Posted on 12/02/2014 7:40:38 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Pacifists use a mistranslation of the Sixth Commandment in the King James Bible to justify their cause.
Ask almost anyone to recite the commandment in the Ten Commandments that prohibits taking a life, and you will be told, “Thou shalt not kill.”
That is the King James translation of the Sixth Commandment. Overall, it is a magnificent translation. But this one has led to much moral confusion.
Yesterday, PragerUniversity.com, which has had more than 20 million views this year, released eleven courses (each five minutes long) — the Ten Commandments and an introduction.
The reason we made these video courses is that I believe that everything we need to make a good world and rid ourselves of evil is contained in the Ten Commandments.
For the next few weeks, my column will be selected transcripts of the courses, all of which I present.
Whatever your faith, or if you have no faith, I invite you to watch the videos at www.prageru.com — the introduction and the Ten Commandments, or any one of the Ten. They are cleverly animated with text and graphics.
Here is the text of Commandment Six — explaining why the King James translation is wrong:
You would think that of all the Ten Commandments, the one that needs the least explaining is the Sixth, because it seems so clear. It is the one that the King James Bible, the most widely used English translation of the Bible, translates as “Thou shall not kill.”
Yet the truth is the quite the opposite. This is probably the least well understood of the Ten Commandments. The reason is that the Hebrew original does not say, “Do not kill.” It says, “Do not murder.” Both Hebrew and English have two words for taking a life — one is “kill” (harag, in Hebrew) and the other is “murder” (ratzach in Hebrew).
The difference between the two is enormous. Kill means:
1) Taking any life — whether of a human being or an animal.
2) Taking a human life deliberately or by accident.
3) Taking a human life legally or illegally, morally or immorally.
On the other hand, murder can only mean one thing: The illegal or immoral taking of a human life. That’s why we say, “I killed a mosquito,” not, “I murdered a mosquito.” And that’s why we would say, “the worker was accidentally killed,” not, “the worker was accidentally murdered.”
So why did the King James translation of the Bible use the word “kill” rather than “murder”? Because 400 years ago when the translation was made, “kill” was synonymous with “murder.” As a result, some people don’t realize that English has changed since 1610 and therefore think that the Sixth Commandment prohibits all killing.
But, of course, it doesn’t. If the Ten Commandments forbade killing, we would all have to be vegetarians because killing animals would be prohibited. And we would all have to be pacifists — because we could not kill even in self-defense.
However, you don’t have to know how the English language has evolved to understand that the Ten Commandments could not have prohibited all killing. The very same part of the Bible that contains the Ten Commandments — the Five Books of Moses, the Torah as it is known by Jews — commands the death penalty for murder, allows killing in war, prescribes animal sacrifice, and allows eating meat.
A correct understanding of the commandment against murder is crucial because, while virtually every modern translation correctly translates the commandment as “Do not murder,” many people cite the King James translation to justify two positions that have no biblical basis: opposition to capital punishment and pacifism.
Regarding capital punishment and the Bible, as I note in my Prager University course on capital punishment, the only law that appears in each one of the Five Books of Moses is that murderers be put to death. Opponents of the death penalty are free to hold the view that all murderers should be allowed to live. But they are not free to cite the Bible to support their view.
Yet, many do. And they always cite the commandment, “Do not kill.” But that, as should now be abundantly clear, is not what the commandment says, and it is therefore an invalid argument.
As regards pacifism — the belief that it is always wrong to kill a human being: again, anyone is free to hold this position, as immoral as it may be. And what other word than “immoral” can one use to describe forbidding the killing of someone who is in the process of murdering innocent men, women, and children, in, let’s say, a movie theater or a school?
But it is dishonest to cite the commandment against murder to justify pacifism.
There is moral killing — most obviously when done in self-defense against an aggressor — and there is immoral killing. And the word for that is “murder.”
The Ten Commandments are portrayed on two tablets. The five commandments on the second tablet all concern our treatment of fellow human beings.
The first one on that list is “Do not murder.” Why? Because murder is the worst act a person can commit. The other four commandments — prohibiting stealing, adultery, giving false testimony, and coveting, are all serious offenses.
But murder leads the list because deliberately taking the life of an innocent person is the most terrible thing we can do. That is why it is so important to understand that the commandment prohibits murder, not all killing. When people liken killing in self-defense to murder — such as when they equate killing the terrorist who is murdering people with the murders that the terrorist is committing — all they are doing is reducing the evil that murder is. And when they use the Ten Commandments to justify that position, all they are doing is making the Ten Commandments, the moral foundation of Western Civilization, morally irrelevant.
The next time you hear someone cite “Do not kill” when quoting the Sixth Commandment, gently but firmly explain that it actually says “Do not murder.”
— Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. His most recent book is Still the Best Hope: Why the World Needs American Values to Triumph. He is the founder of Prager University
Explain that it is “Thou shalt not murder” and hope the person you are explaining it to is not a KJV only nut.
Just another reason that eh KJV is an outdated version that should be retired.
“Thou shalt not murder”, is the correct translation.
The Bible allows killing another human being so long as it is in defense of yourself, your family, or to prevent great bodily harm or injury to others.
If this is true, what word did Jacobeans use if they wanted to convey the concepts for which we would use the word "kill"? For example, "I will kill a chicken for supper," or "George was killed in a construction accident."
Animals are usually “slaughtered”. That’s why “Manslaughter” is a crime.
People just die in accidents. They are not killed.
There needs to be an addedum, "And if you do kill somebody, make sure they're the same race as you."
In Ebonics:
“Don’ ice ya bros.”
“Just another reason that eh KJV is an outdated version that should be retired.”
The English language has evolved over 400 years, so the old Jacobian language is “outdated”, but the KJV was an excellent Bible for its era, having been translated by a large committee of the ablest scholars of ancient languages in England. Just be aware that some modern translations are taken from different ancient texts that are questionable. That is another topic that has been thoroughly beaten to death on FreeRepublic, so there is no point to rehash that here. Search, if you are interested.
It’s true that we could use those locutions. However, that does not demonstrate that they would be used in place of “kill” by contemporaries of the KJV.
God is prolife. God will always say “Thou shalt not kill.”
“God will always say “Thou shalt not kill.”
Explain Leviticus. “He who comes to kill you arise and kill him first.”
L
Sometimes I feel like a nut, sometimes I don’t...
Mossad says its ok.....Im ba l’hargekha, hashkem l’hargo !!
Stay Safe !
Matthew 5
21 "You have heard that it was said to the men of old, `You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.'
22 But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, `You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire.
23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
25 Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison;
26 truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny.
Christ came to fulfill the law.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3232896/posts?page=16#16
Douay-Rheims somehow got the translation correct, and it was translated about the same amount of time ago.
The Hebrew Talmud does indeed say: (derived from Deuteronomy 22:26): Habah l’hargecha hashkem l’hargo — “If someone is coming to kill you, rise against him and kill him first. However, it should never be done with glee.”
Where EXACTLY in scripture did Jesus say that it was always wrong to kill?
Wasn’t there something about millstones and the sea?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.