The more accurate interpretation of these four commandments might be: do not kill your neighbor or commit adultery with your neighbor or steal from your neighbor or bear false witness against your neighbor.12 Under this interpretation, which not all scholars agree with, the prohibitions are not applied equally; they are applied only to one’s neighbor. So it is permissible to kill and steal, so long as you don’t kill your neighbor or steal from your neighbor. There are different rules for people, depending on their status as a neighbor.
