document_title: Ten Commandments

question_text: what chapter in the bible has the 10 commandments

question_tokens: what chapter in the bible has the 10 commandments

root

text: Ten Commandments

text: Terminology[edit]

text: In biblical Hebrew, the Ten Commandments are called עשרת הדברים (transliterated aseret ha-d'varîm) and in Rabbinical Hebrew עשרת הדברות (transliterated aseret ha-dibrot), both translatable as "the ten words", "the ten sayings", or "the ten matters".[2] The Tyndale and Coverdale English translations used "ten verses". The Geneva Bible used "tenne commandements", which was followed by the Bishops' Bible and the Authorized Version (the "King James" version) as "ten commandments". Most major English versions use "commandments."[3]

tag: p

text: The English name "Decalogue" is derived from Greek δεκάλογος, dekalogos, the latter meaning and referring[4] to the Greek translation (in accusative) δέκα λόγους, deka logous, "ten words", found in the Septuagint (or LXX) at Exodus 34:28[3] and Deuteronomy 10:4.[5]

text: The stone tablets, as opposed to the commandments inscribed on them, are called לוחות הברית, Lukhot HaBrit, meaning "the tablets of the covenant".

text: The Ten Commandments[edit]

text: Different religious traditions divide the seventeen verses of Exodus 20:1–17 and their parallels at Deuteronomy 5:4–21 into ten "commandments" or "sayings" in different ways, shown in the table below. Some suggest that the number ten is a choice to aid memorization rather than a matter of theology.[6][7]

text:
The Ten Commandments

LXX

P

S

T

A

C

L

R

Main article

Exodus 20:1-17

Deuteronomy 5:4-21

—

—

—

1

—

1

—

(1)

I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

2[8]

6[8]

1

1

1

2

1

1

1

1

Thou shalt have no other gods before me

3[9]

7[9]

2

2

1

2

1

1

1

2

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image

4–6[10]

8–10[10]

3

3

2

3

2

2

2

3

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain

7[11]

11[11]

4

4

3

4

3

3

3

4

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy

8–11[12]

12–15[13]

5

5

4

5

4

4

4

5

Honour thy father and thy mother

12[14]

16[15]

6

7

5

6

5

5

5

6

Thou shalt not kill

13[16]

17[16]

7

6

6

7

6

6

6

7

Thou shalt not commit adultery

14[17]

18[18]

8

8

7

8

7

7

7

8

Thou shalt not steal

15[19]

19[20]

9

9

8

9

8

8

8

9

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour

16[21]

20[22]

10

10

9

10

10

10

9

10

Thou shalt not covet (neighbour's house)

17a[23]

21b[24]

10

10

9

10

9

9

10

10

Thou shalt not covet (neighbour's wife)

17b[25]

21a[26]

10

10

9

10

10

10

10

10

Thou shalt not covet (neighbour's slaves, animals, or anything else)

17c[27]

21c[28]

—

—

10

—

—

—

—

—

Ye shall erect these stones which I command thee upon Mount Gerizim

[citation needed]

[citation needed]

tag: table

text: All scripture quotes above are from the King James Version. Click on verses at top of columns for other versions.

tag: ul

text: Traditions:

text:
LXX: Septuagint, generally followed by Orthodox Christians.
P: Philo, same as the Septuagint, but with the prohibitions on killing and adultery reversed.
S: Samaritan Pentateuch, with an additional commandment about Mount Gerizim as 10th.
T: Jewish Talmud, makes the "prologue" the first "saying" or "matter" and combines the prohibition on worshiping deities other than Yahweh with the prohibition on idolatry.
A: Augustine follows the Talmud in combining verses 3–6, but omits the prologue as a commandment and divides the prohibition on coveting in two and following the word order of Deuteronomy 5:21 rather than Exodus 20:17.
C: Catechism of the Catholic Church, largely follows Augustine.
L: Lutherans follow Luther's Large Catechism, which follows Augustine but omits the prohibition of images[29] and uses the word order of Exodus 20:17 rather than Deuteronomy 5:21 for the ninth and tenth commandments.
R: Reformed Christians follow John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, which follows the Septuagint; this system is also used in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.[30]

text: The biblical narrative of the revelation at Sinai begins in Exodus 19 after the arrival of the children of Israel at Mount Sinai (also called Horeb). On the morning of the third day of their encampment, "there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud", and the people assembled at the base of the mount. After "the LORD[31] came down upon mount Sinai", Moses went up briefly and returned and prepared the people, and then in Exodus 20 "God spoke" to all the people the words of the covenant, that is, the "ten commandments"[32] as it is written.  Modern biblical scholarship differs as to whether Exodus 19-20 describes the people of Israel as having directly heard all or some of the decalogue, or whether the laws are only passed to them through Moses.[33]

text: The people were afraid to hear more and moved "afar off", and Moses responded with "Fear not." Nevertheless, he drew near the "thick darkness" where "the presence of the Lord" was[34] to hear the additional statutes and "judgments",[35] all which he "wrote"[36] in the "book of the covenant"[37] which he read to the people the next morning, and they agreed to be obedient and do all that the LORD had said. Moses escorted a select group consisting of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and "seventy of the elders of Israel" to a location on the mount where they worshipped "afar off"[38] and they "saw the God of Israel" above a "paved work" like clear sapphire stone.[39]

text: And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tablets of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. 13 And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.

text: The mount was covered by the cloud for six days, and on the seventh day Moses went into the midst of the cloud and was "in the mount forty days and forty nights."[40] And Moses said, "the LORD delivered unto me two tablets of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly."[41] Before the full forty days expired, the children of Israel collectively decided that something had happened to Moses, and compelled Aaron to fashion a golden calf, and he "built an altar before it"[42] and the people "worshipped" the calf.[43]

text: After the full forty days, Moses and Joshua came down from the mountain with the tablets of stone: "And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount."[44] After the events in chapters 32 and 33, the LORD told Moses, "Hew thee two tablets of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tablets the words that were in the first tablets, which thou brakest."[45] "And he wrote on the tablets, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me."[46]

text: According to Jewish tradition, Exodus 20:1–17 constitutes God's first recitation and inscription of the ten commandments on the two tablets,[47] which Moses broke in anger with his rebellious nation, and were later rewritten on replacement stones and placed in the ark of the covenant;[48] and Deuteronomy 5:4–25 consists of God's re-telling of the Ten Commandments to the younger generation who were to enter the Promised Land. The passages in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 contain more than ten imperative statements, totalling 14 or 15 in all.

text: Religious interpretations[edit]

text: The Ten Commandments concern matters of fundamental importance in Judaism and Christianity: the greatest obligation (to worship only God), the greatest injury to a person (murder), the greatest injury to family bonds (adultery), the greatest injury to commerce and law (bearing false witness), the greatest inter-generational obligation (honour to parents), the greatest obligation to community (truthfulness), the greatest injury to moveable property (theft).[49]

text: The Ten Commandments are written with room for varying interpretation, reflecting their role as a summary of fundamental principles.[7][49][50][51] They are not as explicit[49] or detailed as rules[52] or many other biblical laws and commandments, because they provide guiding principles that apply universally, across changing circumstances. They do not specify punishments for their violation. Their precise import must be worked out in each separate situation.[52]

text: The Bible indicates the special status of the Ten Commandments among all other Torah laws in several ways:

text:
They have a uniquely terse style.[53]
Of all the biblical laws and commandments, the Ten Commandments alone[53] are said to have been "written with the finger of God" (Exodus 31:18).
The stone tablets were placed in the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:21, Deuteronomy 10:2,5).[53]

text: Judaism[edit]

text: The Ten Commandments form the basis of Jewish law,[54] stating God's universal and timeless standard of right and wrong – unlike the rest of the 613 commandments in the Torah, which include, for example, various duties and ceremonies such as the kashrut dietary laws, and now unobservable rituals to be performed by priests in the Holy Temple.[55] Jewish tradition considers the Ten Commandments the theological basis for the rest of the commandments; a number of works, starting with Rabbi Saadia Gaon, have made groupings of the commandments according to their links with the Ten Commandments.[citation needed]

text: A conservative rabbi, Louis Ginzberg, stated in his book Legends of the Jews, that Ten Commandments are virtually entwined, that the breaking of one leads to the breaking of another. Echoing an earlier rabbinic comment found in the commentary of Rashi to the Songs of Songs (4:5) Ginzberg explained - there is also a great bond of union between the first five commandments and the last five. The first commandment: "I am the Lord, thy God," corresponds to the sixth: "Thou shalt not kill," for the murderer slays the image of God. The second: "Thou shalt have no strange gods before me," corresponds to the seventh: "Thou shalt not commit adultery," for conjugal faithlessness is as grave a sin as idolatry, which is faithlessness to God. The third commandment: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain," corresponds to the eighth: "Thou shalt not steal," for stealing result in false oath in God's name. The fourth: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," corresponds to the ninth: "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor," for he who bears false witness against his neighbor commits as grave a sin as if he had borne false witness against God, saying that He had not created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day (the holy Sabbath). The fifth commandment: "Honor thy father and thy mother," corresponds to the tenth: "Covet not thy neighbor's wife," for one who indulges this lust produces children who will not honor their true father, but will consider a stranger their father.[56]

