Exodus 21:23

23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life,

Exodus 21:23 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
English Standard Version (ESV)
23 But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life,
New Living Translation (NLT)
23 But if there is further injury, the punishment must match the injury: a life for a life,
The Message Bible (MSG)
23 But if there is further damage, then you must give life for life
American Standard Version (ASV)
23 But if any harm follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
23 If anyone is injured, the offender must pay a life for a life,
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
23 If there is an injury, then you must give life for life,
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
23 "But if someone is badly hurt, a life must be taken for a life.

Exodus 21:23 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 21:23

And if any mischief follow
According as that is, so shall it be done to the smiter: if death follows,

then thou shalt give life for life;
if death to the woman, so Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret it; to which agrees the Targum of Jonathan,

``but if there is death in her, then ye shall judge or condemn the life of the murderer for the life of the woman;''

about which, Jarchi says, there is a difference among their doctors; some say life properly, absolutely the person himself; others say money, but not life properly; for he that intends to kill one and kills another is acquitted from death, but must pay to the heirs the price (of the person killed) as that person might be sold for in the market: and indeed it seems hard that a person that kills another at unawares should die for it; it is more reasonable that the punishment should in such a case be commuted for something less than life; and that though no satisfaction was to be taken for a wilful murderer, ( Numbers 35:31 ) , yet it seems to imply that it might be taken for one that was so without design; as by another law cities of refuge are appointed for the manslayer at unawares: the canons of the Jews, according to Maimonides {b}, run thus;

``he that strikes a woman, and she miscarries and dies, although it is done ignorantly; lo, such an one is free from payment, and he does not pay anything, as it is said, "if there is no mischief" the Scripture does not distinguish between what is done ignorantly and presumptuously, in a thing in which there is not death by the sanhedrim, to free him from payment; in what things? when he intends the woman; but if he intends his neighbour and strikes the woman, though she dies, since her death is, without intention, lo, this is a thing in which there is not death by the sanhedrim, and he pays the price of the birth:''

the Septuagint version interprets this, not of the woman that miscarries and dies, but of the child that becomes an abortive; if that was not formed and shaped, then only a fine was to be laid, but if it was come to its proper form and shape, and so was animated or quickened, then life was to go for life: and so, according to the Salic laws, he that killed an infant in its mother's womb was to pay 8000 pence, which made two hundred shillings; but if he was the cause of a woman's miscarriage, by blows or otherwise, if the birth was animated, according to the civil law, he was to be punished with death F3: but one would think, where this is only accidental and not intended, such a punishment is too rigid and severe: however, neither this nor what follows were left to the will of a private person to inflict at his pleasure, but to the civil magistrate; and therefore no ways encourages private revenge, in favour of which it was applied by the Pharisees in Christ's time, whose gloss he refutes, ( Matthew 5:38 Matthew 5:39 ) nor are the words directed to the offender in this and the following cases, but to Moses, and so to all judges under him and in succession, who were to see these laws put in execution.


FOOTNOTES:

F2 Chobel Umazzik, c. 4. sect. 5. 6.
F3 Vid L'Empereur in Misn. Bava Kama, c. 3. sect. 2.

Exodus 21:23 In-Context

21 but they are not to be punished if the slave recovers after a day or two, since the slave is their property.
22 “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows.
23 But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life,
24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.

Cross References 1

  • 1. Leviticus 24:19; Deuteronomy 19:21
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