Words the Bible translates as murder
English uses one word here. The Bible uses 7 words, and they do not mean the same thing. Each is listed with what it actually means, most frequent first.
- damדָּםblood: the red fluid of a body, which the Bible treats as the place where life is held, so that the one word reaches from a literal stain to a killing and the debt it leaves behind
- haragהָרַגto kill: to put a person (or creature) to death by violence
- phoneuōφονεύωto murder: to kill a human being wrongfully, in violation of God's law
- ratsaḥרָצַחto take a fellow human being's life by violence in a way the community must answer for: the killing that triggers Israel's blood-revenge and refuge-city laws, covering murder, accidental killing, and even the killing done in response to it
- phonosφόνοςmurder: the killing of a human being by deliberate violence, whether a crime someone committed, a violent death someone suffered, or the deadly intent behind it
- anairesisἀναίρεσιςmurdernot studied yet
- qatalקָטַלto kill: a rare poetic word for putting a person to death
Keep looking
Every English meaning beginning with M is on its letter page, and the whole index starts at Browse.