The Ten Commandments summarize God’s moral law, applicable in every time and every place — including even before they were codified in the time of Moses. The King James Version of the Bible renders the Hebrew of the sixth commandment as “Thou shalt not kill” on both occasions when the commandment is recorded (Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17). The KJV translators opted to use the English word “kill”, which means: “to deprive of life” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). As a result, some Christians have argued that this commandment requires pacifism in the face of evil; other Christians have argued that the capital punishment of human beings is wrong; and still other Christians have argued that the commandment requires vegetarianism or veganism, in order to preserve the life of animals, birds, and reptiles.
But the better translation is “murder”, which means: “to kill (a human being) unlawfully and with premeditated malice” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). After all, the Old Testament law encourages the government to use capital punishment (the judicial killing of human beings) in a number of cases, including seven times in the very next chapter to the first record of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 21:12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 28, 29). Moreover, the Old Testament demands that worshippers kill specified animals and birds as acceptable sacrifices to God (Exodus 34:15, etc.) and permits the eating of animals and birds (Leviticus 7:15, etc.). Since the Bible is inspired by God through His Holy Spirit and, therefore, always consistent in what it affirms, the better translation of the commandment is: “You (thou) shall not murder.” We must respect our fellow image-bearers by not murdering them, and, as Jesus taught, not even murdering them with our thoughts (Matt. 21-22).
