The Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer

One of the major themes in the Divinely inspired works of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) is the message that the texts of the Bible hold deeper meanings. Of the Ten Commandments, Swedenborg wrote: “There was tremendous holiness and power in this law because it is a synopsis of all the elements of religion” (True Christianity 286). Of the Lord’s Prayer, he wrote: “There are more things in the contents of that prayer than the universal heaven is capable of comprehending" (Arcana Coelestia 6619). In the early 1970s, Rev. Hugo Lj. Odhner published two small works for ”private reading or for use in public worship.” Now they are once again available, in one volume, to remind us of the powerful truth available in these familiar Bible verses. Using Swedenborg’s works, Odhner delves into the hidden meanings that the words of the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer contain. He shows that these words hold guidance and hope for all.