Interesting that a purely literal interpretation of the Commandment might seem to allow genocide, if "legally" executed. Certainly there are mass slaughters in the Old Testament which are approved by the Almighty.

Somewhat similarly, the New Testament advises slaves to obey their masters.

By current civilized, secular, atheist, agnostic, ecumenical, or humanist standards (take your pick), passages like those would require extensive qualification.

So either the bible can't be, or shouldn't be, taken as literal for all time, or else something's wrong somewhere.

Could that something be our modern reluctance to take it literally? Or could it be something else?