Thou shalt not kill
Thou shalt not kill (LXX, KJV; Ancient Greek: Οὐ φονεύσεις, romanized: Ou phoneúseis), You shall not murder (NIV, Biblical Hebrew: לֹא תִּרְצָח, romanized: Lo tirṣaḥ) or Do not murder (CSB), is a moral imperative included as one of the Ten Commandments in the Torah.[1]
The imperative not to kill is in the context of unlawful killing resulting in bloodguilt.[2]
Hebrew Bible[edit]
Retzach[edit]
The commandment against murder can be viewed as a legal issue governing human relationships, noting that the first four commandments relate strongly to man's duty to God and that the latter six commandments describe duties toward humans.[3][4] The commandment against murder can also be viewed as based in respect for God himself.[5][6] "The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand." Genesis 4:10–11 (ESV)
The Genesis narrative also portrays the prohibition of shedding innocent blood as an important aspect of God's covenant with Noah.[7][8]
Reformation and Post-Reformation doctrines[edit]
Lutheranism[edit]
Martin Luther summarized the commandment against shedding innocent blood as grounded in the fear and love of God, and as having both positive and negative aspects: negative in that we must neither harm nor hurt our neighbor's body; positive in that we must help our neighbor and care for him when he is ill.