English Standard Version
Exodus 21:33
33"When a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,
Exodus 21:33 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or an ass fall therein;
- New International Version (NIV)“If anyone uncovers a pit or digs one and fails to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it,
- New King James Version (NKJV)“And if a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls in it,
- New Living Translation (NLT)“Suppose someone digs or uncovers a pit and fails to cover it, and then an ox or a donkey falls into it.
Context of Exodus 21:33
31If it gores a man's son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this same rule. 32If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. "When a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34the owner of the pit shall make restoration. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead beast shall be his. 35"When one man's ox butts another's, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price, and the dead beast also they shall share.
Read all of Exodus 21Exodus 21:33 word by word
וְכִֽי־יִפְתַּ֨ח אִ֜ישׁ בּ֗וֹר א֠וֹ כִּֽי־יִכְרֶ֥ה אִ֛ישׁ בֹּ֖ר וְלֹ֣א יְכַסֶּ֑נּוּ וְנָֽפַל־שָׁ֥מָּה שּׁ֖וֹר א֥וֹ חֲמֽוֹר׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Exodus 21:33
- Psalms 9:15The nations have sunk in the pit that they made; in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught.
- Psalms 119:85The insolent have dug pitfalls for me; they do not live according to your law.
- Proverbs 28:10Whoever misleads the upright into an evil way will fall into his own pit, but the blameless will have a goodly inheritance.
- Ecclesiastes 10:8He who digs a pit will fall into it, and a serpent will bite him who breaks through a wall.
- Jeremiah 18:20Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for my life. Remember how I stood before you to speak good for them, to turn away your wrath from them.
Commentaries on Exodus 21:33
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 33And if a man shall open a pit, or - dig a pit - That is, if a man shall open a well or cistern that had been before closed up, or dig a new one; for these two cases are plainly intimated: and if he did this in some public place where there was danger that men or cattle might fall into it; for a man might do as he pleased in his own grounds, as those were his private right. In the above case, if he had neglected to cover the pit, and his neighbor's ox or…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 33The usual mode of protecting a well in the East was probably then, as now, by building round it a low circular wall.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 22-36Verses 22-36 The cases here mentioned give rules of justice then, and still in use, for deciding similar matters. We are taught by these laws, that we must be very careful to do no wrong, either directly or indirectly. If we have done wrong, we must be very willing to make it good, and be desirous that nobody may lose by us.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 33-37In cases involving loss of property, the responsible person had to pay compensation equal to the value of what was lost. If the person had actually stolen the property, the compensation was multiplied (22:1, 4, 7). Where there was a question of responsibility, the parties were to appear before God for adjudication (22:8). The means by which the judgment was reached is not reported.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 28-3628-36. If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die--For the purpose of sanctifying human blood, and representing all injuries affecting life in a serious light, an animal that occasioned death was to be killed or suffer punishment proportioned to the degree of damage it had caused. Punishments are still inflicted on this principle in Persia and other countries of the East; and among a rude people greater effect is thus produced in inspiring caution, and…Read the comment
Topics related to Exodus 21:33
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Exodus 21
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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Commentaries