family died. Pharaoh finally let the Hebrews go free.

Ten Commandments: Chinese & English 十誡：中英文對照

[Updated 8 October, 2016]

Because the Ten Commandments have been the basis for Western culture for almost 1700 years, students of English should definitely know what they say and what they mean. The Ten Commandments appear in two slightly different versions, once in Exodus and once in Deuteronomy.

因為長達1700年以來西方文化以十誡為基礎，所以學英文不可不知道其內容與含義。

The following English and Chinese text is taken from Deuteronomy (申 命 記) 5:6~5:21 in the NET Bible, a completely new translation that can be downloaded for free:

English: http://netbible.com/content/download
Chinese: https://bible.org/chinese/e/download/pdf

底下的中英文對照十誡摘錄自 NET Bible

『NET Bible全名是New English Translation Bible新英語譯本聖經。縮寫的NET 代表可在互聯網上免費使用並下載(請參WWW.BIBLE.ORG)。以下簡稱為網英，中譯本稱為網中。』：https://bible.org/assets/downloads/chinese/tc_00-preface.pdf

Ten Commandments, 1: I Am the Lord Your God 第一誡：我是你的神

"I am the Lord your God" is the basis for ethical monotheism, the idea that there is only one true God (Greek roots: mono = one, the = God), the God that created this world and that God wants us, his children, to behave ethically (= to not do evil to each other): 單神論與自由息息相關。

Let's have a discussion. After watching the video of the First Commandment, please think carefully about these five questions, provided by the Prager University web page for the First Commandment.

Ten Commandments, 2: No Other Gods 第二誡：不 可有別的神

The Second Commandment does not seem relevant or useful in today's world. However, Dennis Prager explains that this opinion is mistaken: 第二誡表面上與現代生活毫無關係。這個想法其實是錯誤的。比如說「萬般皆下品，唯有讀書高」和第二誡有關係。請看影片介紹：

Dennis Prager speaks very clearly, but you might need help with unfamiliar words. When you watch, be sure to click on the captions box to see all the words he says. Five questions to think about (provided by Prager University) appear below.