Exodus 21:34

34 The owner of the hole is responsible; he will have to make payment to their owner, but the dead beast will be his.

Exodus 21:34 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 21:34

The owner of the pit shall make it good
Repair the loss of the ox or ass:

and give the money unto the owner of them:
the price of them, what they are worth: the Targum of Jonathan is,

``the owner of the pit shall pay the silver, he shall return to its owner the price of the ox or ass:''

and the dead beast shall be his;
either the owner of the pit; who pays the full value for the ox or ass killed, which seems but reasonable; or

``the injured person as Jarchi, for he says, they reckon or estimate the carcass, and he takes it for the price;''

that is, for part of the price it is valued at.

Exodus 21:34 In-Context

32 If the death of a man-servant or of a woman-servant is caused by the ox, the owner is to give their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox is to be stoned.

33 If a man makes a hole in the earth without covering it up, and an ox or an ass dropping into it comes to its death;

34 The owner of the hole is responsible; he will have to make payment to their owner, but the dead beast will be his.

35 And if one man's ox does damage to another man's ox, causing its death, then the living ox is to be exchanged for money, and division made of the price of it, and of the price of the dead one.

36 But if it is common knowledge that the ox has frequently done such damage in the past, and its owner has not kept it under control, he will have to give ox for ox; and the dead beast will be his.