Exodus 22:2

If a thief is caught while he is breaking into someone else’s house at night, if the one who catches him kills the thief, he is not guilty of murdering him.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him.

In Context

1Yahweh also said, “If someone steals a bull or a sheep, and then slaughters it to sell it or to sacrifice it or sells its meat to someone else, he must pay five bulls for the bull that he stole, and he must pay four sheep for the sheep that he stole.

3But if that happens during the daytime, the one who killed the thief is guilty of murdering him. The thief must pay for what he stole. If he has no animals with which to pay for the one that he stole, he must be sold to become someone’s else’s slave and the money must be used to pay for what he stole.

Read all of Exodus 22

Cross References

Numbers 35:27If he goes outside the city, and if a relative of the dead person finds him, that relative is permitted to kill that person, and people will not consider that the relative is guilty of murder.

Job 24:16It is during the night that robbers break into houses to steal things, but during the day they hide because they want to avoid being seen in the light.

Hosea 7:1“and when I wanted to heal them again, I did not do it, because I saw the wicked things that the people of Samaria city and other places in Israel [DOU] have done. They constantly deceive others; bandits rob people in the streets.

Matthew 6:19“Do not selfishly accumulate large quantities of money and material goods for yourselves on this earth, because the earth is where everything is destroyed. For example, on earth termites ruin things, and things rust, and thieves enter buildings and steal things.

1 Thessalonians 5:2because you yourselves know accurately what will happen! You know that the Lord Jesus will return [MTY] unexpectedly (OR, when some people are unprepared). People will not expect him, just like no one knows when a thief comes unexpectedly at night [SIM].

Matthew Henry on Exodus 22:2-7

Judicial Laws. ( b. c. 1491.) 1 If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. 2 If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him. 3 If the sun be risen upon him, there shall be blood shed for him; for he should make full restitution; if he have nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4 If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he… Read the whole commentary →

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