Dean Anderson

One of the most famous commandments in the Bible is found in Exodus 20:13 and repeated in Deuteronomy 5:17.

In theological discussions, it is often argued that this should be better translated as 'Thou shalt not murder' - usually as a form of apologetic that then says all the killing by Yahweh was not murder so he didn't break his own commandment or have double standards.

This is not the forum for such discussions, but it is the place for Biblical scholarship...

So - can any of our Hebrew scholars shed light on the wording of this verse in the original Hebrew?

Does it say 'kill'?
Does it say 'murder'?
Is it ambiguous?
Does the Hebrew language even differentiate between the two meanings or has it a single word for all acts of killing?

The various New Testament authors who quote the commandment (in Matthew 5:21 and Romans 13:9) seem to think it is a different meaning to most killing. They use the Greek word φονευσεις rather than αποκτεινωσιν which is used in most situations of killing/murdering (for example in Matthew 26:4 when the priests plot to kill Jesus).

Bold

Presumably a murder is an illegal killing.

"Do not kill." could be a law
"Do not murder." would be a law a bit like "Obey the law".

Not very useful unless murder is defined elsewhere. Something seen as a fundamental statement of law shouldn't rely on outside definitions.

DougP

If Murder is an illegal killing, then does "Thou Shalt not kill" (if it means murder) mean that you are only sinning if the killing youve done is illegal in man's laws? If so, is God relying on humans to decide what is a sin or not?

Crucifiction

It does appear that way in the context. I'll venture no Christian would accept this, though.

gooti

Here's a snippet from a Wikipeida article on the Ten Commandments:

From reading this, I assume that murder would be defined as the unjustified killing of another human being.

I'm thinking that many Jews and Christians would play the "free will" card when it comes to the relationship between God and the laws of man, so it would indeed be up to us to distinguish between murder and killing.

Amlodhi

Hello Pervy Hobbit Fancier,

There are several terms in the Hebrew that can be translated roughly as "kill". The primary ones are:

רצח (ratsach) which properly means, "to dash to pieces". This term is used consistently in the sense of "murder".

הרג (harag) - to slay, to strike with deadly intent; to destroy out of hand; kill.

מות (muwth) - die; in the causative: cause to die.

שחט (shachat) - to slaughter (in sacrifice) or massacre.

The term used in the commandment (both Ex. 20:13 and Deut. 5:17) is רצח (ratsach).

A cursory check of the translated terms: strike, slay, kill, murder, cause to die, slaughter and massacre, indicates the usage of רצח (ratsach, murder) in only the following verses (momentarily excluding the book of Numbers). All of which carry the connotation of "murder":

Ex. 20:13 and Deut. 5:17 - the commandment, "Thou shalt not murder".

Deut. 4:42 - ". . . that the murderer might flee there who murdered his neighbor . . ." (though in this case, the reference is more at "manslaughter").

I Kgs. 21:19 - "So says YHWH, 'Have you murdered and also taken possession?"

Ps. 94:6 - ". . . the stranger, and murder the fatherless . . ."

Jer. 7:9 - "Will you steal, murder and commit adultery . . ."

Hos. 4:2 - ". . . lying, murdering, stealing and doing adultery increase . . ."

Hos. 6:9 - ". . . priests murder in the way by consent . . ."

In the book of Numbers, the term רצח (ratsach) is used as a noun, i.e. הרצחַ (haratsacha) - "murderer".

Num. 35:16 - "And if he strikes him with an instrument of iron and he dies, he is a murderer; the murderer shall certainly be put to death".

So Num. 35:17 - ". . . with a stone in the hand . . ."

So Num. 35:18 - ". . . with a wooden instrument . . ."

Num. 35:19 - "The avenger of blood shall himself put the murderer to death."

So Num. 35:21 - ". . . with his hand . . ."

And also, as a noun (murderer):

II Kg. 6:32 - ". . . 'Do you see that this son of the murderer has sent to take away my head?'

Hos. 9:13 - ". . . bring forth his children to the murderer . . ."


It is evident, then, that the term רצח (ratsach) is used in the sense of "murder". (Or, at the very least, what the Hebrew authors considered to be murder as opposed to other types of slaying.)

All of the other events in the OT that are translated as: strike, slay, kill, execute, cause to die, slaughter and massacre, utilize (with the occasional usage of a very few more rarely used terms) one of the alternate terms listed above, i.e:

הרג (harag) - to slay, to strike with deadly intent; to destroy out of hand; kill.

מות (muwth) - die; in the causative: cause to die.

שחט (shachat) - to slaughter (in sacrifice) or massacre.


Hope this helps,

Amlodhi

Dean Anderson

Thanks Amlodhi! That's just the sort of answer I was looking for.