text: The traditional Rabbinical Jewish belief is that the observance of these commandments and the other mitzvot are required solely of the Jewish people and that the laws incumbent on humanity in general are outlined in the seven Noahide laws, several of which overlap with the Ten Commandments. In the era of the Sanhedrin transgressing any one of six of the Ten Commandments theoretically carried the death penalty, the exceptions being the First Commandment, honouring your father and mother, saying God's name in vain, and coveting, though this was rarely enforced due to a large number of stringent evidentiary requirements imposed by the oral law.[57]

text: Two tablets[edit]

text: The arrangement of the commandments on the two tablets is interpreted in different ways in the classical Jewish tradition. Rabbi Hanina ben Gamaliel says that each tablet contained five commandments, "but the Sages say ten on one tablet and ten on the other", that is, that the tablets were duplicates.[58] This can be compared to diplomatic treaties of the ancient Near East, in which a copy was made for each party.[59]

text: According to the Talmud, the compendium of traditional Rabbinic Jewish law, tradition, and interpretation, one interpretation of the biblical verse "the tablets were written on both their sides",[60] is that the carving went through the full thickness of the tablets, yet was miraculously legible from both sides.[61]

text: Use in Jewish ritual[edit]

text: The Mishna records that during the period of the Second Temple, the Ten Commandments were recited daily,[62] before the reading of the Shema Yisrael (as preserved, for example, in the Nash Papyrus, a Hebrew manuscript fragment from 150–100 BCE found in Egypt, containing a version of the ten commandments and the beginning of the Shema); but that this practice was abolished in the synagogues so as not to give ammunition to heretics who claimed that they were the only important part of Jewish law,[63][64] or to dispute a claim by early Christians that only the Ten Commandments were handed down at Mount Sinai rather than the whole Torah.[62]

text: In later centuries rabbis continued to omit the Ten Commandments from daily liturgy in order to prevent a confusion among Jews that they are only bound by the Ten Commandments, and not also by many other biblical and Talmudic laws, such as the requirement to observe holy days other than the sabbath.[62]

text: Today, the Ten Commandments are heard in the synagogue three times a year: as they come up during the readings of Exodus and Deuteronomy, and during the festival of Shavuot.[62] The Exodus version is read in parashat Yitro around late January–February, and on the festival of Shavuot, and the Deuteronomy version in parashat Va'etchanan in August–September. In some traditions, worshipers rise for the reading of the Ten Commandments to highlight their special significance[62] though many rabbis, including Maimonides, have opposed this custom since one may come to think that the Ten Commandments are more important than the rest of the Mitzvot.[65]

text: In printed Chumashim, as well as in those in manuscript form, the Ten Commandments carry two sets of cantillation marks. The ta'am 'elyon (upper accentuation), which makes each Commandment into a separate verse, is used for public Torah reading, while the ta'am tachton (lower accentuation), which divides the text into verses of more even length, is used for private reading or study. The verse numbering in Jewish Bibles follows the ta'am tachton. In Jewish Bibles the references to the Ten Commandments are therefore Exodus 20:2–14 and Deuteronomy 5:6–18.

text: Samaritan[edit]

text: The Samaritan Pentateuch varies in the Ten Commandments passages, both in that the Samaritan Deuteronomical version of the passage is much closer to that in Exodus, and in that Samaritans count as nine commandments what others count as ten. The Samaritan tenth commandment is on the sanctity of Mount Gerizim.

text: The text of the Samaritan tenth commandment follows:[66]

text: And it shall come to pass when the Lord thy God will bring thee into the land of the Canaanites whither thou goest to take possession of it, thou shalt erect unto thee large stones, and thou shalt cover them with lime, and thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this Law, and it shall come to pass when ye cross the Jordan, ye shall erect these stones which I command thee upon Mount Gerizim, and thou shalt build there an altar unto the Lord thy God, an altar of stones, and thou shalt not lift upon them iron, of perfect stones shalt thou build thine altar, and thou shalt bring upon it burnt offerings to the Lord thy God, and thou shalt sacrifice peace offerings, and thou shalt eat there and rejoice before the Lord thy God. That mountain is on the other side of the Jordan at the end of the road towards the going down of the sun in the land of the Canaanites who dwell in the Arabah facing Gilgal close by Elon Moreh facing Shechem.

text: Christianity[edit]

text: Most traditions of Christianity hold that the Ten Commandments have divine authority and continue to be valid, though they have different interpretations and uses of them.[67] The Apostolic Constitutions, which implore believers to "always remember the ten commands of God," reveal the importance of the Decalogue in the early Church.[68] Through most of Christian history the decalogue was considered a summary of God's law and standard of behaviour, central to Christian life, piety, and worship.[69]

text: References in the New Testament[edit]

text: During his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explicitly referenced the prohibitions against murder and adultery. In Matthew 19:16-19 Jesus repeated five of the Ten Commandments, followed by that commandment called "the second" (Matthew 22:34-40) after the first and great commandment.

text:
And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

text: In his Epistle to the Romans, Paul the Apostle also mentioned five of the Ten Commandments and associated them with the neighbourly love commandment.

text:
Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

text: Roman Catholicism[edit]

text: In Roman Catholicism, Jesus freed Christians from the rest of Jewish religious law, but not from their obligation to keep the Ten Commandments.[70] It has been said that they are to the moral order what the creation story is to the natural order.[70]

text: According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church—the official exposition of the Catholic Church's Christian beliefs—the Commandments are considered essential for spiritual good health and growth,[71] and serve as the basis for social justice.[72] Church teaching of the Commandments is largely based on the Old and New Testaments and the writings of the early Church Fathers.[73] In the New Testament, Jesus acknowledged their validity and instructed his disciples to go further, demanding a righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees.[74] Summarized by Jesus into two "great commandments" that teach the love of God and love of neighbour,[75] they instruct individuals on their relationships with both.

text: Orthodox[edit]

text: The Eastern Orthodox Church holds its moral truths to be chiefly contained in the Ten Commandments.[76] A confession begins with the Confessor reciting the Ten Commandments and asking the penitent which of them he has broken.[77]

text: Protestantism[edit]

text: After rejecting the Roman Catholic moral theology, giving more importance to biblical law and the gospel, early Protestant theologians continued to take the Ten Commandments as the starting point of Christian moral life.[78] Different versions of Christianity have varied in how they have translated the bare principles into the specifics that make up a full Christian ethic.[78]

text: Lutheranism[edit]

text: The Lutheran division of the commandments follows the one established by St. Augustine, following the then current synagogue scribal division. The first three commandments govern the relationship between God and humans, the fourth through eighth govern public relationships between people, and the last two govern private thoughts. See Luther's Small Catechism[79] and Large Catechism.[29]

text: Reformed[edit]

text: The Articles of the Church of England, Revised and altered by the Assembly of Divines, at Westminster, in the year 1643 state that "no Christian man whatsoever is free from the obedience of the commandments which are called moral. By the moral law, we understand all the Ten Commandments taken in their full extent."[80] The Westminster Confession, held by Presbyterian Churches, holds that the moral law contained in the Ten Commandments "does forever bind all, as well justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof".[81]

text: Methodist[edit]

text:
The moral law contained in the Ten Commandments, according to the founder of the Methodist movement John Wesley, was instituted from the beginning of the world and is written on the hearts of all people.[82]
As with the Reformed view,[83] Wesley held that the moral law, which is contained in the Ten Commandments, stands today:[84]

text: Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind in all ages, as not depending either on time or place, nor on any other circumstances liable to change; but on the nature of God and the nature of man, and their unchangeable relation to each other" (Wesley's Sermons, Vol. I, Sermon 25).[84]

text: In keeping with Wesleyan covenant theology, "while the ceremonial law was abolished in Christ and the whole Mosaic dispensation itself was concluded upon the appearance of Christ, the moral law remains a vital component of the covenant of grace, having Christ as its perfecting end."[82] As such, in Methodism, an "important aspect of the pursuit of sanctification is the careful following" of the Ten Commandments.[83]

text: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints[edit]

text: According to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) doctrine, Jesus completed rather than rejected the Mosaic Law.[85] The Ten Commandments are considered eternal gospel principles necessary for exaltation.[86] They appear in the Book of Mosiah 12:34–36,[87] 13:15–16,[88] 13:21–24[89] and Doctrine and Covenants.[86] According to the Book of Mosiah, a prophet named Abinadi taught the Ten Commandments in the court of King Noah and was martyred for his righteousness.[90] Abinadi knew the Ten Commandments from the brass plates.[91]

text: In an October 2010 address, LDS president and prophet Thomas S. Monson taught "The Ten Commandments are just that—commandments. They are not suggestions."[92]

text: The Strangite denomination has different views of the Decalogue.[citation needed]

text: Main points of interpretative difference[edit]

text: Sabbath day[edit]

text: All Abrahamic religions observe a weekly day of rest, often called the Sabbath, although the actual day of the week ranges from Friday in Islam, Saturday in Judaism (both reckoned from dusk to dusk), and Sunday, from midnight to midnight, in Christianity. Sabbath in Christianity is a day of rest from work, often dedicated to religious observance, derived from the Biblical Sabbath.[93] Non-Sabbatarianism is the principle of Christian liberty from being bound to physical sabbath observance. Most dictionaries provide both first-day and seventh-day definitions for "sabbath" and "Sabbatarian", among other related uses.

