Exodus 22:2

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
If the thief is found breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt of bloodshed for him.

King James Version
If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him.

Lexham English Bible
"‘If a thief is found in the act of breaking in and he is struck and he dies, there is not bloodguilt for him.

New Century Version
"The robber who is caught must pay back what he stole. If he owns nothing, he must be sold as a slave to pay for what he stole. If the stolen animal is found alive with the robber, he must give the owner two animals for every animal he stole, whether it was a bull, donkey, or sheep. "If a thief is killed while breaking into a house at night, the one who killed him is not guilty of murder. But if this happens during the day, he is guilty of murder.

New English Translation
"If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guilt for him.

Amplified Bible
"If a thief is caught breaking in [after dark] and is struck [by the owner] so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him.

New American Standard Bible
"If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no guilt for bloodshed on his account.

Geneva Bible (1587)
If a thiefe bee founde breaking vp, and be smitten that he dye, no blood shall be shed for him.

Legacy Standard Bible
"If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account.

Contemporary English Version
But if you cannot afford to replace the animals, you must be sold as a slave to pay for what you have stolen. If you steal an ox, donkey, or sheep, and are caught with it still alive, you must pay the owner double. If you happen to kill a burglar who breaks into your home after dark, you are not guilty. But if you kill someone who breaks in during the day, you are guilty of murder.

Complete Jewish Bible
unless it happens after sunrise, in which case it is murder. A thief must make restitution; so if he has nothing, he himself is to be sold to make good the loss from the theft.

Darby Translation
If the thief be encountered breaking in, and be smitten so that he die, there shall be no blood-guiltiness for him.

Easy-to-Read Version
If he owns nothing, then he will be sold as a slave. But if the man still has the animal and you find it, that man must give the owner two animals for every animal he stole. It doesn't matter if the animal was a bull, a donkey, or a sheep. "If a thief is killed while trying to break into a house at night, then no one will be guilty for killing him. But if this happens during the day, the one who killed him will be guilty of murder.

English Standard Version
If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him,

George Lamsa Translation
If a thief is found breaking into a house and is wounded so that he dies, there is no penalty for bloodshed.

Good News Translation
He must pay for what he stole. If he owns nothing, he shall be sold as a slave to pay for what he has stolen. If the stolen animal, whether a cow, a donkey, or a sheep, is found alive in his possession, he shall pay two for one. "If a thief is caught breaking into a house at night and is killed, the one who killed him is not guilty of murder. But if it happens during the day, he is guilty of murder.

Christian Standard Bible®
If a thief is caught in the act of breaking in, and he is beaten to death, no one is guilty of bloodshed.

Literal Translation
If the thief is found breaking in, and is stricken and dies, no blood shall be shed for him.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf a thefe be taken breakinge in, & vpon that be smytten that he dye, then shall not he that smote him, be giltie of his bloude.

American Standard Version
If the thief be found breaking in, and be smitten so that he dieth, there shall be no bloodguiltiness for him.

Bible in Basic English
If a thief is taken in the act of forcing his way into a house, and his death is caused by a blow, the owner of the house is not responsible for his blood.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
If a theefe be found breaking vp, and be smitten that he dye: there shall no blood be shed for hym.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be bloodguiltiness for him--he shall make restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.

King James Version (1611)
If a thiefe bee found breaking vp, and be smitten that he die, there shal no blood be shed for him.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And if the thief be found in the breach made by himself and be smitten and die, there shall not be blood shed for him.

English Revised Version
If the thief be found breaking in, and be smitten that he die, there shall be no bloodguiltiness for him.

Berean Standard Bible
If a thief is caught breaking in and is beaten to death, no one shall be guilty of bloodshed.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And if a nyyt theef brekynge an hows, ether vndurmynynge, is foundun, and is deed bi a wounde takun, the smytere schal not be gilti of blood;

Young's Literal Translation
`If in the breaking through, the thief is found, and he hath been smitten, and hath died, there is no blood for him;

Update Bible Version
If the thief is found breaking in, and is smitten so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguiltiness for him.

Webster's Bible Translation
If a thief shall be found breaking through, and be smitten that he die, [there shall] no blood [be shed] for him.

World English Bible
If the thief is found breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt of bloodshed for him.

New King James Version
If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed.

New Living Translation
"If a thief is caught in the act of breaking into a house and is struck and killed in the process, the person who killed the thief is not guilty of murder.

New Life Bible
If the robber is caught while breaking in, and is hit so that he dies, the owner of the house is not guilty for his blood.

New Revised Standard
If a thief is found breaking in, and is beaten to death, no bloodguilt is incurred;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
If, in the place of breaking in, the thief be found and he is smitten so that he dieth, there is due for him no shedding of blood:

Douay-Rheims Bible
If a thief be found breaking open a house or undermining it, and be wounded so as to die: he that slew him shall not be guilty of blood.

