Question: Recite the sixth commandment.
Answer: Thou shalt not kill. (Exodus 20:13)
Comments: The Ten Commandments have been immortalized by the way the King James Version rendered them. The sixth commandment, “thou shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13; Deuteronomy 5:17), is better understood as “you shall not murder.”
Murder is still not the exact concept expressed by the Hebrew (ratsach), but murder is more accurate than “kill.” This is the first time this word is used in the Bible and the only time it is used in the first three books of the Bible. The Hebrew is actually translated “murder”more often than “kill” even in the KJV. Most modern translations reflect this by translating ratsach “murder", even the New King James Version (CEV, ESV, MSG, NASB, NIV, NKJV, NLT, NRSV).
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2 comments:
"Kill" is fairly straightforward. He was alive, now he is dead (thanks to me). "Murder" requires a bit of definition. Is there a biblical definition of murder, perhaps with some examples/circumstances. Would it be everything but killing in wartime? Heat of passion? Suicide? Are these definitions found in the body of the work (the narrative) rather than explicitly in statutory form?
You have really been in law school too long.
The word in Hebrew (ratsach) does not directly parallel the term "murder" in English.
It is used many different ways in the Old Testament. In Numbers, the word is used twice (35:27, 30) for legal killing done by the blood avenger. There are also several places that use the word to refer to unintentional killing or causing accidental death (in our leagal terms, manslaughter). It can also mean to murder or assassinate.
The conclusion some draw is that the word emphasizes violence, not whether the action was legal or premeditated.
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