text: Observing the Sabbath on Sunday, the day of resurrection, gradually became the dominant Christian practice from the Jewish-Roman wars onward.[citation needed] The Church's general repudiation of Jewish practices during this period is apparent in the Council of Laodicea (4th century AD) where Canons 37–38 state: "It is not lawful to receive portions sent from the feasts of Jews or heretics, nor to feast together with them" and "It is not lawful to receive unleavened bread from the Jews, nor to be partakers of their impiety".[94] Canon 29 of the Laodicean council specifically refers to the sabbath: "Christians must not judaize by resting on the [Jewish] Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ."[94]

text: Killing or murder[edit]

text: Multiple translations exist of the fifth/sixth commandment; the Hebrew words לא תרצח (lo tirtzach) are variously translated as "thou shalt not kill" or "thou shalt not murder".[95]

text: The imperative is against unlawful killing resulting in bloodguilt.[96] The Hebrew Bible contains numerous prohibitions against unlawful killing, but does not prohibit killing in the context of warfare (1Kings 2:5–6), capital punishment (Leviticus 20:9–16) and self-defence (Exodus 22:2–3), which are considered justified. The New Testament is in agreement that murder is a grave moral evil,[97] and references the Old Testament view of bloodguilt.[98]

text: Theft[edit]

text: Some academic theologians, including German Old Testament scholar Albrecht Alt: Das Verbot des Diebstahls im Dekalog (1953), suggest that the commandment translated as "thou shalt not steal" was originally intended against stealing people—against abductions and slavery, in agreement with the Talmudic interpretation of the statement as "thou shalt not kidnap" (Sanhedrin 86a).

text: Idolatry[edit]

text: Idolatry is forbidden in all Abrahamic religions. In Judaism there is a prohibition against worshipping an idol or a representation of God, but there is no restriction on art or simple depictions. Islam has a stronger prohibition, banning representations of God, and in some cases of Muhammad, humans and, in some interpretations, any living creature.

text: In Gospel of Barnabas, Jesus stated that idolatry is the greatest sin as it divests a man fully of faith, and hence of God.[99] In his time, Idolatry is not only worshipping statues of wood or stone; but also statues of flesh. All which a man loves, for which he leaves everything else but that, is his god, thus the glutton and drunkard has for his idol his own flesh, the fornicator has for his idol the harlot and the greedy has for his idol silver and gold, and so the same for every other sinner.[100]

text: In Christianity's earliest centuries, some Christians had informally adorned their homes and places of worship with images of Christ and the saints, which others thought inappropriate. No church council had ruled on whether such practices constituted idolatry. The controversy reached crisis level in the 8th century, during the period of iconoclasm: the smashing of icons.[101]

text: In 726 Emperor Leo III ordered all images removed from all churches; in 730 a council forbade veneration of images, citing the Second Commandment; in 787 the Seventh Ecumenical Council reversed the preceding rulings, condemning iconoclasm and sanctioning the veneration of images; in 815 Leo V called yet another council, which reinstated iconoclasm; in 843 Empress Theodora again reinstated veneration of icons.[101] This mostly settled the matter until the Protestant Reformation, when John Calvin declared that the ruling of the Seventh Ecumenical Council "emanated from Satan".[101] Protestant iconoclasts at this time destroyed statues, pictures, stained glass, and artistic masterpieces.[101]

text: The Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates Theodora's restoration of the icons every year on the First Sunday of Great Lent.[101] Eastern Orthodox tradition teaches that while images of God, the Father, remain prohibited, depictions of Jesus as the incarnation of God as a visible human are permissible. To emphasize the theological importance of the incarnation, the Orthodox Church encourages the use of icons in church and private devotions, but prefers a two-dimensional depiction[102] as a reminder of this theological aspect. Icons depict the spiritual dimension of their subject rather than attempting a naturalistic portrayal.[101] In modern use (usually as a result of Roman Catholic influence), more naturalistic images and images of the Father, however, also appear occasionally in Orthodox churches, but statues, i.e. three-dimensional depictions, continue to be banned.[102]

text: The Roman Catholic Church holds that one may build and use "likenesses", as long as the object is not worshipped. Many Roman Catholic Churches and services feature images; some feature statues. For Roman Catholics, this practice is understood as fulfilling the Second Commandment, as they understand that these images are not being worshipped.[citation needed]

text: Some Protestants will picture Jesus in his human form, while refusing to make any image of God or Jesus in Heaven.[citation needed]

text: Strict Amish people forbid any sort of image, such as photographs.[citation needed]

text: Adultery[edit]

text: Originally this commandment forbade male Israelites from having sexual intercourse with the wife of another Israelite; the prohibition did not extend to their own slaves. Sexual intercourse between an Israelite man, married or not, and a woman who was neither married nor betrothed was not considered adultery.[103] This concept of adultery stems from the economic aspect of Israelite marriage whereby the husband has an exclusive right to his wife, whereas the wife, as the husband's possession, did not have an exclusive right to her husband.[104]

text: Louis Ginzberg argued that the tenth commandment (Covet not thy neighbor's wife) is directed against a sin which may lead to a trespassing of all Ten Commandments.[105]

text: Critical historical analysis[edit]

text: Early theories[edit]

text: Critical scholarship is divided over its interpretation of the ten commandment texts.

text: Julius Wellhausen's influential hypothesis regarding the formation of the Pentateuch suggests that Exodus 20-23 and 34 "might be regarded as the document which formed the starting point of the religious history of Israel."[106] Deuteronomy 5 then reflects King Josiah's attempt to link the document produced by his court to the older Mosaic tradition.

text: In a 2002 analysis of the history of this position, Bernard M. Levinson argued that this reconstruction assumes a Christian perspective, and dates back to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's polemic against Judaism, which asserted that religions evolve from the more ritualistic to the more ethical. Goethe thus argued that the Ten Commandments revealed to Moses at Mt. Sinai would have emphasized rituals, and that the "ethical" Decalogue Christians recite in their own churches was composed at a later date, when Israelite prophets had begun to prophesy the coming of the messiah, Jesus Christ. Levinson points out that there is no evidence, internal to the Hebrew Bible or in external sources, to support this conjecture. He concludes that its vogue among later critical historians represents the persistence of the idea that the supersession of Judaism by Christianity is part of a longer history of progress from the ritualistic to the ethical.[107]

text: By the 1930s, historians who accepted the basic premises of multiple authorship had come to reject the idea of an orderly evolution of Israelite religion. Critics instead began to suppose that law and ritual could be of equal importance, while taking different form, at different times. This means that there is no longer any a priori reason to believe that Exodus 20:2–17 and Exodus 34:10–28 were composed during different stages of Israelite history. For example, critical historian John Bright also dates the Jahwist texts to the tenth century BCE, but believes that they express a theology that "had already been normalized in the period of the Judges" (i.e., of the tribal alliance).[108] He concurs about the importance of the decalogue as "a central feature in the covenant that brought together Israel into being as a people"[109] but views the parallels between Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, along with other evidence, as reason to believe that it is relatively close to its original form and Mosaic in origin.[110]

text: Hittite treaties[edit]

text: According to John Bright, however, there is an important distinction between the Decalogue and the "book of the covenant" (Exodus 21-23 and 34:10–24). The Decalogue, he argues, was modelled on the suzerainty treaties of the Hittites (and other Mesopotamian Empires), that is, represents the relationship between God and Israel as a relationship between king and vassal, and enacts that bond.[111]

text: "The prologue of the Hittite treaty reminds his vassals of his benevolent acts.. (compare with Exodus 20:2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery"). The Hittite treaty also stipulated the obligations imposed by the ruler on his vassals, which included a prohibition of relations with peoples outside the empire, or enmity between those within."[112] (Exodus 20:3: "You shall have no other gods before Me"). Viewed as a treaty rather than a law code, its purpose is not so much to regulate human affairs as to define the scope of the king's power.[113]

text: Julius Morgenstern argued that Exodus 34 is distinct from the Jahwist document, identifying it with king Asa's reforms in 899 BCE.[114] Bright, however, believes that like the Decalogue this text has its origins in the time of the tribal alliance. The book of the covenant, he notes, bears a greater similarity to Mesopotamian law codes (e.g. the Code of Hammurabi which was inscribed on a stone stele). He argues that the function of this "book" is to move from the realm of treaty to the realm of law: "The Book of the Covenant (Ex., chs. 21 to 23; cf. ch. 34), which is no official state law, but a description of normative Israelite judicial procedure in the days of the Judges, is the best example of this process."[115] According to Bright, then, this body of law too predates the monarchy.[116]

text: Hilton J. Blik writes that the phrasing in the Decalogue's instructions suggests that it was conceived in a mainly polytheistic milieu, evident especially in the formulation of the henotheistic "no-other-gods-before-me" commandment.[117][self-published source]

