⚠ The verb of the sixth commandment, and NOT the general word for killing — that is harag, which does not appear in Exodus 20 at all. Ratzach is narrower: Numbers 35 uses it throughout of the MANSLAYER who kills and flees to a city of refuge, covering deliberate killing and what we would call manslaughter. It is not used of killing in war, of judicial execution, or of slaughtering animals. So 'thou shalt not KILL' (KJV, ASV, RV 'no mataras') is broader than the Hebrew, and 'you must not MURDER' (NWT) is narrower and closer. The difference has carried real weight in arguments about capital punishment and war. → first discussed at Exod 20:12