I looked in the King James Version. It says, "thou shalt not kill." The Revised Standard Version also uses the word "kill". The New English Bible and the New International Version use the word "murder". Some people have told me that the Bible should be taken literally word for word. If that is so, then killing and murdering are the same thing. If I drop my hammer off the roof and it hits my neighbor on the head and he dies, I've murdered him. If they don't mean the same thing, then one of the Bibles is wrong. If it is wrong here, how do I know it's right anywhere else? How do I know which Bible is right? Will a newer translation come along in a few years that will make all previous Bibles incorrect. I know they could all be wrong, but they can't all be right. How can a person know, if knowing is possible at all?
Acorn2007-08-20T11:43:34Z
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The bible was never meant to be taken literally. People who say they do believe it word-for-word literally are either lying or never read the bible for themselves.
Killing intentionally is a sin. Accidental killing is not.
You need to delve a little deeper into the original language the manuscripts are written in, for instance Hebrew or Greek. A Greek and/or Hebrew lexicon will help tremendously as will a concordance. You will get the original meaning of the scripture, which the writer intended. You can avoid a lot of modern-day spiritualizing (where people take any scripture and apply it to themselves or their situation willy-nilly) by doing sound Bible study. A scripture can never mean something other than what the original writer intended it to mean.
There are many different versions of the Bible, some being word for word, conceptual, etc. I believe KJB is the most literal and best with which to study, but sometimes it helps to have a few different translations to compare.
As far as the murder/kill question, yes there is a difference which is why there is Biblical support for a death penalty. You can do a search on google for a more complete explanation of this.
Andrewsvan answered this question pretty well. The truth is, translation is not perfect. Probably, both "kill" and "murder" are accurate translations of the Hebrew word here. So how can you determine which one is correct? By taking it in context. If there is no relevant context in that chapter, you must take it in context with that book. If there is no relevant context in that book, you must take in in context with that section of the bible, and so on.
In this case, God clearly gives instructions *to* kill in the Mosaic Law (for example, as punishment for crimes). The Mosaic Law also specifies quite clearly the difference between an accidental slaying and murder. Thus, we can state with a great deal of certainty that, in *this* case, this word should be translated as "murder". Nevertheless, "kill" is a completely valid translation - it simply does not make *clear* the nuances gained by reading within context.
To put it another way, "murder" is a *better* translation than "kill", but murder is a type of killing, and therefore "kill" is a valid (though more vague) translation.
The Hebrew word "ratsach" underlying Exodus 20:13 does not necessarily mean "murder" in all uses of the word. Its use in Num 35:11, Num 35:27, Deu 4:42, Deu 19:4, and Jos 20:3;5 demonstrate that the word can and does mean "kill", and not always "murder". Thus, the translation of Exd 20:13 and Deu 5:17 as "Thou shalt not kill" are correct. It refers to man killing for reasons not ordained by God.
You are trying to make sense of something some one made up. If you take the KJV of the bible then yo have to go back to old english to determine what it really said 400 years ago. Then you will have to get the latin or german version it was translated from to see if it was even close to accurate. Then you have take that back another 600 years when they re-translated the bible into latin from the original greek. They you have to go back to 325 where they voted on what they wanted in the bible and see what was left out or what they liked or dis-liked. Then you have to re-translate to hebrew or aramaic and learn some languages that have not existed in that form for 3000 or 4000 years and then decide what they really meant back then. When Moses came down from the mountain with Thou shalt not kill, he immediately put 5000 men and boys to death. I don´t think he took it too seriously and may have fudged a bit when he passed it along.