God’s Word Translation
Exodus 21:33
33“Whenever someone opens up a cistern or digs a new one and doesn’t cover it and a bull 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,
- English Standard Version (ESV)"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,
- 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,
Context of Exodus 21:33
31If the bull gores someone’s son or daughter, this same ruling applies. 32If the bull gores a male or female slave, its owner must pay 12 ounces of silver to the slave’s master, and the bull must be stoned. “Whenever someone opens up a cistern or digs a new one and doesn’t cover it and a bull or a donkey falls into it, 34the owner of the cistern must make up for the loss. He must pay money to the animal’s owner, and then the dead animal will be his. 35“Whenever one person’s bull kills another person’s bull, they must sell the live bull and divide the money between them. They must divide the dead bull, too.
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 into the pit they have made. Their feet are caught in the net they have hidden ⌞to trap others⌟.
- Psalms 119:85Arrogant people have dug pits to trap me in defiance of your teachings.
- Proverbs 28:10Whoever leads decent people into evil will fall into his own pit, but innocent people will inherit good things.
- Ecclesiastes 10:8Whoever digs a pit may fall into it. Whoever breaks through a stone wall may be bitten by a snake.
- Jeremiah 18:20Good should not be paid back with evil. They dig a pit to take my life. Remember how I stood in your presence and pleaded for them in order to turn your anger away 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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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