ratsach · murder, kill

What it means

ratsach (רָצַח) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “murder, kill”.

Murder: take a person's life unlawfully. It is also used of killing without intent.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. To take someone's life unjustly.
2. One who caused a death and fled to a city of refuge.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

To kill a person: to murder, or to cause another’s death, on purpose or through carelessness. The participle is the manslayer, the one for whom the law distinguished whether he had killed with intent or without it.

• “You shall not murder” Exodus 20:13Deuteronomy 5:17
• The manslayer and the cities of refuge Numbers 35:11Deuteronomy 19:4Joshua 20:3
• “He {is} a manslayer”: the one who kills with an object Numbers 35:16
• “Have you murdered and also taken possession?” 1 Kings 21:19
• The murderer in the prophets and in Job Isaiah 1:21Job 24:14Hosea 4:2

Historical and cultural background

Numbers 35 regulates the cities of refuge: the manslayer who had struck a person “inadvertently” could flee there from the avenger of blood, but the one who had struck with an object of iron or stone “shall surely be put to death” (35:11, 16-18).

How we translate it

The verb, ‘murder’ in the commandment (Exodus 20:13: “You shall not murder”), is distinguished from the participle of the laws of refuge, rendered “manslayer” (30 times), because there it includes the one who killed inadvertently. When the killer is a person who kills on purpose, “murderer” or “murderers” (Isaiah 1:21; Job 24:14). In the lists of sins of Hosea 4:2 and Jeremiah 7:9 the text says “murdering”, “murder”.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• manslayer ×30
• murder ×6
• kills ×2
• murderer ×2
• Have you murdered ×1
• I will be murdered ×1
• murderers ×1
• murdering ×1
• murders ×1
• one shall kill ×1
• others ×1

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Exodus×1
• Numbers×20
• Deuteronomy×7
• Joshua×8
• Judges×1
• 1 Kings×1
• 2 Kings×1
• Job×1
• Psalms×2
• Proverbs×1
• Isaiah×1
• Jeremiah×1
• Hosea×2

• Exodus 20:13

  You shall not murder.

• Numbers 35:6

  And the cities that you shall give to the Levites shall be the six cities of refuge that you shall give for the manslayer to flee there; and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities.

• Numbers 35:11

  you shall select for yourselves cities; they shall be cities of refuge for you, and the manslayer who strikes down a person inadvertently may flee there.

• Numbers 35:12

  The cities shall be for you a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the community for judgment.

• Numbers 35:16

  But if with an object of iron he struck him and he died, he is a manslayer; the manslayer shall surely be put to death.

• Numbers 35:17

  And if with a hand stone by which one may die he struck him and he died, he is a manslayer; the manslayer shall surely be put to death.

• Numbers 35:18

  Or with a wooden hand object by which one may die he struck him and he died, he is a manslayer; the manslayer shall surely be put to death.

• Numbers 35:19

  The avenger of blood himself shall put to death the manslayer; when he meets him, he shall put him to death.

• Numbers 35:21

  or in enmity struck him with his hand and he died, the one who struck shall surely be put to death; he is a manslayer. The avenger of blood shall put to death the manslayer when he meets him.

• Numbers 35:25

  And the community shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the community shall return him to his city of refuge to which he had fled; and he shall dwell in it until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.

• Numbers 35:26

  But if the manslayer does go out beyond the border of his city of refuge to which he fled,

• Numbers 35:27

  and the avenger of blood finds him outside the border of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the manslayer, he shall have no bloodguilt.

• Numbers 35:28

  For in his city of refuge he must dwell until the death of the high priest; and after the death of the high priest the manslayer may return to the land of his possession.

• Numbers 35:30

  Anyone who strikes down a person: one shall kill the manslayer on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness shall not testify against a person that he die.

• Numbers 35:31

  And you shall not accept compensation for the life of a manslayer who is guilty of death, for he shall surely be put to death.

• Deuteronomy 4:42

  for the manslayer to flee there, who kills his neighbor unknowingly, and he did not hate him previously, so that by fleeing to one of these cities he may live:

• Deuteronomy 5:17

  You shall not murder.

• Deuteronomy 19:3

  You shall prepare for yourself the road, and divide into three parts the territory of your land that YHWH your Elohim gives you as an inheritance, so that any manslayer may flee there.

• Deuteronomy 19:4

  And this is the case of the manslayer who flees there and lives: whoever strikes his neighbor without knowing it, and he did not hate him previously,

• Deuteronomy 19:6

  so that the avenger of blood does not pursue the manslayer while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and strike him mortally, though he did not deserve a sentence of death, since he did not hate him previously.

• Deuteronomy 22:26

  But to the young woman you shall not do anything; the young woman has no sin deserving death, for as when a man rises against his neighbor and murders him, so is this case,

• Joshua 20:3

  so that the manslayer who mortally strikes a person inadvertently, unknowingly, may flee there; and they shall be for you a refuge from the avenger of blood.

• Joshua 20:5

  And if the avenger of blood pursues him, they shall not hand over the manslayer into his hand, because he struck his neighbor unknowingly, and did not hate him beforehand.

• Joshua 20:6

  And he shall live in that city until he stands before the community for judgment, until the death of the high priest who is in those days. Then the manslayer shall return and come to his city and to his house, to the city from which he fled.’”

• Joshua 21:13

  And to the sons of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands, and Libnah with its pasturelands,

• Joshua 21:21

  And they gave them Shechem, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands, in the hill country of Ephraim, and Gezer with its pasturelands,

• Joshua 21:27

  And to the sons of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, they gave from the half tribe of Manasseh Golan in Bashan, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands, and Be-eshterah with its pasturelands —two cities.

• Joshua 21:32

  And from the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands, and Hammoth-dor with its pasturelands, and Kartan with its pasturelands —three cities.

• Joshua 21:38

  And from the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead, the city of refuge for the manslayer, with its pasturelands, and Mahanaim with its pasturelands,

• Judges 20:4

  And the man, the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “I and my concubine came to Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night.

• 1 Kings 21:19

  And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says YHWH: Have you murdered and also taken possession?’ And you shall speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says YHWH: In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, the dogs will lick up your blood, yours too.’”

• 2 Kings 6:32

  Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. And he sent a man from before him; before the messenger came to him, he said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent to take off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold him back with the door. Is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him?”

• Job 24:14

  With the light the murderer rises; he kills the poor and the needy, and in the night he is like the thief.

• Psalms 62:3

  How long will you assail a man? Will you murder him, all of you, like a wall leaning, a fence pushed over?

• Psalms 94:6

  The widow and the resident alien they kill, and the orphans they murder.

• Proverbs 22:13

  The sluggard says, “A lion is outside! In the middle of the squares I will be murdered!”

• Isaiah 1:21

  How the faithful city has become a prostitute! Full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.

• Jeremiah 7:9

  Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,

• Hosea 4:2

  Cursing, and lying, and murdering, and stealing, and committing adultery; they break out, and bloodshed touches bloodshed.

• Hosea 6:9

  And as bands of raiders lie in wait for a man, so is the company of priests; on the road they murder toward Shechem, for they commit infamy.

And 7 more times.