This is the sixth of the Ten Commandments, given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai — a sacred mountain in the ancient Near East. Moses was the leader who had brought the Israelite people out of four centuries of slavery in Egypt, and these commandments formed the foundational moral and spiritual code for their life as a free nation. The Hebrew word used here for "murder" is ratsach, which refers specifically to unlawful, personal killing — not all forms of taking life, but the deliberate act of ending someone's life out of personal malice or vengeance. At its core, this commandment protects something profound: the belief that every human life carries inherent worth that no one has the right to simply erase.
Lord, I haven't always honored your image in the people around me. Forgive me for the contempt I've let live quietly in my heart. Help me see every person I encounter today as someone you made and love — and let that actually change how I treat them. Amen.
Most of us pass over this one in about two seconds. Never killed anyone — check, moving on. But Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, traced the commandment back to its root and said something much harder to dismiss: contempt for another person, the quiet decision to write someone off as worthless, anger nursed in private — it grows in the same soil as murder. Not that thoughts equal actions. But that the commandment is protecting something deeper than behavior: the recognition that every person you encounter carries irreducible, God-given dignity. That means the coworker you've quietly decided isn't worth your patience. The family member you've mentally exiled. The eye-roll when someone says a particular person's name. This commandment doesn't just ask whether your hands are clean. It asks what you are doing with the full humanity of the people around you. It's possible to never lift a finger against someone while still treating their existence as an inconvenience. God is after something more than clean hands. He wants you to actually see people.
The Hebrew word for 'murder' here refers to unlawful, personal killing — not all taking of life. Why do you think God made that distinction, and what does it reveal about the purpose behind this command?
Jesus said in Matthew 5 that contempt and unresolved anger toward others falls under this same commandment. Is there someone in your life you've mentally written off or treated as less than fully human? What would repenting of that actually look like?
Does the foundational belief that every person is made in God's image actually change how you behave day to day, or does it mostly stay as an abstract concept? Where is the gap between what you believe and how you act?
How does this commandment challenge the way your culture or community casually dismisses certain groups of people as less valuable, less deserving of dignity, or less worth protecting?
Name one person you've internally written off. What would one concrete, specific act of recognizing their full humanity look like this week?
Thou shalt not kill.
Deuteronomy 5:17
For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Romans 13:9
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
Matthew 5:21
He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
Matthew 19:18
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
Matthew 5:22
And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death.
Leviticus 24:21
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
Genesis 9:6
And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
Genesis 9:5