Exodus 20:13

Summary

Exodus 20:13 consists of a short prohibitive clause of only two words in Hebrew: a negation followed by a verb in the imperfect form. The clause forbids the act denoted by the verb ratsach ("to murder", H7523).

Key words

• lo ("not", H3808) — the standard negative particle used with the imperfect to form a durative or general prohibition, rather than a one-time command.
• tirtzach ("you must murder", H7523) — qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular, from the root ratsach. The imperfect aspect marks an action viewed as ongoing, repeated, or future, and here functions as a general prohibition addressed to a singular male subject.

What the text says

The Hebrew clause is built entirely from two elements: the negative particle lo (H3808) and the verb tirtzach (H7523). There is no explicit subject pronoun, no object, and no additional qualifying noun — the grammatical subject "you" is encoded only in the verb's second-person masculine singular prefix conjugation. This construction, negation + imperfect, is a common pattern in Biblical Hebrew for expressing a standing prohibition that applies generally, rather than a single instruction tied to one moment in time.

The verb root ratsach (H7523) is used in this qal (simple, active) stem, indicating the direct action of the subject rather than a causative or passive nuance. No further specification is given in the Hebrew text — the verse names only the verbal action without describing its object, manner, or circumstances. The brevity of the clause (two words) is typical of the terse, formulaic style found among the paired negative commands in this section of Exodus.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (Non occides, "you shall not kill/slay") and the Spanish versions (No matarás, "you shall not kill") both render the clause with a future-tense negative verb corresponding to the Hebrew imperfect construction, matching the grammatical pattern of negation plus finite verb. The BSB gloss "You shall not murder" reflects the same two-part structure found in the Hebrew (negation + verb), specifying "murder" as the English equivalent for ratsach (H7523). The Septuagint text as supplied here appears fragmentary (Οὐ σεῖς), preserving only the negation Οὐ and a truncated verb ending, so no full comparison of the Greek verb choice can be made from the data given.