Keluaran 21:28-29

Laws about Animals

21:28 ¹ “If an ox ²  gores a man or a woman so that either dies, ³  then the ox must surely ⁴  be stoned and its flesh must not be eaten, but the owner of the ox will be acquitted. 21:29 But if the ox had the habit of goring, and its owner was warned, ⁵  and he did not take the necessary precautions, ⁶  and then it killed a man or a woman, the ox must be stoned and the man must be put to death.

Keluaran 22:1

Laws about Property

22:1 ⁷ (21:37) ⁸  “If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he must pay back ⁹  five head of cattle for the ox, and four sheep for the one sheep. ¹⁰ 

Keluaran 22:10

22:10 If a man gives his neighbor a donkey or an ox or a sheep or any beast to keep, and it dies or is hurt ¹¹  or is carried away ¹²  without anyone seeing it, ¹³ 

[21:28]  ¹ sn The point that this section of the laws makes is that one must ensure the safety of others by controlling the circumstances.

[21:28]  ² tn Traditionally “ox,” but “bull” would also be suitable. The term may refer to one of any variety of large cattle.

[21:28]  ³ tn Heb “and he dies”; KJV “that they die”; NAB, NASB “to death.”

[21:28]  ⁴ tn The text uses סָקוֹל יִסָּקֵל (saqol yissaqel), a Qal infinitive absolute with a Niphal imperfect. The infinitive intensifies the imperfect, which here has an obligatory nuance or is a future of instruction.

[21:29]  ⁵ tn The Hophal perfect has the idea of “attested, testified against.”

[21:29]  ⁶ tn Heb “he was not keeping it” or perhaps guarding or watching it (referring to the ox).

[22:1]  ⁷ sn The next section of laws concerns property rights. These laws protected property from thieves and oppressors, but also set limits to retribution. The message could be: God’s laws demand that the guilty make restitution for their crimes against property and that the innocent be exonerated.

[22:1]  ⁸ sn Beginning with 22:1, the verse numbers through 22:31 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 22:1 ET = 21:37 HT, 22:2 ET = 22:1 HT, etc., through 22:31 ET = 22:30 HT. Thus in the English Bible ch. 22 has 31 verses, while in the Hebrew Bible it has 30 verses, with the one extra verse attached to ch. 21 in the Hebrew Bible.

[22:1]  ⁹ tn The imperfect tense here has the nuance of obligatory imperfect – he must pay back.

[22:1]  ¹⁰ tn בָּקַר (baqar) and צֹאן (tso’n) are the categories to which the ox and the sheep belonged, so that the criminal had some latitude in paying back animals.

[22:10]  ¹¹ tn The form is a Niphal participle from the verb “to break” – “is broken,” which means harmed, maimed, or hurt in any way.

[22:10]  ¹² tn This verb is frequently used with the meaning “to take captive.” The idea here then is that raiders or robbers have carried off the animal.

[22:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “there is no one seeing.”