Killing words
In Review
"You Shall Not Kill" or "You Shall Not Murder"? The Assault on a Biblical Text
"You Shall Not Kill" or "You Shall Not Murder?" The Assault on a Biblical Text. By Wilma Ann Bailey. Liturgical Press.
This thin book carries a bracing punch. It is aimed at biblical translators, but its interpretive jabs also strike church and synagogue, as well as cultural understandings of life and death in the United States. In addition to making a radical cultural critique, Wilma Ann Bailey stakes out biblical translation and interpretation as crucial activities for social and religious reform.
Bailey is an associate professor of Hebrew and Aramaic scripture at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. Her argument has two parts. First, she claims that the Hebrew of Exodus 20:13 should be translated "you shall not kill," not "you shall not murder." To murder is to take human life with evil intent and refers to illegal killing. To kill is to take human life (perhaps not animal) for any reason at all. It is the latter that Bailey believes to be prohibited by the Exodus commandment.
