That’s why I went back to the original text; especially the Hebrew. The Hebrew word “ratsach” (ra-tsak) is what was translated into the English language of 1611 as “kill”. My guess is that “kill” meant murder to many Englishmen in 1611; so at the time, that was a valid translation. In 2013, we wouldn’t choose “kill” as the correct English word. We’d choose “murder”.
#10
I agree.
Languages change over time and words have different meanings today than they did 400 years ago.
Nowadays, the word ‘kill’ simply means ‘to cause the death of a living organism.’ Something or someone was alive and now they’re dead due to some action or inaction on your part. How and why is irrelevant.
A more correct translation into modern English would be -
“Thou Shalt Not Murder” or “Thou Shalt Not Commit Murder”
where ‘Murder’ is the killing of the innocent.
It is not Murder to kill in combat, to kill in legitimate defense of yourself or another, or to kill the truly wicked.
I was taught that “ratsach” specifically meant “to lie in wait”, ie premeditated homicide.