15 You shall not steal. (Exodus 20:15)
Stealing takes many forms, including many things that we don’t normally think of as theft. The Seventh Commandment, broadly speaking, requires us to act justly with respect to others. And justice means giving each person what he or she is due.
So, for instance, if we borrow something, we need to return it, and if we hire someone to do a job and he does it, we need to pay him what we told him we would. If someone offers to sell us a valuable item for a very low price, we need to make sure that she knows that the item is valuable; and if she does, we need to consider whether the item might not really be hers to sell. Even such seemingly harmless actions as cheating at games are a form of theft because we take something—the victory, no matter how silly or insignificant it may seem—from someone else.
Stealing Is Wrong | The 7th Commandment (8:42)
Here are the Catholic Ten Commandments:
- I am the LORD your God. You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.
- You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
- Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
- Honor your father and your mother.
- You shall not kill.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
- You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
- You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
