Is the commandment “You shall not kill” or “You shall not murder”?<\/p>\n\t
The Hebrew word in Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17 is\u00a0ratsach<\/em>. It is not the commonly used words for killing, which are\u00a0haragh<\/em>\u00a0(to slay) and\u00a0muth<\/em>\u00a0(to die).\u00a0Ratsach<\/em>\u00a0is most frequently used in Numbers 35 where rules are given to determine if the death of a person was purposeful or accidental. Thus we conclude that\u00a0ratsach<\/em> refers to the unauthorized taking of human life, whether one committed murder or was accused of murder. The only time ratsach<\/em>\u00a0is used in an approved way is in Numbers 35:30 where it states the murderer (ratsach<\/em>) is to be put to death (ratsach<\/em>). It is this one usage was to emphasize that the murderer would receive what was due. By the way, the word\u00a0ratsach<\/em>\u00a0is never used in connection with the taking of the life of an animal.<\/p>\n The Greek word in Matthew 19:18 and Romans 13:9 is\u00a0phoneuo<\/em>. It means to commit murder. This was the Greek word the Septuagint writers chose to translate the Hebrew word\u00a0ratsach<\/em>. It is consistently used to refer to the forbidden act of taking a human life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Is the commandment “You shall not kill” or “You shall not murder”? Answer: The Hebrew word in Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17 is\u00a0ratsach. It is not the commonly used words for killing, which are\u00a0haragh\u00a0(to slay) and\u00a0muth\u00a0(to die).\u00a0Ratsach\u00a0is most frequently used in Numbers 35 where rules are given to determine if the death of a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[406,176,76,190],"class_list":["post-10420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-murder","tag-ten-commandments","tag-terminology","tag-translation"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22158,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-a-driver-purposely-runs-over-a-dog-is-that-murder\/","url_meta":{"origin":10420,"position":0},"title":"If a driver purposely runs over a dog, is that murder?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Honestly, I don't know how I stumbled onto your web site,\u00a0 but I am glad that I did.\u00a0 I read through the majority of the \"Question Answered 2010\" and thought your advice was appropriate to the questions. So here is my question:\u00a0 I was sharing a conversation with my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13636,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-animals-have-feelings-if-they-are-just-food\/","url_meta":{"origin":10420,"position":1},"title":"Why do animals have feelings if they are just food?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have some questions that I desperately need to be answered regarding some of the statements in \"Did Jesus Eat Meat?\" These questions are not sarcastic or rhetorical, I'm simply seeking answers. 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Being\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39671,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-someone-who-kills-in-self-defense-still-a-murderer\/","url_meta":{"origin":10420,"position":3},"title":"Is someone who kills in self-defense still a murderer?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If a Christian commits a murder in self-defense is he still a murderer? In the Old Testament, they had a place called the cities of refuge, if I'm not mistaken. How about in this present time? What does the New Testament tell us? I need your insight on this.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7809,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-god-command-us-not-to-murder-when-god-murdered-people-in-the-old-testament\/","url_meta":{"origin":10420,"position":4},"title":"How can God command us not to murder when God murdered people in the Old Testament?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 14, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I am a Christian and I was wondering how we deal with the question: \"How can God command us not to murder when God murdered sometimes mass amounts of people in the Old Testament?\" Thanks. Answer: You're having difficulty understanding this because of your imprecise usage of words. God,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38613,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-shall-not-murder\/","url_meta":{"origin":10420,"position":5},"title":"You Shall Not Murder (Dearman)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 28, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jim Dearman \"You shall not murder!\" That was God's command as part of the Ten Commandments, and it is reinforced in the New Testament. In Romans 13:9, the apostle Paul refers to the commandment from Exodus 20:13. There he writes, \"For the commandments, 'You shall not commit adultery,' 'You\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}