{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/the-new-decalogue",
 "title": "The New Decalogue",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ambrose Bierce",
 "poet_slug": "ambrose-bierce",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume V",
 "book_slug": "collected-works-v",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 39,
 "container": "Black Beetles in Amber",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1911,
  "venue": "The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce, Volume V (1911)",
  "note": "Taken from Volume V of the Neale collected edition (copyright 1911). That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume's own preface states that most of its verses are republished from newspapers and periodicals of the Pacific Coast, and which of them printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/ambrose-bierce_poetry",
  "file": "black-beetles-in-amber.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4793",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12658",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12977",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15599",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof04bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof08bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/literarycalifor05mighgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cali07webb"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 20,
  "n_stanzas": 10,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 39,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Have but one God: thy knees were sore",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "If bent in prayer to three or four.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Adore no images save those",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The coinage of thy country shows.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Take not the Name in vain. Direct",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Thy swearing unto some effect.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Thy hand from Sunday work be held⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Work not at all unless compelled.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Honor thy parents, and perchance",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their wills thy fortunes may advance.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Kill not⁠—death liberates thy foe",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From persecution’s constant woe.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Kiss not thy neighbor’s wife. Of course",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "There’s no objection to divorce.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "To steal were folly, for ’tis plain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In cheating there is greater gain.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Bear not false witness. Shake your head",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And say that you have “heard it said.”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Who stays to covet ne’er will catch",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "An opportunity to snatch.",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}