Exodus 20:13
"You shall not murder.[H7253]
Chapter
Notes and References
Note from Colin Ayres 2026:
The word murder, or 'kill' (NKJV) is the terrible word RATSACH - MURDER HEBREW ๐๐๐๐.
So in the Bible looking up this word brings up terrible atrocities, but these are not viewed as good things by God. This exact word is used to describe what priests did on the way to a religious festival in Hosea 6:6-9 . This was a festival of animal sacrifice, the destruction of animals also spoked of as murder by God.
Note from Colin Ayres 2026:
This commandment of not killing is put into context in Isaiah 66:3 where killing and ox is like killing a man.
Note from Colin Ayres 2025:
Our God in this chapter is a God of fairness and loving kindness, in verse He shows love to those who love Him. The Laws are borne out of this love.
20.19 It is clear to not kill and not murder. Who is God telling us not to murder? All those protected in His covenant in Hosea 2:18 - people protected from killing in war, and all the creatures and creeping things God promises to protect within His covenant, and all that has breath in Psalm 150
Note 1: (Colin Ayres July 2025): There is no use of the word STOCK in reference to animals in the Bible. The word is Behomah, H0929, cattle or beasts that often share in human suffering for sin, they suffer in times of drought and war just as humans do and the same in times of God punishment. In Matthew 21.12,, when Jesus rejected doves being sold in the Temple, this idea of selling lives was rejected.
The word murder, or 'kill' (NKJV) is the terrible word RATSACH - MURDER HEBREW ๐๐๐๐.
So in the Bible looking up this word brings up terrible atrocities, but these are not viewed as good things by God. This exact word is used to describe what priests did on the way to a religious festival in Hosea 6:6-9 . This was a festival of animal sacrifice, the destruction of animals also spoked of as murder by God.
Note from Colin Ayres 2026:
This commandment of not killing is put into context in Isaiah 66:3 where killing and ox is like killing a man.
Note from Colin Ayres 2025:
Our God in this chapter is a God of fairness and loving kindness, in verse He shows love to those who love Him. The Laws are borne out of this love.
20.19 It is clear to not kill and not murder. Who is God telling us not to murder? All those protected in His covenant in Hosea 2:18 - people protected from killing in war, and all the creatures and creeping things God promises to protect within His covenant, and all that has breath in Psalm 150
Note 1: (Colin Ayres July 2025): There is no use of the word STOCK in reference to animals in the Bible. The word is Behomah, H0929, cattle or beasts that often share in human suffering for sin, they suffer in times of drought and war just as humans do and the same in times of God punishment. In Matthew 21.12,, when Jesus rejected doves being sold in the Temple, this idea of selling lives was rejected.