My Notes
What Does Exodus 20:13 Mean?
"Thou shalt not kill." The sixth commandment in four words. The prohibition against taking human life is stated without qualification, exception, or explanation. The brevity is the authority: no killing. The simplicity refuses to get tangled in cases and exceptions. The command stands unqualified.
The Hebrew word (ratsach) specifically means murder — the unauthorized, intentional taking of human life. It doesn't prohibit all killing universally (the Torah elsewhere authorizes capital punishment, self-defense, and warfare). The word targets a specific act: the deliberate, unauthorized destruction of a human being created in God's image.
The placement — sixth of ten, after the God-focused commands and at the beginning of the human-focused commands — gives murder the highest priority among interpersonal sins. The first thing God says about human-to-human behavior is: don't kill each other. Before theft, before adultery, before lying — don't kill.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How does the simplicity of 'don't kill' resist the exceptions human reasoning wants to add?
- 2.What does murder's priority — first among relational commands — teach about God's values?
- 3.How does the divine image in every person make their life sacred beyond your authority?
- 4.What does 'don't kill' look like extended to emotional, verbal, or spiritual destruction of others?
Devotional
Don't kill. Four words. The simplest and most foundational commandment about how you treat other people: don't end their lives. Before any other relational instruction, this one: the person in front of you is not yours to destroy.
The brevity is power. No exceptions listed. No cases discussed. No situation where the command says 'except when...' The simplicity refuses the complexity that human ingenuity always tries to introduce: what about this scenario? What about that justification? The command is four words because four words are enough. Don't kill.
The Hebrew word means murder — unauthorized, deliberate killing. It's not a pacifist proof-text (the same Torah authorizes judicial execution and warfare). It's a prohibition against the individual decision to end another person's life. You don't get to make that call. The life in front of you belongs to God, not to you.
The command's priority — first among interpersonal commandments — means God considers the physical safety of other humans the most basic obligation you carry. Before your property is protected (don't steal), before your marriage is protected (don't commit adultery), before your reputation is protected (don't bear false witness) — your life is protected. Don't kill.
Every person you encounter carries divine-image protection. The person you're angry at. The person who wronged you. The person you'd rather didn't exist. God says about each one: don't kill them. Their life is sacred. Their existence is My business. Your hands stay off.
Four words. The foundation of human dignity. Don't kill.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Thou shalt not kill. Not meaning any sort of creatures, for there are some to be killed for the food and nourishment of…
The Hebrew name which is rendered in our King James Version as the ten commandments occurs in Exo 34:28; Deu 4:13; Deu…
Thou shalt not kill - This commandment, which is general, prohibits murder of every kind.
1. All actions by which the…
We have here the laws of the second table, as they are commonly called, the last six of the ten commandments,…
The sixthcommandment. The sanctity of human life to be upheld (cf. Gen 9:5-6 P). Here the duty is laid down simply as a…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture