Exodus 20:13
in Exodus 20You shall not murder.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou shalt not kill.
KJV
Thou shalt not kill.
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This verse in Exodus 20
Commentary
18 notes on this verseThou shalt not kill - This commandment, which is general, prohibits murder of every kind. 1. All actions by which the lives of our fellow creatures may be abridged. 2. All wars for extending empire, commerce, etc. 3. All sanguinary laws, by the operation of which the lives of men may be taken away for offenses of comparatively trifling demerit. 4. All bad dispositions which lead men to wish evil to, or meditate mischief against, one another; for, says the Scripture, He that hateth his brother in his heart is a murderer.
This site's exposition
You shall not murder
The Hebrew verb here is ratsach, the word the Old Testament uses for the killing a court or an avenger of blood deals with. Numbers 35:16 to 35:31 sets out its cases, and other Hebrew words cover war, execution and sacrifice.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
"What about the prohibition, 'You shall not kill,' which is also there? If killing is evil in every respect, how will the just who, in obedience to a law, have killed many, be excused from this charge?" The answer to this question is that he does not kill who is the executor of a just command.
It is significant that in Holy Scripture no passage can be found enjoining or permitting suicide either in order to hasten our entry into immortality or to void or avoid temporal evils. God's command, "You shall not kill," is to be taken as forbidding self-destruction, especially as it does not add "your neighbor," as it does when it forbids false witness, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
"What about the prohibition, 'You shall not kill,' which is also there? If killing is evil in every respect, how will the just who, in obedience to a law, have killed many, be excused from this charge?" The answer to this question is that he does not kill who is the executor of a just command.
It is significant that in Holy Scripture no passage can be found enjoining or permitting suicide either in order to hasten our entry into immortality or to void or avoid temporal evils. God's command, "You shall not kill," is to be taken as forbidding self-destruction, especially as it does not add "your neighbor," as it does when it forbids false witness, "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 6 -- First Discourse on the Fear of God · Written before 523.
proposed
And God also gave the law by the hand of Moses, which was filled with many and divers commandments, and to all the commandments He linked fear, for without fear the commandments would not be kept. "Thou shalt do no murder", and "whosoever slayeth shall …
11 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers1 voice
And that you may learn that we know this from the first, the Lawgiver, when He afterwards gave laws, and said, "Thou shalt not kill," did not add, "since murder is an evil thing," but simply said, "Thou shalt not kill;" for He merely prohibited the sin, without teaching. How was it then when He said, "Thou shalt not kill," that He did not add, "because murder is a wicked thing." The reason was, that conscience had taught this beforehand; and He speaks thus, as to those who know and understand the point.
The Medieval Church6 voices
But because the neighbor is an image of the Trinity, and to him, insofar as he bears the image of the Father, piety is owed: insofar as he bears the image of the Son, truthfulness is owed, insofar as he bears the image of the …
In this commandment: "You shall not kill," anger breaking forth into injuries destructive of natural or substantial life and of sound life and of honorable life is prohibited. For nature desires what is better, and therefore it does not suffice for it to have mere …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 7 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The fifth plague was the death of livestock, by which murderers were struck; because everyone who kills by the sword is guilty of death. Such men die like beasts, because they are worthy of neither divine nor human protection; because he who kills another destroys …
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 21 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
And because the lower portion of the soul is informed by the higher and is given to it as a help, it is necessary that the lower have commandments by which it would be conformed to the higher, so that it behave piously, truly and …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The commandment which pertains to innocence must necessarily be multiplied, because it consists in this: that a man guard against giving offense to his neighbor. Now it happens that one offends his neighbor in three ways, namely in mind, word, and deed. Offense in deed …
In the divine law which tells us we must love God and our neighbor, it is commanded that we not only do good but also avoid evil. The greatest evil that can be done to one's neighbor is to take his life. This is prohibited …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
This doth not forbid our own necessary defense, or the magistrates putting offenders to death; but it forbids all malice and hatred to any, for he that hateth his brother is a murderer, and all revenge arising therefrom; likewise anger and hurt said or done, or aimed to be done in a passion; of this our saviour expounds this commandment, Matt. v, 22.
): " Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not do any thing hurtful or injurious to the health, ease, and life, of thy own body, or any other person's unjustly." This is one of the laws of nature, and was strongly enforced by the precepts given to Noah and his sons, Gen. ix.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
This doth not forbid our own necessary defense, or the magistrates putting offenders to death; but it forbids all malice and hatred to any, for he that hateth his brother is a murderer, and all revenge arising therefrom; likewise anger and hurt said or done, or aimed to be done in a passion; of this our saviour expounds this commandment, Matt. v, 22.
Thou shalt not kill.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Having finished all that we are obligated towards the Creator Himself and His glory, He turns now to command us about those matters which concern created beings.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
2 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹ֥֖א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִּֿרְצָֽ֖ח׃ ס | tretzach | you must murder | H7523 → |
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Romans 13:9The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
it leads to
- Exodus 20:12–17
Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
- Matthew 22:39
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
- Luke 10:27
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- Mark 12:31
The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
- Deuteronomy 5:16–21
Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the…
- Exodus 20:12–17
Through
Deuteronomy 5:17You shall not murder.
it leads to
- Romans 13:9
The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
- Romans 13:9
Through
Exodus 21:14But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death.
it leads to
- 1 Kings 2:28–34
When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah but not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the LORD and took hold of the horns of the altar.
- Hebrews 10:26
If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains,
- 1 Kings 2:28–34
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies28
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About Exodus
This page draws on 15 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, On Lying 13.23; Augustine of Hippo, City of God 1.20; Bonaventure, Breviloquium, Part 5; Bonaventure, Collationes de decem praeceptis, Collation 6 (Paris, Lent 1267); Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 7; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 21; Bonaventure, Collationes de Decem Praeceptis, Collation 1; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES CONCERNING THE STATUES 12.9; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 6 -- First Discourse on the Fear of God and Thomas Aquinas, Explanation of the Ten Commandments.