text: Dating[edit]

text: If the Ten Commandments are based on Hittite forms, it would date them to somewhere between the 14th-12th century BCE.[118] Archaeologists Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman argue that "the astonishing composition came together … in the seventh century BCE".[119] Critical scholar Yehezkel Kaufmann (1960) dates the oral form of the covenant to the time of Josiah.[120] An even later date (after 586 BCE) is suggested by David H. Aaron.[121]

text: The Ritual Decalogue[edit]

text: Some proponents of the Documentary hypothesis have argued that the biblical text in Exodus 34:28[122] identifies a different list as the ten commandments, that of Exodus 34:11–27.[123] Since this passage does not prohibit murder, adultery, theft, etc., but instead deals with the proper worship of Yahweh, some scholars call it the "Ritual Decalogue", and disambiguate the ten commandments of traditional understanding as the "Ethical Decalogue".[124][125][126][127]

text: According to these scholars the Bible includes multiple versions of events. On the basis of many points of analysis including linguistic it is shown as a patchwork of sources sometimes with bridging comments by the editor (Redactor) but otherwise left intact from the original, frequently side by side.[128]

text: Richard Elliott Friedman argues that the Ten Commandments at Exodus 20:1–17 "does not appear to belong to any of the major sources. It is likely to be an independent document, which was inserted here by the Redactor."[129] In his view, the Covenant Code follows that version of the Ten Commandments in the northern Israel E narrative. In the J narrative in Exodus 34 the editor of the combined story known as the Redactor (or RJE), adds in an explanation that these are a replacement for the earlier tablets which were shattered. "In the combined JE text, it would be awkward to picture God just commanding Moses to make some tablets, as if there were no history to this matter, so RJE adds the explanation that these are a replacement for the earlier tablets that were shattered."[130]

text: He writes that Exodus 34:14–26 is the J text of the Ten Commandments: "The first two commandments and the sabbath commandment have parallels in the other versions of the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5). … The other seven commandments here are completely different."[131] He suggests that differences in the J and E versions of the Ten Commandments story are a result of power struggles in the priesthood. The writer has Moses smash the tablets "because this raised doubts about the Judah's central religious shrine".[132]

text: According to Kaufmann, the Decalogue and the book of the covenant represent two ways of manifesting God's presence in Israel: the Ten Commandments taking the archaic and material form of stone tablets kept in the ark of the covenant, while the book of the covenant took oral form to be recited to the people.[120]

text: United States debate over display on public property[edit]

text: European Protestants replaced some visual art in their churches with plaques of the Ten Commandments after the Reformation. In England, such "Decalogue boards" also represented the English monarch's emphasis on rule of royal law within the churches. The United States Constitution forbids establishment of religion by law; however images of Moses holding the tablets of the Decalogue, along other religious figures including Solomon, Confucius, and Mohamed holding the Qur'an, are sculpted on the north and south friezes of the pediment of the Supreme Court building in Washington.[133] Images of the Ten Commandments have long been contested symbols for the relationship of religion to national law.[134]

text: In the 1950s and 1960s the Fraternal Order of Eagles placed possibly thousands of Ten Commandments displays in courthouses and school rooms, including many stone monuments on courthouse property.[135] Because displaying the commandments can reflect a sectarian position if they are numbered (see above), the Eagles developed an ecumenical version that omitted the numbers, as on the monument at the Texas capitol (shown here). Hundreds of monuments were also  placed by director Cecil B. DeMille as a publicity stunt to promote his 1956 film The Ten Commandments.[136] Placing the plaques and monuments to the Ten Commandments in and around government buildings was another expression of mid-twentieth century U.S. civil religion, along with adding the phrase "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance.[134]

text: By the beginning of the twenty-first century in the U.S., however, Decalogue monuments and plaques in government spaces had become a legal battleground between religious as well as political liberals and conservatives. Organizations such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Americans United for Separation of Church and State launched lawsuits challenging the posting of the ten commandments in public buildings. The ACLU has been supported by a number of religious groups (such as the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.),[137] and the American Jewish Congress[138]), both because they do not want government to be issuing religious doctrine and because they feel strongly that the commandments are inherently religious. Many commentators see this issue as part of a wider culture war between liberal and conservative elements in American society. In response to the perceived attacks on traditional society, other legal organizations, such as the Liberty Counsel, have risen to advocate the conservative interpretation. Many Christian conservatives have taken the banning of officially sanctioned prayer from public schools by the U.S. Supreme Court as a threat to the expression of religion in public life. In response, they have successfully lobbied many state and local governments to display the ten commandments in public buildings.

text: Those who oppose the posting of the ten commandments on public property argue that it violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. In contrast, groups like the Fraternal Order of Eagles who support the public display of the ten commandments claim that the commandments are not necessarily religious but represent the moral and legal foundation of society, and are appropriate to be displayed as a historical source of present-day legal codes. Also, some argue like Judge Roy Moore that prohibiting the public practice of religion is a violation of the first amendment's guarantee of freedom of religion.[134]

text: U.S. courts have often ruled against displays of the Ten Commandments on government property. They conclude that the ten commandments are derived from Judeo-Christian religions, to the exclusion of others: the statement "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" excludes non-monotheistic religions like Hinduism, for example. Whether the Constitution prohibits the posting of the commandments or not, there are additional political and civil rights issues regarding the posting of what is construed as religious doctrine. Excluding religions that have not accepted the ten commandments creates the appearance of impropriety. The courts have been more accepting, however, of displays that place the Ten Commandments in a broader historical context of the development of law.

text: One result of these legal cases has been that proponents of displaying the Ten Commandments have sometimes surrounded them with other historical texts to portray them as historical, rather than religious. Another result has been that other religious organizations have tried to put monuments to their laws on public lands. For example, an organization called Summum has won court cases against municipalities in Utah for refusing to allow the group to erect a monument of Summum aphorisms next to the ten commandments. The cases were won on the grounds that Summum's right to freedom of speech was denied and the governments had engaged in discrimination. Instead of allowing Summum to erect its monument, the local governments chose to remove their ten commandments.

text: Cultural references[edit]

text: Two famous films of this name were directed by Cecil B. DeMille: a silent movie released in 1923 starring Theodore Roberts as Moses and a colour VistaVision version of 1956, starring Charlton Heston as Moses.

text: Both Dekalog, a 1989 Polish film series directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski, and The Ten, a 2007 American film, use the ten commandments as a structure for 10 smaller stories.[139]

text: The receipt of the Ten Commandments by Moses was satirized in Mel Brooks's movie History of the World Part I (1981), which shows Moses (played by Brooks, in a similar costume to Charlton Heston's Moses in the 1956 film), receiving three tablets containing fifteen commandments, but before he can present them to his people, he stumbles and drops one of the tablets, shattering it. He then presents the remaining tablets, proclaiming Ten Commandments.[140]

text: In The Prince of Egypt, a 1998 animated film that depicted the early life of Moses (voiced by Val Kilmer), the ending depicts him with the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai, accompanied by a reprise of Deliver Us.

text: The story of Moses and the Ten Commandments is discussed in the Danish stageplay Biblen (2008).


document_title: Roses Are Red

question_text: who started roses are red violets are blue

text: Roses Are Red

text: Lyrics[edit]

text: The most common modern form of the poem is:

text: Origins[edit]

text: The origins of the poem may be traced at least as far back as to the following lines written in 1590 by Sir Edmund Spenser from his epic The Faerie Queene (Book Three, Canto 6, Stanza 6):[2]

text: A nursery rhyme significantly closer to the modern cliché Valentine's Day poem can be found in Gammer Gurton's Garland, a 1784 collection of English nursery rhymes:

text: Victor Hugo was likely familiar with Spenser, but may not have known the English nursery rhyme when, in 1862, he published the novel Les Misérables. Hugo was a poet as well as a novelist, and within the text of the novel are many songs. One sung by the character Fantine contains this refrain, in the 1862 English translation:

text: The last two lines in the original French are:

text: (Les Misérables, Fantine, Book Seven, Chapter Six)[4]

text: Folklore[edit]

text: Numerous satirical versions have long circulated in children's lore.[5] Among them:

text: The Marx Brothers' film Horse Feathers has Chico Marx describing the symptoms of cirrhosis thus:

text: Benny Hill version:

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ "Roud Folksong Index S299266 Roses are red, violets are blue". Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. English Folk Dance and Song Society. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
Jump up ^ The Faerie Queene, Cant. VI.
Jump up ^ I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 375.
Jump up ^ Les misérables, Tome I by Victor Hugo at Project Gutenberg
Jump up ^ S. J. Bronner, American Children’s Folklore (August House: 1988), p. 84.
Jump up ^ "Jill Still Playing Jacks And Hopscotch Endures", retrieved 17 September 2009.
Jump up ^ Horse feathers
Jump up ^ Lawrence Dorfman, Snark! The Herald Angels Sing: Sarcasm, Bitterness and the Holiday Season, Skyhorse Publishing, (2013),

tag: ol

text:
[hide]

v
t
e

Nursery rhymes (list)