Revised Standard Version
If the stolen beast is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox or an ass or a sheep, he shall pay double.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"If the thief is caught while breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no bloodguiltiness on his account.

Contextual Overview

¹"If someone steals an ox or a lamb and slaughters or sells it, the thief must pay five cattle in place of the ox and four sheep in place of the lamb. If the thief is caught while breaking in and is hit hard and dies, there is no bloodguilt. But if it happens after daybreak, there is bloodguilt. "A thief must make full restitution for what is stolen. The thief who is unable to pay is to be sold for his thieving. If caught red-handed with the stolen goods, and the ox or donkey or lamb is still alive, the thief pays double. "If someone grazes livestock in a field or vineyard but lets them loose so they graze in someone else's field, restitution must be made from the best of the owner's field or vineyard. "If fire breaks out and spreads to the brush so that the sheaves of grain or the standing grain or even the whole field is burned up, whoever started the fire must pay for the damages. "If someone gives a neighbor money or things for safekeeping and they are stolen from the neighbor's house, the thief, if caught, must pay back double. If the thief is not caught, the owner must be brought before God to determine whether the owner was the one who took the neighbor's goods. "In all cases of stolen goods, whether oxen, donkeys, sheep, clothing, anything in fact missing of which someone says, ‘That's mine,' both parties must come before the judges. The one the judges pronounce guilty must pay double to the other. "If someone gives a donkey or ox or lamb or any kind of animal to another for safekeeping and it dies or is injured or lost and there is no witness, an oath before God must be made between them to decide whether one has laid hands on the property of the other. The owner must accept this and no damages are assessed. But if it turns out it was stolen, the owner must be compensated. If it has been torn by wild beasts, the torn animal must be brought in as evidence; no damages have to be paid. "If someone borrows an animal from a neighbor and it gets injured or dies while the owner is not present, he must pay for it. But if the owner was with it, he doesn't have to pay. If the animal was hired, the payment covers the loss. "If a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged to be married and sleeps with her, he must pay the marriage price and marry her. If her father absolutely refuses to give her away, the man must still pay the marriage price for virgins. "Don't let a sorceress live. "Anyone who has sex with an animal gets the death penalty. "Anyone who sacrifices to a god other than God alone must be put to death. "Don't abuse or take advantage of strangers; you, remember, were once strangers in Egypt. "Don't mistreat widows or orphans. If you do and they cry out to me, you can be sure I'll take them most seriously; I'll show my anger and come raging among you with the sword, and your wives will end up widows and your children orphans. "If you lend money to my people, to any of the down-and-out among you, don't come down hard on them and gouge them with interest. "If you take your neighbor's coat as security, give it back before nightfall; it may be your neighbor's only covering—what else does the person have to sleep in? And if I hear the neighbor crying out from the cold, I'll step in—I'm compassionate. "Don't curse God; and don't damn your leaders. "Don't be stingy as your wine vats fill up. "Dedicate your firstborn sons to me. The same with your cattle and sheep—they are to stay for seven days with their mother, then give them to me. "Be holy for my sake. "Don't eat mutilated flesh you find in the fields; throw it to the dogs." ⁴ "If someone steals an ox or a lamb and slaughters or sells it, the thief must pay five cattle in place of the ox and four sheep in place of the lamb. If the thief is caught while breaking in and is hit hard and dies, there is no bloodguilt. But if it happens after daybreak, there is bloodguilt. "A thief must make full restitution for what is stolen. The thief who is unable to pay is to be sold for his thieving. If caught red-handed with the stolen goods, and the ox or donkey or lamb is still alive, the thief pays double. ⁵ "If someone grazes livestock in a field or vineyard but lets them loose so they graze in someone else's field, restitution must be made from the best of the owner's field or vineyard. ⁶ "If fire breaks out and spreads to the brush so that the sheaves of grain or the standing grain or even the whole field is burned up, whoever started the fire must pay for the damages.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

breaking: Job 24:14, Job 30:5, Hosea 7:1, Joel 2:9, Matthew 6:19, Matthew 6:20, Matthew 24:43, 1 Thessalonians 5:2

no blood: Numbers 35:27

Reciprocal: Genesis 9:6 - by Deuteronomy 17:8 - between blood Job 24:16 - In the dark Ezekiel 18:10 - a robber

Cross-References

Genesis 17:19
But God said, "That's not what I mean. Your wife, Sarah, will have a baby, a son. Name him Isaac (Laughter). I'll establish my covenant with him and his descendants, a covenant that lasts forever.

Genesis 22:9
They arrived at the place to which God had directed him. Abraham built an altar. He laid out the wood. Then he tied up Isaac and laid him on the wood. Abraham reached out and took the knife to kill his son.

Genesis 22:12
"Don't lay a hand on that boy! Don't touch him! Now I know how fearlessly you fear God; you didn't hesitate to place your son, your dear son, on the altar for me."

