1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:06,780 You would think that of all the Ten Commandments the one that needs the least explaining 2 00:00:06,780 --> 00:00:12,820 is the Sixth, because it seems so clear. It is the one that the King James Bible, the most 3 00:00:12,830 --> 00:00:20,570 widely used English translation of the Bible, translates as "Thou shall not kill." 4 00:00:20,570 --> 00:00:23,390 Yet, the truth is the quite the opposite. 5 00:00:23,390 --> 00:00:28,760 This is probably the least well understood of the Ten Commandments. 6 00:00:28,770 --> 00:00:36,980 The reason is that the Hebrew original does not say, "Do not kill." It says, "Do not murder." 7 00:00:36,980 --> 00:00:45,380 Both Hebrew and English have two words for taking a life - one is "kill" (harag, in Hebrew) 8 00:00:45,380 --> 00:00:53,480 and the other is "murder" (ratzach in Hebrew). The difference between the two is enormous. 9 00:00:53,480 --> 00:01:00,620 Kill means: 1) Taking any life -- whether of a human being or an animal. 10 00:01:00,620 --> 00:01:05,980 2) Taking a human life deliberately or by accident. 11 00:01:05,980 --> 00:01:10,360 3) Taking a human life legally or illegally, 12 00:01:10,360 --> 00:01:17,180 morally or immorally. On the other hand, murder can only mean one thing: 13 00:01:17,180 --> 00:01:21,640 The illegal or immoral taking of a human life. 14 00:01:21,640 --> 00:01:26,659 That's why we say, "I killed a mosquito," not "I murdered a mosquito." 15 00:01:26,659 --> 00:01:30,679 And that's why, we would say, "the worker was accidentally killed," not 16 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:34,020 "the worker was accidentally murdered." 17 00:01:34,020 --> 00:01:39,720 So why did the King James translation of the Bible use the word "kill" rather than "murder"? 18 00:01:39,720 --> 00:01:46,080 Because 400 years ago when the translation was made, "kill" was synonymous with "murder." 19 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:51,860 As a result, some people don't realize that English has changed since 1610 and therefore 20 00:01:51,869 --> 00:01:57,669 think that the Ten Commandments prohibits all killing. But, of course, it doesn't. 21 00:01:57,669 --> 00:02:03,009 If the Ten Commandments forbade killing, we would all have to be vegetarians 22 00:02:03,009 --> 00:02:07,640 -- killing animals would be prohibited. And we would all have to be pacifists -- 23 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:11,380 since we could not kill even in self-defense. 24 00:02:11,420 --> 00:02:16,320 However, you don't have to know how the English language has evolved in order to understand 25 00:02:16,330 --> 00:02:21,920 that the Ten Commandments could not have prohibited all killing. The very same part of the Bible 26 00:02:21,920 --> 00:02:28,060 that contains the Ten Commandments -- the Five Books of Moses, the Torah as it is known by Jews 27 00:02:28,060 --> 00:02:33,660 -- commands the death penalty for murder; allows killing in war; 28 00:02:33,660 --> 00:02:39,200 prescribes animal sacrifice, and allows eating meat. 29 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:44,660 A correct understanding of the commandment against murder is crucial because, while virtually 30 00:02:44,660 --> 00:02:50,180 every modern translation correctly translates the commandment as "Do not murder", 31 00:02:50,180 --> 00:02:57,880 many people cite the King James translation to justify two positions that have no biblical basis: 32 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:02,820 Opposition to capital punishment and pacifism. 33 00:03:02,820 --> 00:03:08,180 Regarding capital punishment and the Bible, the only law that appears in each one of the 34 00:03:08,180 --> 00:03:14,710 Five Books of Moses is that murderers be put to death. Opponents of the death penalty are 35 00:03:14,710 --> 00:03:20,400 free to hold the view that all murderers should be allowed to live. But they are not free 36 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:26,190 to cite the Bible to support their view. Yet, many do. And they always cite the Commandment, 37 00:03:26,190 --> 00:03:33,880 "Do not kill." But that, as should now be abundantly clear, is not what the commandment says, 38 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:38,060 and it is therefore an invalid argument. 39 00:03:38,060 --> 00:03:44,960 As regards pacifism, the belief that it is always wrong to kill a human being, again, 40 00:03:44,960 --> 00:03:51,000 anyone is free to hold this position, as immoral as it may be. And what other word than "immoral" 41 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:55,760 can one use to describe forbidding the killing of someone who is in the process of murdering 42 00:03:55,760 --> 00:04:01,430 innocent men, women and children, in, let's say, a movie theater or a school? 43 00:04:01,430 --> 00:04:06,590 But it is dishonest to cite the commandment against murder to justify pacifism. 44 00:04:06,590 --> 00:04:12,250 There is moral killing -- most obviously when done in self-defense against an aggressor -- 45 00:04:12,260 --> 00:04:18,600 and there is immoral killing. And the word for that is murder. 46 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:25,320 The Ten Commandments are portrayed on two tablets. The five commandments on the second tablet 47 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:31,400 all concern our treatment of fellow human beings. The first one on that list 48 00:04:31,400 --> 00:04:34,740 is "Do not murder." Why? 49 00:04:34,740 --> 00:04:39,100 Because murder is the worst act a person can commit. 50 00:04:39,100 --> 00:04:45,700 The other four commandments -- prohibiting stealing, adultery, giving false testimony, and coveting, 51 00:04:45,700 --> 00:04:50,600 are all serious offenses. But murder leads the list 52 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:57,380 because deliberately taking the life of an innocent person is the most terrible thing we can do. 53 00:04:57,380 --> 00:05:03,320 The next time you hear someone cite "Do Not Kill" when quoting the Sixth Commandment, 54 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:11,060 gently but firmly explain that it actually says "Do Not Murder." 55 00:05:11,060 --> 00:05:12,900 I'm Dennis Prager.