"A-Tisket, A-Tasket"
"Baa, Baa, Black Sheep"
"Did You Ever See a Lassie?"
"Hey Diddle Diddle"
"Hickory Dickory Dock"
"Hot Cross Buns"
"Humpty Dumpty"
"I'm a Little Teapot"
"It's Raining, It's Pouring"
"Jack and Jill"
"Little Bo Peep"
"Little Boy Blue"
"Little Jack Horner"
"Little Miss Muffet"
"Mary Had a Little Lamb"
"Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary"
"Old King Cole"
"Old MacDonald Had a Farm"
"Old Mother Hubbard"
"Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe"
"Peter Piper"
"Polly Put the Kettle On"
"Poor Mary"
"Pop Goes the Weasel"
"Pussy Cat Pussy Cat"
"Rain Rain Go Away"
"Roses Are Red"
"Rub-a-dub-dub"
"Simple Simon"
"Sticks and Stones"
"The Grand Old Duke of York"
"The Queen of Hearts"
"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"
"Two Little Dickie Birds"

Clapping

"A Sailor Went to Sea"
"Down Down Baby"
"Mary Mack"
"Miss Susie"

"Miss Lucy"

"Pat-a-cake"
"Pretty Little Dutch Girl"
"Pease Porridge Hot"

Counting

"Duck, duck, goose"
"Eeny, meeny, miny, moe"
"One, Two, Buckle My Shoe"
"One, Two, Three, Four, Five"
"This Old Man"
"Tinker, Tailor"

Finger-
plays

"Five Little Monkeys"
"Five Little Ducks"
"Five Little Speckled Frogs"
"Itsy Bitsy Spider"
"Little Robin Redbreast"
"Round and Round the Garden"
"This Little Piggy"

Games

"London Bridge"
"The Muffin Man"
"Mulberry Bush"
"Oranges and Lemons"
"Ring a Ring o' Roses"
"The Farmer in the Dell"

Riddle

"As I was going to St Ives"

Lullabies

"Hush, Little Baby"
"Rock-a-bye Baby"

Rounds

"Ding Dong Bell"
"Frère Jacques"
"Kookaburra"
"Row, Row, Row Your Boat"
"Scotland's Burning"
"Three Blind Mice"

text: Roud Folk Song Index songsEnglish nursery rhymesLove poems


document_title: Under the Dome (novel)

question_text: when did stephen king write under the dome

text: Under the Dome (novel)

text: Plot summary[edit]

text: At 11:44 a.m. on Saturday, October 21, of an unspecified year (but no earlier than 2017, as a faded bumper sticker references Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign, and 2017 is the first later year when October 21 is a Saturday)[1][2] the small Maine town of Chester's Mill is abruptly and gruesomely separated from the outside world by an invisible, semipermeable barrier of unknown origin. The immediate appearance of the barrier causes a number of injuries and fatalities, and traps former Army Captain Dale "Barbie" Barbara—who is trying to leave Chester's Mill because of a local dispute—inside the town.

text: Police Chief Howard "Duke" Perkins is killed instantly when his pacemaker explodes when he gets too close to the dome. This removes the last significant opposition to James "Big Jim" Rennie, used car salesman and the town's Second Selectman. Big Jim exerts significant influence on Chester's Mill and seizes the opportunity to use the barrier as part of a power play to take over the town.

text: Big Jim appoints one of his cronies, the incompetent Peter Randolph, as the new police chief. He also begins expanding the ranks of the Chester's Mill Police with questionable candidates, including his son, Junior Rennie, and his friends. Junior has frequent migraines caused by an as-yet undiscovered brain tumor which has also begun affecting his mental state; unknown to Big Jim, Junior was in the process of beating and strangling a girl (Angie McCain) to death when the barrier appeared and has killed another girl (Dodee Sanders) by the time Big Jim places him on the police force.

text: Elsewhere in Chester's Mill, Col. James O. Cox (who is stationed outside of the Dome) calls Julia Shumway, the editor of the local newspaper, and has her carry a message to Barbie to contact him. Cox then asks Barbie to act as the government's agent to bring down the Dome, as it has come to be known. Drawing similarities to Barbie's Army specialization in locating enemy munitions factories, Cox gives him the task of locating the Dome's power source, which is believed to be somewhere in the town.  Cox is also able to foresee the small-town political ramifications of such a situation. By virtue of a Presidential order, Barbie is reinstated in the U.S. military and brevetted to the rank of Colonel. Barbie is also presented with a decree granting him authority over the township. However, small town politics being what they are, this action is not well received by Big Jim and his band of renegade police officers. Around this time, Brenda Perkins, Duke's widow, discovers a file on her husband's computer that lists Big Jim's moneystealing schemes.

text: As Big Jim covertly encourages and orchestrates unease and panic among the townspeople to build up his grab for power, Barbie, Julia and some other townspeople attempt to stop things from spiraling out of control. After crossing Rennie's path on several occasions, Barbie is framed and arrested for four murders. He is accused of killing Reverend Lester Coggins, who laundered money for Rennie's large-scale methamphetamine operation, and Duke's widow Brenda Perkins, who were both murdered by Big Jim, as well as Angie and Dodee. While Barbie is in jail, other residents track the source of the Dome, using a Geiger Counter, to an abandoned farm; the device they find in the middle of the farm's orchard is strongly indicated to be extraterrestrial in origin. The restrictions issued by Rennie become more severe, and the police force grows more abusive, galvanizing the town and eventually leading some residents to break Barbie out of jail, killing Junior seconds before he can murder Barbie.

text: The semi-organized resistance flees to the abandoned farm, where multiple people touch the strange object and experience visions. They not only conclude that the device was put in place by extraterrestrial "leatherheads" (so named for their appearance), but that specifically they are juveniles who have set up the Dome as a cruel form of entertainment, a sort of ant farm used to capture sentient beings and allow their captors to view everything that happens to them.

text: On an organized "Visitors Day"—when people outside the Dome can meet at its edge with people within—Big Jim sends Randolph and a detachment of police to take back control of his former meth operation from Phil "Chef" Bushey, who is stopping Rennie from covering up the operation as well as hoarding the more than four hundred tanks of propane stored there (Chef wants it all, explaining, "I need it to cook"). Big Jim underestimates Chef's capacity for self-defense and meth-induced paranoia; he, as well as the now-ostracized head selectman Andy Sanders (whom Chef has introduced to meth use), defend themselves and the meth lab with assault rifles. Many are killed in the ensuing gunfight and Chef, who is mortally wounded, detonates a plastic explosive device he has placed in the meth production facility. The ensuing explosion, combined with the propane and meth-making chemicals, unleashes a toxic firestorm large enough to incinerate most of the town.

text: More than a thousand of the town's residents are quickly incinerated on national television, leaving alive just over 300 individuals who gradually die out as the toxic air restricts their breathing. Among the survivors are the twenty-seven refugees at the abandoned farm, an orphaned farm boy hiding in a potato cellar, and Big Jim and his informal aide-de-camp, Carter Thibodeau, in the town's fallout shelter. Big Jim and Thibodeau eventually turn on each other over the limited oxygen supply (and Big Jim's worry that Thibodeau may act as a witness against him if they survive); Big Jim stabs and disembowels Thibodeau, only to die several hours later when hallucinations of the dead send him fleeing into the toxic environment outside. The survivors at the barn begin to slowly asphyxiate, despite efforts by the Army to force clean air through the walls of the Dome.

text: Barbie and Julia go to the control device to beg their captors to release them. Julia makes contact with a single female leatherhead, no longer accompanied by her friends and thus not under peer pressure. After repeatedly expressing that they are real sentient beings with real "little lives", and by sharing a painful childhood incident with the adolescent alien, Julia convinces the leatherhead to have pity on them. The Dome rises slowly and vanishes, allowing the toxic air to dissipate and finally freeing what is left of the town of Chester's Mill.

