Language Studies

Difficult Sayings

Thou shalt not kill
Exodus 20:13

"Thou shalt not kill." (ASV, AV, Darby, Douay, Jerusalem, NAB, Lamsa, RSV, Webster) "Thou shalt not murder." (JPS, NASB, NEB, NIV, NKJV, NLT, NRSV, NWT, RV, TEV) "Do not put anyone to death without cause." (BBE) (Exodus 20:13)

Kill, murder, suicide, its all the same — or is it? Most modern versions have moved on from mere killing to meditated murder. Some have argued for the AV's accuracy that all killing is forbidden and that modern translations are exhibiting "political expediency rather than objective scholarship".^F1 The author of this statement goes on to conclude, "This is one of the reasons I reject the Bible as a message from a possible God of the universe".

Similarly, the Freedom from Religion Foundation write, "The first contradiction ... deals with the Ten Commandments, contrasting Exodus 20:13, "Thou shall not kill," with Exodus 32:27, "slay every man his brother." The bible is filled with killings and mass murders committed, commanded, or condoned by deity, and if this is not a contradiction, then all squares are round."^F2

So are we rightly dividing the Word in making a distinction between killing and murder?

The Hebrew in both Exodus and Deuteronomy is רצח (lo tirtsach Strong’s #7523). Just six Hebrew letters for the sixth commandment, short and terse enough to fit on the original stone tablets without it being small-print. The Hebrew is literally "kill not", not the four words of the seemingly more polite "would you mind awfully not killing anyone". The particular Hebrew word is relatively infrequent compared to its other more general synonyms.

"ratsach is a purely Hebrew term. It has no clear cognate in any of the contemporary tongues. The root occurs thirty-eight times in the OT, with fourteen occurrences in Num 35. The initial use of the root appears in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:13). In that important text it appears in the simple Qal stem with the negative adverb, "You shall not murder," being a more precise reading than the too-general KJV "thou shalt not kill."" (Harris etc, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, #2208)

Exodus 21:12 enforces the premeditative aspect of the killing and Numbers 35:9f contains God’s explicit instructions concerning cities of refuge specifically to distinguish between actual murderers and accidental manslayers. However, whilst making a distinction, it nonetheless uses the same Hebrew word for manslaughter and murder. The verb for the killing of the perpetrator is usually, though, a different Hebrew word (except in Numbers 35:30), otherwise all executioners would be breaking the commandment.

Again, the killing of an enemy during warfare or self-defence tended to use the verb 'to smite' rather than ratsach. There are seven to ten Hebrew words for killing, but the one in use here is specific to taking human life. So no vegetarianism or Buddhist preservation of the ants under our feet is commanded here. If Hebrew had a specific verb for murder then ratsach would be the closest to it. That said, we cannot be conclusive, though 'murder' or 'deliberate killing' is a fair interpreted translation based upon the Hebrew word and the fuller context of Exodus 21 and Numbers 35 and their applications of the Law.

We will examine issues of the death penalty, God's apparent inconsistencies in not abiding by his own law, and any New Testament loosening or strengthening of this commandment and its punishment, in future studies.

FOOTNOTES:
F1: http://mypage.uniserve.ca/&tilda;tfrisen/bb/Ethics/killmurd.htm
F2: http://www.users.bigpond.com/pmurray/Rants/doc/lfif-27.html

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