What is forbidden by the Sixth Commandment: and is there a difference between ‘you shall not murder’ and ‘you shall not kill?’
The Sixth Commandment forbids murder: the unlawful taking of another human being’s life, without justification or excuse. The ground of the prohibition is given at the covenant with Noah: “whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image” (Gen 9:6); every human life bears the image of God, and life itself belongs to its Giver: “I kill and I make alive” (Deu 32:39; 1Sa 2:6; see Q431, Q578a).
There is indeed a difference between the generic term ‘kill’ and the specific term ‘murder’ (Hebrew ratsach): it is not murder, nor a breach of this commandment, when life is taken in the execution of duty, as when a murderer is punished with death by legal judgment, or when an enemy is killed in lawful war (see the Study below).
