New International Version
Exodus 22:2
2“If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed;
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.
- 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.
- New Living Translation (NLT)“If a thief is caught in the act of breaking into a house and is struck and killed in the process, the person who killed the thief is not guilty of murder.
Context of Exodus 22:2
1“Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep. “If a thief is caught breaking in at night and is struck a fatal blow, the defender is not guilty of bloodshed; 3but if it happens after sunrise, the defender is guilty of bloodshed. “Anyone who steals must certainly make restitution, but if they have nothing, they must be sold to pay for their theft. 4If the stolen animal is found alive in their possession—whether ox or donkey or sheep—they 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 24:14When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up, kills the poor and needy, and in the night steals forth like a thief.
- Job 30:5They were banished from human society, shouted at as if they were thieves.
- Hosea 7:1whenever I would heal Israel, the sins of Ephraim are exposed and the crimes of Samaria revealed. They practice deceit, thieves break into houses, bandits rob in the streets;
- Joel 2:9They rush upon the city; they run along the wall. They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows.
- Matthew 6:19“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin 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 kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:2for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
- Numbers 35:27and the avenger of blood finds them outside the city, the avenger of blood may kill the accused without being guilty of murder.
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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