2 Chronicles 3:1
So Solomon broke ground, launched construction of the house of God in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, the place where God had appeared to his father David. The precise site, the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, had been designated by David. He broke ground on the second day in the second month of the fourth year of his rule. These are the dimensions that Solomon set for the construction of the house of God: ninety feet long and thirty feet wide. The porch in front stretched the width of the building, that is, thirty feet; and it was thirty feet high. The interior was gold-plated. He paneled the main hall with cypress and veneered it with fine gold engraved with palm tree and chain designs. He decorated the building with precious stones and gold from Parvaim. Everything was coated with gold veneer: rafters, doorframes, walls, and doors. Cherubim were engraved on the walls. He made the Holy of Holies a cube, thirty feet wide, long, and high. It was veneered with six hundred talents (something over twenty-two tons) of gold. The gold nails weighed fifty shekels (a little over a pound). The upper rooms were also veneered in gold. He made two sculptures of cherubim, gigantic angel-like figures, for the Holy of Holies, both veneered with gold. The combined wingspread of the side-by-side cherubim (each wing measuring seven and a half feet) stretched from wall to wall, thirty feet. They stood erect facing the main hall. He fashioned the curtain of violet, purple, and crimson fabric and worked a cherub design into it. He made two huge free-standing pillars, each fifty-two feet tall, their capitals extending another seven and a half feet. The top of each pillar was set off with an elaborate filigree of chains, like necklaces, from which hung a hundred pomegranates. He placed the pillars in front of The Temple, one on the right, and the other on the left. The right pillar he named Jakin (Security) and the left pillar he named Boaz (Stability).

John 3:16
"This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

Hebrews 11:17
By faith, Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God. Acting in faith, he was as ready to return the promised son, his only son, as he had been to receive him—and this after he had already been told, "Your descendants shall come from Isaac." Abraham figured that if God wanted to, he could raise the dead. In a sense, that's what happened when he received Isaac back, alive from off the altar.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If a thief be found breaking up,.... An house, in order to steal money, jewels, household goods, c. or breaking through any fence, hedge, or wall of any enclosure, where oxen, or sheep, or any other creatures are, in order to take them away: the Targum of Jonathan is,

"if in the hole of a wall (or window of it) a thief be found''

that is, in the night, as appears from the following verse, "if the sun", c. to which this is opposed, as Aben Ezra observes some render it, with a digging instrument x; and it is a Jewish canon y, that

"if anyone enter with a digging instrument: he is condemned on account of his end;''

his design, which is apparent by the instrument found upon him; for, as Maimonides z observes,

"it is well known, that if anyone enters with a digging instrument, that he intends, if the master of the house opposes him to deliver his goods out of his power, that he will kill him, and therefore it is lawful to kill him; but it does not signify whether he enters with a digging instrument, either by the way of the court, or roof;''

and be smitten that he die be knocked down with a club, by the master of the house, or any of his servants, or be run through with a sword, or be struck with any other weapon, to hinder him from entrance and carrying off any of the goods of the house, and the blow be mortal: there shall no blood be shed for him: as for a man that is murdered; for to kill a man when breaking into a house, and, by all appearance, with an intention to commit murder, if resisted, in defence of a man's self, his life and property, was not to be reckoned murder, and so not punishable with death: or, "no blood" shall be "unto him" a; shall be imputed to him, the man that kills the thief shall not be chargeable with his blood, or suffer for shedding it; because his own life was risked, and it being at such a time, could call none to his assistance, nor easily discern the person, nor could know well where and whom he struck.

x במחתרת "cum perfossorio", Pagninus; "cum instrumento perfosserio", Tigurine version. y Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 8. sect. 6. z Comment. in ib. a אין לו דמים "non ei sanguines", Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

If a thief, in breaking into a dwelling in the night, was slain, the person who slew him did not incur the guilt of blood; but if the same occurred in daylight, the slayer was guilty in accordance with Exodus 21:12. The distinction may have been based on the fact that in the light of day there was a fair chance of identifying and apprehending the thief.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 22:2. If a thief be found — If a thief was found breaking into a house in the night season, he might be killed; but not if the sun had risen, for then he might be known and taken, and the restitution made which is mentioned in the succeeding verse. So by the law of England it is a burglary to break and enter a house by night; and "anciently the day was accounted to begin only from sunrising, and to end immediately upon sunset: but it is now generally agreed that if there be daylight enough begun or left, either by the light of the sun or twilight, whereby the countenance of a person may reasonably be discerned, it is no burglary; but that this does not extend to moonlight, for then many midnight burglaries would go unpunished. And besides, the malignity of the offence does not so properly arise, as Mr. Justice Blackstone observes, from its being done in the dark, as at the dead of night when all the creation except beasts of prey are at rest; when sleep has disarmed the owner, and rendered his castle defenceless." - East's Pleas of the Crown, vol. ii., p. 509.