This commandment uses a word that means to kill someone, but it refers to unlawful killing, not the kind of killing demanded by other laws that the Israelites understood to be Yahweh’s laws. It does not refer to capital punishment, for this is prescribed in 21.12-17, where a different word is used. It does not refer to killing in warfare, for this is prescribed in the case of a “holy war” (see Deut 20.10-18). It does not always imply intentional or premeditated “murder,” for the same word is used in Deut 4.41-42 for unintentional killing.

Originally the word probably referred to killing out of blood revenge, but later it was used in reference to other acts of killing out of hatred or malice. For this reason “murder” is an acceptable translation in English, and several translations have used this term (so New Revised Standard Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New International Version, Revised English Bible, and others). But in languages where various terms for killing are not so clearly defined, it may be better to use the more general term, kill, or to say something like “kill from anger” or “kill from one’s own volition.” Translators should find a term that excludes killing accidentally, but it should be one that means socially unsanctioned killing.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .