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Monday, April 28th, 2025
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Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

Exodus 21:25

a burn for a burn, a bruise for a bruise, a cut for a cut.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Assault and Battery;   Retaliation;   The Topic Concordance - Recompense/restitution;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Woman;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Punishments;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Justice;   Prison;   Punishment;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Abortion;   Law;   Punishment;   Vengeance;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Punishments;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Birth;   Crimes and Punishments;   Ethics;   Exodus, Book of;   Hammurabi;   Teeth;   Vengeance;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Canon of the Old Testament;   Covenant, Book of the;   Ethics;   Hexateuch;   Law;   Leviticus;   Priests and Levites;   Sabbatical Year;   Sin;   Ten Commandments;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Punishment;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Law of Moses;   Punishments;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Other Laws;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Law in the Old Testament;   Print;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - ḥad Gadya;   Hammurabi;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.
King James Version
Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Lexham English Bible
burn in place of burn, wound in place of wound, bruise in place of bruise.
New Century Version
burn for burn, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.
New English Translation
burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
Amplified Bible
burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
New American Standard Bible
burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Burning for burning, wound for wounde, stripe for stripe.
Legacy Standard Bible
burn for burn, bruise for bruise, wound for wound.
Contemporary English Version
burn for burn, cut for cut, and bruise for bruise.
Complete Jewish Bible
burn for burn, wound for wound and bruise for bruise.
Darby Translation
branding for branding, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
English Standard Version
burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
George Lamsa Translation
Burning for burning, wound for wound, slap for slap.
Good News Translation
burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
Christian Standard Bible®
burn for burn, bruise for bruise, wound for wound.
Literal Translation
branding for branding, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
burnynge for burnynge, wounde for wounde, strype for strype.
American Standard Version
burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Bible in Basic English
Burning for burning, wound for wound, blow for blow.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Burnyng for burnyng, wounde for wounde, strype for strype.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
King James Version (1611)
Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
English Revised Version
burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Berean Standard Bible
burn for burn, wound for wound, and stripe for stripe.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
brennyng for brennyng, wounde `with schedyng of blood for wounde `with schedyng of blood, `a wan wounde for a wan wounde.
Young's Literal Translation
burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Update Bible Version
burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Webster's Bible Translation
Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
World English Bible
burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.
New King James Version
burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
New Living Translation
a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, a bruise for a bruise.
New Life Bible
burn for burn, cut for cut, sore for sore.
New Revised Standard
burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
brand for brand, wound for wound, - stripe for stripe.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
Revised Standard Version
burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

Contextual Overview

22 "Two men might be fighting and hurt a pregnant woman. This might make the woman give birth to her baby before its time. If the woman was not hurt badly, the man who hurt her must pay a fine. The woman's husband will decide how much the man must pay. The judges will help the man decide how much the fine will be. 23 But if the woman was hurt badly, then the man who hurt her must be punished. The punishment must fit the crime. You must trade one life for another life. 24 You must trade an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot, 25 a burn for a burn, a bruise for a bruise, a cut for a cut. 26 "If a man hits a slave in the eye, and the slave is blinded in that eye, then the slave will be allowed to go free. His eye is the payment for his freedom. This is the same for a man or a woman slave. 27 If a master hits his slave in the mouth, and the slave loses a tooth, then the slave will be allowed to go free. The slave's tooth is payment for the slave's freedom. This is the same for a man or a woman slave. 28 "If a man's bull kills a man or woman, then you should use stones and kill that bull. You should not eat the bull. The owner of the bull is not guilty. 29 But if the bull had hurt people in the past, and if the owner was warned, then the owner is guilty. That is because he did not keep the bull tied or locked in its place. So if the bull is allowed to be free and kills someone, the owner is guilty. You should kill the bull with stones and also kill the owner. 30 But the family of the dead man may accept money. If they accept money, the man who owned the bull should not be killed. But he must pay as much money as the judge decides. 31 "This same law must be followed if the bull kills someone's son or daughter.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cross-References

Genesis 13:7
(The Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in this land at the same time.) The shepherds of Abram and Lot began to argue.
Genesis 21:15
After some time, when all their drinking water was gone, Hagar put her son under a bush.
Genesis 21:17
God heard the boy crying, and God's angel called to Hagar from heaven. He said, "What is wrong, Hagar? Don't be afraid! God has heard the boy crying there.
Genesis 21:22
Then Abimelech and Phicol spoke with Abraham. Phicol was the commander of Abimelech's army. They said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do.
Genesis 29:8
But they said, "We cannot do that until all the flocks are gathered together. Then we will move the rock from the well, and all the sheep will drink."
Judges 1:15
Acsah answered him, "Give me a blessing. You gave me dry desert land in the Negev. Please give me some land with water on it." So Caleb gave her what she wanted. He gave her the upper and lower pools of water in that land.
Proverbs 17:10
Smart people learn more from a single correction than fools learn from a hundred beatings.
Proverbs 25:9
If you want to tell your friends about your own problems, tell them. But don't discuss what someone told you in private.
Proverbs 27:5
Open criticism is better than hidden love.
Matthew 18:15
"If your brother or sister in God's family does something wrong, go and tell them what they did wrong. Do this when you are alone with them. If they listen to you, then you have helped them to be your brother or sister again.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. This is to be understood of burning a man's flesh with fire; of wounds made by any means, so that the blood is let out; and of blows, and the prints and marks of them; of stripes and weals where the blood is settled, and the part is turned black and blue: the Targum of Jonathan is, the price of the pain of burning for burning, c. and indeed, in everyone of these cases, the law could not be well literally executed for it would be very difficult to burn and wound and mangle a man exactly as he had done another: and as Favorinus h objects against the law of the twelve tables of the Romans concerning retaliation, how can a man make a wound in another exactly as long, and as broad, and as deep as that he has given? nor would he suffer a larger to be made, as it was not just it should; and to which may be added, that all constitutions are not alike, and burning and wounding and striping, especially in some parts, might prove mortal, and the person might die thereby; to them the law of retaliation would not be observed, the punishment would be exceeded; and it is much more agreeable to justice and equity that it should be lessened rather than increased; and it may be observed, the law of the twelve tables with the Romans, concerning maiming of members, only took place when the parties could not come to an agreement; and with respect to the Jewish law, Josephus i himself says, that the man that has his eye put out may receive money for it, if he is willing, which the law allows of.

h A. Gell. Noct. Attic. l. 20. c. 1. i Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 4. c. 33, 35.)

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The rule would seem to refer to a case in which the wife of a man interfered in a quarrel. This law, “the jus talionis,” is elsewhere repeated in substance, compare the marginal references. and Genesis 9:6. It has its root in a simple conception of justice, and is found in the laws of many ancient nations. It serves in this place as a maxim for the magistrate in awarding the amount of compensation to be paid for the infliction of personal injury. The sum was to be as nearly as possible the worth in money of the power lost by the injured person. Our Lord quotes Exodus 21:24 as representing the form of the law, in order to illustrate the distinction between the letter and the spirit Matthew 5:38. The tendency of the teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees was to confound the obligations of the conscience with the external requirements of the law. The law, in its place, was still to be “holy and just and good,” Romans 7:12, but its direct purpose was to protect the community, not to guide the heart of the believer, who was not to exact eye for eye, tooth for tooth, but to love his enemies, and to forgive all injuries.


 
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