New English Translation
Exodus 22:2
2“If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guilt for him.
Exodus 22:2 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him.
- New International Version (NIV)“If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed;
- English Standard Version (ESV)If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no bloodguilt for him,
- New King James Version (NKJV)If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed.
Context of Exodus 22:2
1(21:37) “If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, he must pay back five head of cattle for the ox, and four sheep for the one sheep. “If a thief is caught breaking in and is struck so that he dies, there will be no blood guilt for him. 3If the sun has risen on him, then there is blood guilt for him. A thief must surely make full restitution; if he has nothing, then he will be sold for his theft. 4If the stolen item should in fact be found alive in his possession, whether it be an ox or a donkey or a sheep, he must pay back double.
Read all of Exodus 22Exodus 22:2 word by word
אִם־בַּמַּחְתֶּ֛רֶת יִמָּצֵ֥א הַגַּנָּ֖ב וְהֻכָּ֣ה וָמֵ֑ת אֵ֥ין ל֖וֹ דָּמִֽים׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Exodus 22:2
- Job 24:14Before daybreak the murderer rises up; he kills the poor and the needy; in the night he is like a thief.
- Job 30:5They were banished from the community – people shouted at them like they would shout at thieves –
- Hosea 7:1whenever I want to heal Israel, the sin of Ephraim is revealed, and the evil deeds of Samaria are exposed. For they do what is wrong; thieves break into houses, and gangs rob people out in the streets.
- Joel 2:9They rush into the city; they scale its walls. They climb up into the houses; they go in through the windows like a thief.
- Matthew 6:19“Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
- Matthew 24:43But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have been alert and would not have let his house be broken into.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:2For you know quite well that the day of the Lord will come in the same way as a thief in the night.
- Numbers 35:27and the avenger of blood finds him outside the borders of the town of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the slayer, he will not be guilty of blood,
Commentaries on Exodus 22:2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2If 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…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2-4Verses 2-4 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.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-15In 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. 1-311-4. If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep--The law respects the theft of cattle which constituted the chief part of their property. The penalty for the theft of a sheep which was slain or sold, was fourfold; for an ox fivefold, because of its greater utility in labor; but, should the stolen animal have been recovered alive, a double compensation was all that was required, because it was presumable he (the thief) was not a practised adept in dishonesty…Read the comment
Topics related to Exodus 22:2
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Exodus 22
- 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
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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