[Mr. Mojo]

The Hebrew word ratsach does not refer to killing in general but to the malicious and unlawful killing of human beings -- murder. If it referred to the former we'd all be guilty of breaking the Commandment regularly -- swatting flies, slaughtering cows, shooting deer, etc.

For Old Testament translations it's wise to go to the source.

[Tevin]

It's widely believed that the Ten Commandments were taken from a remarkably similar list in the Egyptian *Book of the Dead* which commands "Do not murder".

(To address the other point here, Miller is no wuss.)

[billbears]

And going to the 'source' I can see the argument very well that ratsach would include any killing depending on the cause of the war (whether or not the action was in self-defenst)