text: Characters[edit]

text: Main characters[edit]

text:
Dale "Barbie" Barbara – A former Army lieutenant (initially referred to as a former captain by Colonel Cox), Barbara became a drifter after separating from the Army. Trapped within feet of the edge of the Dome, witnessing a woodchuck cut in half by the event, Dale was attempting to flee the town after a confrontation with Junior Rennie and his friends. Dale soon becomes the U.S. government's choice to run Chester's Mill, after being recalled to active service and promoted to a Colonel. This causes more tension between Dale, Big Jim, and Junior, causing the two to frame Dale for the murders they commit. One of the 26 survivors of the Dome.
Julia Shumway – A cynical woman who owns and edits The Democrat (despite being a Republican), the town's local newspaper. Julia often feels the need to prove a point and expose those she sees around her. Julia becomes the conduit between Colonel Cox and Dale Barbara via her cell phone. Julia and Dale have a budding romantic relationship. Both Dale and Julia are gutsy and tough, brave enough to try any chance they might have for survival. Julia comes from a family of news executives; the newspaper is a family concern.  She was groomed early for success and was viewed by her peers as a "goody-two-shoes".  A confrontation with her classmates in fourth grade caused her to rethink her status and changed the course of her academic career; however, this same confrontation is key in helping her formulate a plan to end the siege.  One of the 26 survivors of the Dome.
James "Big Jim" Rennie – A power-obsessed second selectman of Chester's Mill based on Dick Cheney,[3] owner of a used car dealership and the biggest crystal meth lab on the east coast. When Chief Perkins is killed on Dome Day, Big Jim becomes the de facto leader of Chester's Mill. He is owed favors by virtually every person of authority in town, and is rubber stamped by Andy Sanders, the grieving and incompetent first selectman, and Pete Randolph, the new, incompetent town police chief. Big Jim directly controls both Andy and Pete through most of the story. Big Jim murders Lester Coggins, Brenda Perkins, and Carter Thibodeau during his time under the Dome. His actions make him responsible for the deaths of many others.  Presumed dead from heart failure in the town's emergency shelter.
James "Junior" Rennie – Junior is a smalltown thug and son of the most influential man in Chester's Mill. After he is deputized, he recruits new police officers for his father. Junior gradually devolves from a violent (but somewhat sane) thug to a paranoid, angry sociopath, suffering from a brain tumor disguising itself as migraines. He particularly hates Dale Barbara, who laid a beating on Junior and his friends even though they outnumbered him. Dale could have had Junior arrested for assault, but Dale was an outsider and Junior's father was Big Jim. Junior murders Angie McCain early in the story, and Angie's friend Dodee Sanders a short time later when she stops by the McCain house. He later molests the corpses of the two women, referring to them as his "girlfriends" in his delusional state. He slowly becomes more delusional as the novel progresses and his tumor becomes more debilitating. Eventually Junior comes to the false conclusion that Barbara has poisoned him and sets out to kill him. He later murders special deputies Stacey Moggins, Rupe Libby, and Mickey Wardlaw by shooting them, before being killed himself by Jackie Wettington.
Eric "Rusty" Everett – A kind-hearted physician assistant at Cathy Russell Hospital. Rusty is married to Linda Everett, a police officer, and has two young daughters, Janelle and Judy. His children are the first of many to experience seizures and prophetic visions from the device that generates the Dome.  After the town's doctor dies, Rusty tends to those that are ruined in the chaos that erupts after the Dome's arrival, maintaining a cool, optimistic attitude in a time of stress. Rusty is arrested for threatening Big Jim, but escapes and helps the other survivors. One of the 26 survivors of the Dome.
Joseph "Scarecrow Joe" McClatchey – A 13-year-old student at Chester's Mill Middle School. Joe is a dedicated skateboarder along with his two friends, Norrie Calvert and Benny Drake. Mature and intelligent beyond his years, Joe is one of the first in town to seek answers for the cause of the Dome rather than try to establish a semblance of order. He organizes a protest at the Dome's wall—assisted by Norrie and Benny—and manages to rally the town before an incident calls the entire protest off. He later becomes a valuable ally of Dale Barbara, assisting him in providing a video feed during the incident early in the book where the government sends a missile to try to destroy the Dome. Afterward, he continues to make an effort to find answers to the Dome with his friends, and is among the group that finds the alien generator in the town's back fields. One of the 26 survivors of the Dome.

text: Minor characters[edit]

text: The novel contains an expansive cast of minor characters while maintaining a rather small circle of central players.

text:
Brenda Perkins – Brenda is the wife of the late Chief Perkins, who was killed on Day One under the Dome when he approached the surface of the Dome and his pacemaker exploded. Brenda is instrumental in uncovering Big Jim's dirty laundry due to her knowledge of her husband's secret files. These files detail Big Jim's illegal activities. Brenda is a friend of Barbie's. After passing a copy of the files to Andrea Grinnell, she confronts Big Jim. Big Jim murders Brenda when she confronts him with the evidence regarding his criminal activities.
Frank DeLesseps – Frank is a friend of Junior Rennie. He is engaged to Angie McCain and never suspects that Junior could have killed her. He becomes a special deputy at the request of Big Jim and Junior Rennie and is a participant in the gang-rape of Sammy Bushey. While keeping a vigil at the bedside of the injured Georgia Roux (an accessory to the rape), Frank is shot to death by Sammy.
Carter Thibodeau – Carter is a friend of Junior Rennie, and so is recommended for special deputy. He participates in the gang-rape of Sammy Bushey and is Georgia Roux's boyfriend until her death. Unlike his peers, Carter is intelligent and cunning. Carter becomes Big Jim's personal bodyguard for a short time. Carter shoots Andrea Grinnell to death at the special town meeting before the giant explosion. Eventually he is killed by Big Jim in the town's fallout shelter after Carter attempted to kill Big Jim in order to preserve oxygen.
Melvin Searles – Another friend of Junior Rennie, Melvin becomes a special deputy at the request of Big Jim Rennie, after Junior recommends him. Melvin is another participant in the rape of Sammy Bushey. Melvin is killed by the explosion started by Phil Bushey and Andy Sanders.
Georgia Roux – Georgia is the girlfriend of Carter Thibodeau. Georgia becomes a special deputy at the request of Big Jim Rennie, after Junior recommends her. She is a participant in the rape of Sammy Bushey by egging the rapists on. She is admitted to the hospital after receiving facial injuries in the Food City riot. A cowering Georgia is shot dead by Sammy Bushey out of revenge.
Andy Sanders – Andy is the town's first selectman. He is also widower of Claudette Sanders and the father of Dodee Sanders. Andy has been a puppet to Big Jim Rennie for a long time prior to the Dome and exerts no power. Andy first finds that Claudette has been killed when her plane crashes into the Dome. This immediately destroys any will or motivation he may have had left, causing Andy to follow Big Jim unquestioningly. Upon hearing news of losing his daughter as well, he is about to commit suicide. He changes his mind after an emergency phone call, then joins forces with The Chef. Andy becomes hooked on crystal meth, and later defends the radio station along with The Chef. During the raid on the station, Andy kills Peter Randolph, Roger Killian, Stewart Bowie and Fernald Bowie before he is willingly killed in the explosion detonated by Chef and himself.
Phil "Chef" Bushey – As far as most of the citizens of Chester's Mill are concerned, Phil Bushey has disappeared. He is the estranged husband of Sammy Bushey and father of Little Walter Bushey. Big Jim and some others know that Phil has become "The Chef" and is holed up at the Christian radio station, charged with cooking vast amounts of crystal meth, hence his name. During the raid on the station, Phil kills Freddy Denton, Aubrey Towle, Stubby Norman and others. Phil presses the button with Andy Sanders which triggers the explosion that destroys himself and the town.
Peter Randolph – Pete becomes Chief of Police after Duke Perkins' death. He is fairly simple minded and is easily manipulated by Big Jim, who secretly considers Pete his idiot. It is through Pete that Big Jim is able to expand and control the Mill's police force. Pete is executed by Andy Sanders during the raid on the radio station.
Ollie Dinsmore – Ollie is the son of Alden & Shelley Dinsmore and older brother of Rory Dinsmore. Ollie must survive the death of his parents and brother while under the Dome. He amazingly survives the fire in the Dome by hiding under a pile of potatoes in a cellar with an oxygen tank. When the oxygen runs out, the army provides giant fans which allow small amounts of air to enter the dome, allowing Ollie to survive. One of the 26 survivors of the dome.
Romeo "Rommie" Burpee – Romeo is married to Michela Burpee. He is the owner of Burpee's department store, and assists in breaking Barbie and Rusty out of prison, as well as getting Dale up to the alien device using resources from his store. Romeo is initially motivated by long ago lover Brenda Perkins' murder. One of the 26 survivors of the dome.
Jackie Wettington – A police officer on the original Chester's Mill force, she is fired once Big Jim brings enough of his own recruits. Jackie assists in breaking Barbie and Rusty out of prison. She also kills Junior Rennie once Junior has completely snapped. One of the 26 survivors of the dome.
Piper Libby – Reverend of the First Congregational Church in Chester's Mill. Despite her position, she no longer believes in God. One of the 26 survivors of the Dome.
Linda Everett – Another police officer from the original force, she is fired because she is married to Rusty Everett. Her two daughters are Janelle and Judy Everett. One of the 26 survivors of the dome.
Thurston Marshall – Professor at a university and acting doctor at the hospital. Partner of Carolyn Sturges, temporary father figure to Aidan & Alice Appleton. Dies from asphyxiation inside the dome, shortly before it was lifted.
Carolyn Sturges – Graduate assistant at a university, partner of Thurston Marshall and temporary mother figure to Aidan & Alice Appleton. Killed by a stray bullet fired by Freddy Denton at the town hall meeting.
Alice Appleton – Separated from her mother due to the dome, older sister of Aidan Appleton, is cared for by Thurston Marshall and Carolyn Sturges whilst under the dome. One of the 26 survivors of the dome.
Aidan Appleton – Separated from his mother due to the dome, younger brother of Alice Appleton, is cared for by Thurston Marshall and Carolyn Sturges whilst under the dome. Dies from asphyxiation shortly before the dome was lifted.
Sammy Bushey – Wife of Phil "Chef" Bushey and mother of Little Walter Bushey. She sells marijuana and other drugs and is involved with Dodee Sanders before Sanders' murder. Later on, she is raped by Frank DeLesseps, Carter Thibodeau and Melvin Searles while Georgia Roux eggs them on. She kills DeLesseps and Roux at a hospital as revenge before killing herself.
Angie McCain - Daughter of LaDonna and Henry McCain, she was a waitress at Sweetbriar Rose. She was engaged to Frank DeLesseps, she was known as the town flirt. She is murdered by Junior Rennie.
Lester Coggins – Reverend of Christ the Holy Redeemer Church in Chester's Mill. In stark contrast to Piper Libby, he is devout to the point of insanity, frequently flagellating himself for his sins. He assists in Big Jim Rennie's meth ring, but is overcome by guilt after the Dome falls and attempts to convince Rennie to come clean. Rennie bludgeons him with a gilded baseball and with the help of Junior Rennie blames the murder on Dale Barbara.
Freddy Denton – Police officer, one of the first to take the changes in his stride, kills "Clover" Libby (Piper Libby's pet dog) as she mauls a fellow Special Deputy, and Carolyn Sturges. He is killed by Phil "Chef" Bushey.
Dodee Sanders - Daughter of Claudette and Andy Sanders. She was a waitress at Sweetbriar Rose and was in a relationship with Samantha Bushey. Julia Shumway delivers the news to her that her mother had died. She went to Angie McCain's house to visit her where Junior Rennie murders her.
Rose Twitchell – Owner of the Sweetbriar Rose, the local cafe. Sister of Dougie Twitchell and Andrea Grinell, and employer of Dale Barbara. One of the 26 survivors of the dome.
Andrea Grinnell – Town's third selectman and recovered Oxycontin addict near the end of the novel. She is the wife of Tommy Grinnell, and the sister of Dougie Twitchell and Rose Twitchell. Finds the "Vader File" on Big Jim, and begins a proclamation against him during the town hall meeting, where she planned to assassinate Big Jim. After dropping her purse due to withdrawal, Aidan spots her pistol and innocently proclaims, "That lady has a gun!" Killed by Carter Thibodeau.
Ernie Calvert – Retired Supermarket manager, father-in-law of Joanie Calvert and grandfather of Norrie Calvert. Helps break Barbie and Rusty out of prison, dies due to lack of oxygen shortly before the dome was lifted.
Stacey Moggin – Dispatcher at the police station, a supporter of Dale Barbara and had planned to assist in his break-out but is killed by Junior Rennie.
"Sloppy" Sam Verdreaux – The town drunk, a heavy-smoker for years. He is (temporarily) the least affected by the toxic air in the Dome and assists Barbara and Shumway in making contact with their dome captors. He dies from the effects of the ill air shortly after the dome was lifted.
Benny Drake – A teenager and close friend of Joseph McClatchey.  He helps Joe and Norrie Calvert search for the cause of the dome. Has a mutual crush on Norrie. He died due to lack of oxygen shortly before the dome was lifted.
"Audrey" Everett – The Everett's golden retriever.  She alerts "Rusty" Everett to his daughters' seizures.  She dies due to lack of oxygen shortly before the dome was lifted.
Norrie Calvert – The daughter of Joan Calvert and granddaughter of Ernie Calvert, she forms a close friendship with Joe McClatchey and Benny Drake.
Colonel James Cox – Former superior of Dale Barbara and overseer of Dome surveillance/eradication, Cox attempts to control the events under the Dome from the outside to no success.

text: Other minor characters, including many who are introduced just prior to being killed, appear throughout the book, including a mention of Lee Child's Jack Reacher.[4] Other human survivors are Dougie Twitchell, Ginny Tomlinson, Gina Buffalino, Harriet Bigelow, Janelle Everett, Judy Everett, Pete Freeman, Tony Guay, Claire McClatchey, Joanie Calvert, Alva Drake, Little Walter Bushey and Lissa Jamieson. Julia Shumway's dog 'Horace' also survives.

text: Writing[edit]

text: In January 2008, Time magazine quoted King as saying he would "be killing a lot of trees" with his next novel.[5] The first draft was completed in late August 2008, with the manuscript weighing 19 lb (8.6 kg).[6] King has stated the novel is twice as long as his most recent, Duma Key, at "over 1,500 pages in manuscript",[6] and "deals with some of the same issues that The Stand does, but in a more allegorical way".[7] King also described the novel as "very, very long", adding: "I tried this once before when I was a lot younger and the project was just too big for me."[8] King read from the first draft at "The Three Kings" reading event that was held on April 4, 2008 at the Library of Congress, which was broadcast by C-SPAN as part of their Book TV series on May 4, 2008.[9]

text: The Cannibals connection[edit]

text: Under the Dome is a partial rewrite of a novel King attempted to write first in 1972 under the same title and then a second time in 1982 as The Cannibals.[10] As King stated on his official site, these two unfinished works "were two very different attempts to utilize the same idea, which concerns itself with how people behave when they are cut off from the society they've always belonged to. Also, my memory of The Cannibals is that it, like Needful Things, was a kind of social comedy. The new Under the Dome is played dead straight."[11] From the material originally written, only the first chapter is included in the new novel.[12]

text: According to Stephen J. Spignesi's 1998 book The Lost Work of Stephen King,[13] The Cannibals (originally titled Under the Dome) is an unpublished unfinished 450-page handwritten novel written in 1982, while King was filming Creepshow. This work later served as inspiration to King's new novel Under the Dome. In 1982, King said: "I've got about four-hundred-and-fifty pages done and it is all about these people who are trapped in an apartment building. Worst thing I could think of. And I thought, wouldn't it be funny if they all ended up eating each other? It's very, very bizarre because it's all on one note. And who knows whether it will be published or not?" In Douglas E. Winter's book The Art of Darkness, Stephen King is also quoted, talking around the time of Creepshow, about the origins of Under the Dome: "I worked on a book called The Cannibals—I had started it five years before, but it was called Under the Dome then. It didn't get finished either time."[14]

text: On September 15, 2009, Stephen King's official site posted a 61-page facsimile excerpt from King's original novel The Cannibals, consisting of the first four chapters of the original typescript.[15] A further 63 pages were posted on October 4. The excerpts served to also document how long ago King had had the idea of being under a dome:

text: Several Internet writers have speculated on a perceived similarity between Under the Dome and The Simpsons Movie, where, [...] Springfield is isolated inside a large glass dome [...]. I can’t speak personally to this, because I have never seen the movie, and the similarity came as a complete surprise to me...although I know, from personal experience, that the similarity will turn out to be casual. For the doubters, this excerpt [from The Cannibals] should demonstrate that I was thinking dome and isolation long before Homer, Marge, and their amusing brood came on the scene."[16]

text: Environmental and political undertones[edit]

text: Regarding the theme of Under the Dome, King said:[17]

text: From the very beginning, I saw it as a chance to write about the serious ecological problems that we face in the world today. The fact is we all live under the dome. We have this little blue world that we've all seen from outer space, and it appears like that's about all there is. It's a natural allegorical situation, without whamming the reader over the head with it. I don't like books where everything stands for everything else. It works with Animal Farm: You can be a child and read it as a story about animals, but when you're older, you realize it's about communism, capitalism, fascism. That's the genius of Orwell. But I love the idea about isolating these people, addressing the questions that we face. We're a blue planet in a corner of the galaxy, and for all the satellites and probes and Hubble pictures, we haven't seen evidence of anyone else. There's nothing like ours. We have to conclude we're on our own, and we have to deal with it. We're under the dome. All of us.

text: Speaking to Time and The New York Times Book Review regarding the novel's politics, King said:[18][19]

text: I was angry about incompetency. Obviously I'm on the left of center. I didn't believe there was justification for going into the war in Iraq. And it just seemed at the time, that in the wake of 9/11, the Bush Administration was like this angry kid walking down the street who couldn't find whoever sucker punched him, and so turned around and punched the first likely suspect. Sometimes the sublimely wrong people can be in power at a time when you really need the right people. I put a lot of that into the book. But when I started I said, "I want to use the Bush–Cheney dynamic for the people who are the leaders of this town." As a result, you have Big Jim Rennie, the villain of the piece. I got to like the other guy, Andy Sanders. He wasn't actively evil, he was just incompetent—which is how I always felt about George W. Bush. I enjoyed taking the Bush–Cheney dynamic and shrinking it to the small-town level. The last administration interested me because of the aura of fundamentalist religion that surrounded it and the rather amazing incompetency of those two top guys. I thought there is something blackly humorous in it. So in a sense, Under the Dome is an apocalyptic version of The Peter Principle.

text: Release[edit]

text: The paperback edition of Just After Sunset, released on September 29, 2009, included an excerpt from the novel.[20] An excerpt was published in the November 6, 2009 issue of Entertainment Weekly.[21]

text: The preliminary dust jacket cover art was released to online retailers like Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble with the words "cover to be unveiled". In late August 2009, it was revealed that the real cover would be unveiled on October 5, 2009, with parts of it being shown on September 21, 25, and 28. The cover art design for Under the Dome is said to be a departure from King's previous illustrated covers, using a combination of illustration, photographs, and 3D renderings.[22] The final jacket design was released in two variations: with white lettering; and with the less common dark gray lettering.

text: Stephen King held a book signing at The Magic Lantern movie theater in Bridgton, Maine, the town that the fictitious Chester's Mill is modeled after, and made several TV appearances discussing the similarity between the real town and the fictional one. “I live 18 miles out of town and I’ve lived there for a long time,” said King.  “I looked at the police station, that’s the police station in the book. I just used the geography, the lake; everything is there.”[23] King was a Bridgton resident for nearly five years. It also served as the model for the town in The Mist. On the day of the release, Stephen King was in New York City at The TimesCenter to promote the book.[16]

text: In mid-October, Under the Dome became one of the highly discounted book preorders on Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, and Target, sparking a "price war" between the retailers. The price for Under the Dome and several other high-profile hardcover books to be released in November 2009, typically around US$25, was set at just US$9 (a discount of nearly 75 percent off on a new hardcover). Later, Wal-Mart lowered the price to US$8.98 and included free shipping. Target's price was set at US$8.99.[24][25]

text: Viral marketing[edit]

text: A number of viral marketing websites for popular locations referenced in Under the Dome were created to publicize the book, including Big Jim Rennie's Used Cars, the Sweet Briar Rose Diner, the Chester's Mill Democrat Newspaper, and others. A site was created for the Town of Chester's Mill, which provides links to all points of interest. An alternate reality game also took place utilizing all of these sites, beginning at the blog of Scarecrow Joe, one of the characters in the novel.

text: Limited editions[edit]

text: A Collector's Edition (limited to 25,000 copies) and a Signed Edition (limited to 1,500 copies) were published by Scribner concurrently with the regular trade edition. These editions feature a dust jacket without any lettering, a removable band with author name and title, printed endpapers with the map of the town in color (regular edition contains a black and white map in the book's front matter), 27 illustrations by The New Yorker cartoonist Matthew Diffee, a ribbon marker, and also contain a deck of cards with the Diffee illustrations. These editions are printed on specialty paper with different binding.[26]

text: A signed and numbered UK edition, published by Hodder & Stoughton, sold exclusively by both Hatchard's Bookshop and Waterstones, was limited to 500 copies. It included the 4-color endpapers, the 27 trading cards illustrated by cartoonist, Matthew Diffee, and was packaged in a slipcase.[27]

text: Reception[edit]

text: The author Dan Simmons, to whom Stephen King sent the manuscript for Under the Dome as a gift, commented on it on May 5, 2009, calling the novel "huge, generous, sprawling, infinitely energetic [...], absolutely enjoyable and impressive."[28] Publishers Weekly reviewed the novel on September 11, 2009, calling it "formidably complex and irresistibly compelling." The review said the book contains "themes and images from King's earlier fiction, and while this novel doesn't have the moral weight of, say, The Stand, nevertheless, it's a nonstop thrill ride as well as a disturbing, moving meditation on our capacity for good and evil".[29] In a review for The Plain Dealer, Daniel Dyer calls Under the Dome "a massive cautionary novel", saying it is "busy, ambitious, overlong but addictively munchable, [and] fundamentally a novel about human cruelty, animated by our desires for power, pleasure and sex."[30] USA Today called the novel "propulsively intriguing", "staggeringly addictive", and stated that "[r]eaders can wallow in this glorious novel's metaphoric and oh-so au courant messages about U.S. domination, freedom of the press, torture and environmental abuse, but they also can come to this novel just for the story."[31] The Los Angeles Times called Under the Dome "impressive", containing "lucid prose and chilling precision."[32] Janet Maslin's review for the New York Times said that Under the Dome "has the scope and flavor of literary Americana." Maslin says, "Hard as this thing is to hoist, it’s even harder to put down."[33] Ted Anthony of The Associated Press states that "Under the Dome is one of those works of fiction that manages to be both pulp and high art, that successfully—and very improbably—captures the national zeitgeist at this particularly strange and breathless period in American history."[34] On November 9, 2009, the author Neil Gaiman in his blog stated that "Under the Dome was one of my favourite books of the year so far."[35]

text: James Parker of the New York Times noted in his review of Under the Dome that the novel contains lines that are "stinkers", which made him feel "the clutch of sorrow." Regarding King's "pulp speed" output, James Parker noted: "We shouldn’t be too squeamish about the odd half-baked simile or lapse into B-movie dialogue."[36] The review in the New York Post states that Under the Dome "shares some of The Stand’s faults, like a left-field disaster [...] that works almost as a Diabolus Ex Machina, randomly wiping out half the cast. In both novels, the climactic "battle"—if you can really call it that—pales to the buildup. King is better at characters and situations than causes and reasons.  But at least The Stand feels like a saga [...]. I won’t reveal the secret of the Dome, except to say that the payoff is more Star Trek (original series) than epic."[37] John Dugdale, in a review for The Sunday Times wrote: "King's inability to raise his game—to relinquish the methods of his more straightforward tales of the paranormal—prevents you taking his socio-political vision seriously. The simple division of characters into goodies and baddies, the use of magic, the homespun style, the sentimental ending, the vital role played by a dog in defeating the forces of evil—all of these belong in fiction for older children, not the grown-up novels he's bent on emulating."[38]

text: Television adaptation[edit]

text: Shortly after the release of the book, it was announced that Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Television would be developing a cable miniseries based on the novel. Spielberg and King were announced as executive producers.[39] Brian K. Vaughan was hired to adapt the book.[40] Vaughan wrote the first episode, which was directed by Niels Arden Oplev. It premiered on June 24, 2013, and was an instant success for CBS; the premiere in June 2013 broke the record as the most-watched summer drama premiere on any television network since 1992, with the "Pilot" episode reaching over 13 million views.[41] The show ran for three seasons and concluded on September 10, 2015.


document_title: The Last Song (novel)

question_text: where does the last song book take place

text: The Last Song (novel)

text: Plot[edit]

text: 17-year-old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller is a troubled teenager who is wanting to live her own life and is trying her very best to ignore her divorced parents: Kim, her mother with whom she lives in New York, and Steve, her father who lives in his hometown of Wrightsville Beach, NC. Her mother decides that it would be in everyone's best interest if Ronnie and her 10-year-old brother, Jonah, spent the summer in Wrightsville Beach with Steve. Jonah is excited, while Ronnie can only wonder why her parents hate her so much as to send her there for the summer.

text: Once they arrive, Kim leaves and Ronnie runs off to the carnival down at the beach, where she watches a volleyball game in the crowd. As she turns to leave, one of the players, the privileged Will Blakelee, knocks into her while trying to reach the ball, spilling her soda all through the front of her shirt.

text: In search of a stand selling apparel, Ronnie bumps into Blaze, an estranged teenager like herself, Blaze helps her find a T-shirt booth and they leave to watch a show by Marcus, Blaze's boyfriend, on the pier. The show includes "harmless" fireballs, and when it's over, the police runs Marcus off. They go to sit under the pier, where Blaze heads off to get Marcus another beer. In Blaze's absence, Marcus attempts to hit on Ronnie, causing her to leave.

text: Later, when Ronnie finds a nest of Loggerhead turtle eggs in danger of racoons behind her house, she decides to camp out next to it to save it. She learns that Will volunteers at the aquarium, and after a few nights of talking with him on the beach, she realizes she has feelings for him.

text: Ronnie then finds out that her dad has cancer. As his cancer progresses, she, Jonah, and Will finish the window while Ronnie also finishes her dad's song for him on the piano. Pastor Harris, Steve's friend, then installs the window in the new church. Kim arrives to say goodbye to Steve one last time and take Jonah home. Ronnie stays with Steve. Will had left in August to go to Vanderbilt; however, he shows up at the funeral once Steve has passed. He leaves again for school and Ronnie returns to New York. While at Juilliard, auditioning for a spot, Will shows up to surprise her; he reveals that he's decided to go to Columbia to be closer to her.

text: Release[edit]

text: A book tour for The Last Song was announced on July 11, 2009[1] and reached around 13 cities.[2] Despite the relatively short tour, The Last Song debuted at number one on weekly bestseller charts. It headed the Publishers Weekly[3] and New York Times charts for hardback fiction[4] and the Wall Street Journal chart for fiction.[5] According to USA Today's chart, which combines sales of all formats of a book, The Last Song outsold all other titles in its first week.[6] The book dropped to number 2 on all lists the following week, due to the release of Dan Brown's highly anticipated The Lost Symbol, the sequel to The Da Vinci Code.[7][8]

text: Film adaptation[edit]

text: The film version of The Last Song was released in the U.S. on March 31, 2010,[9] Unlike previous adaptations of Sparks' novels, Sparks participated in writing the film's screenplay; after agreeing to the project, Sparks invited his college roommate Jeff Van Wie to co-write the script. With Van Wie's help, Sparks finished the screenplay before he began writing the novel.[10] The Last Song is director Julie Anne Robinson's first feature film. The film stars Miley Cyrus as Ronnie, along with Greg Kinnear as Steve, Liam Hemsworth as Will Blakelee, Kelly Preston as Kim, and Bobby Coleman as Jonah.[10]