Exodus 21:23

Young's Literal Translation

and if there is mischief, then thou hast given life for life,

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life,

King James Version
And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,

Lexham English Bible
And if there is serious injury, you will give life in place of life,

New Century Version
But if there is further injury, then the punishment that must be paid is life for life,

New English Translation
But if there is serious injury, then you will give a life for a life,

Amplified Bible
"But if there is any further injury, then you shall require [as a penalty] life for life,

New American Standard Bible
"But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life,

Geneva Bible (1587)
But if death followe, then thou shalt paye life for life,

Legacy Standard Bible
But if there is any further injury, then you shall pay life for life,

Contemporary English Version
But if she is seriously injured, the payment will be life for life,

Complete Jewish Bible
But if any harm follows, then you are to give life for life,

Darby Translation
But if mischief happen, then thou shalt give life for life,

Easy-to-Read Version
But if the woman was hurt badly, then the man who hurt her must be punished. The punishment must fit the crime. You must trade one life for another life.

English Standard Version
But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life,

George Lamsa Translation
But if any mischief follow, then you shall give life for life,

Good News Translation
But if the woman herself is injured, the punishment shall be life for life,

Christian Standard Bible®
If there is an injury, then you must give life for life,

Literal Translation
But if injury occurs, you shall give life for life,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But yf there come harme vnto her there thorow, then shal he paye soule for soule,

American Standard Version
But if any harm follow, then thou shalt give life for life,

Bible in Basic English
But if damage comes to her, let life be given in payment for life,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And if any destruction folowe, then he shall geue life for life,

JPS Old Testament (1917)
But if any harm follow, then thou shalt give life for life,

King James Version (1611)
And if any mischiefe follow, then thou shalt giue life for life,

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But if it be perfectly formed, he shall give life for life,

English Revised Version
But if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,

Berean Standard Bible
But if a serious injury results, then you must require a life for a life-

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
But if the deeth of hir sueth,

Update Bible Version
But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life,

Webster's Bible Translation
And if [any] mischief shall follow, then thou shalt give life for life,

World English Bible
But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life,

New King James Version
But if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life,

New Living Translation
But if there is further injury, the punishment must match the injury: a life for a life,

New Life Bible
But if there is other hurt also, then it is life for life,

New Revised Standard
If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But, if mischief follow, then shalt thou give life for life;

Douay-Rheims Bible
But if her death ensue thereupon, he shall render life for life,

Revised Standard Version
If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"But if there is any further injury, then you shall appoint as a penalty life for life,

Contextual Overview

²² `And when men strive, and have smitten a pregnant woman, and her children have come out, and there is no mischief, he is certainly fined, as the husband of the woman doth lay upon him, and he hath given through the judges; <sup>23</sup> and if there is mischief, then thou hast given life for life, <sup>24</sup> eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, <sup>25</sup> burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. <sup>26</sup> `And when a man smiteth the eye of his man-servant, or the eye of his handmaid, and hath destroyed it, as a freeman he doth send him away for his eye; ²⁷ and if a tooth of his man-servant or a tooth of his handmaid he knock out, as a freeman he doth send him away for his tooth. ²⁸ `And when an ox doth gore man or woman, and they have died, the ox is certainly stoned, and his flesh is not eaten, and the owner of the ox [is] acquitted; <sup>29</sup> and if the ox is [one] accustomed to gore heretofore, and it hath been testified to its owner, and he doth not watch it, and it hath put to death a man or woman, the ox is stoned, and its owner also is put to death. <sup>30</sup> `If atonement is laid upon him, then he hath given the ransom of his life, according to all that is laid upon him; ³¹ whether it gore a son or gore a daughter, according to this judgment it is done to him.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

life for life: Numbers 35:31

Reciprocal: Leviticus 24:20 - General Deuteronomy 19:21 - life shall Judges 1:7 - as I have Revelation 13:10 - that leadeth Revelation 18:6 - Reward

Cross-References

Genesis 20:14
And Abimelech taketh sheep and oxen, and servants and handmaids, and giveth to Abraham, and sendeth back to him Sarah his wife;

Genesis 21:21
and he dwelleth in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother taketh for him a wife from the land of Egypt.

Genesis 21:22
And it cometh to pass at that time that Abimelech speaketh -- Phichol also, head of his host -- unto Abraham, saying, `God [is] with thee in all that thou art doing;

Genesis 21:23
and now, swear to me by God here: thou dost not lie to me, or to my continuator, or to my successor; according to the kindness which I have done with thee thou dost with me, and with the land in which thou hast sojourned.'

Genesis 24:3
and I cause thee to swear by Jehovah, God of the heavens, and God of the earth, that thou dost not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanite, in the midst of whom I am dwelling;

Genesis 26:28
And they say, `We have certainly seen that Jehovah hath been with thee, and we say, `Let there be, we pray thee, an oath between us, between us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee;

Genesis 31:44
and now, come, let us make a covenant, I and thou, and it hath been for a witness between me and thee.'

Genesis 31:53
the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, doth judge between us -- the God of their father,' and Jacob sweareth by the Fear of his father Isaac.

Deuteronomy 6:13
Jehovah thy God thou dost fear, and Him thou dost serve, and by His name thou dost swear;

Joshua 2:12
`And now, swear ye, I pray you, to me by Jehovah -- because I have done with you kindness -- that ye have done, even ye, kindness with the house of my father, and have given to me a true token,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And if any mischief follow,.... According as that is, so shall it be done to the smiter: if death follows,

then thou shalt give life for life; if death to the woman, so Jarchi and Aben Ezra interpret it; to which agrees the Targum of Jonathan,

"but if there is death in her, then ye shall judge or condemn the life of the murderer for the life of the woman;''

about which, Jarchi says, there is a difference among their doctors; some say life properly, absolutely the person himself; others say money, but not life properly; for he that intends to kill one and kills another is acquitted from death, but must pay to the heirs the price (of the person killed) as that person might be sold for in the market: and indeed it seems hard that a person that kills another at unawares should die for it; it is more reasonable that the punishment should in such a case be commuted for something less than life; and that though no satisfaction was to be taken for a wilful murderer, Numbers 35:31, yet it seems to imply that it might be taken for one that was so without design; as by another law cities of refuge are appointed for the manslayer at unawares: the canons of the Jews, according to Maimonides b, run thus;

"he that strikes a woman, and she miscarries and dies, although it is done ignorantly; lo, such an one is free from payment, and he does not pay anything, as it is said, "if there is no mischief, c." the Scripture does not distinguish between what is done ignorantly and presumptuously, in a thing in which there is not death by the sanhedrim, to free him from payment in what things? when he intends the woman; but if he intends his neighbour and strikes the woman, though she dies, since her death is, without intention, lo, this is a thing in which there is not death by the sanhedrim, and he pays the price of the birth:''

the Septuagint version interprets this, not of the woman that miscarries and dies, but of the child that becomes an abortive; if that was not formed and shaped, then only a fine was to be laid, but if it was come to its proper form and shape, and so was animated or quickened, then life was to go for life: and so, according to the Salic laws, he that killed an infant in its mother's womb was to pay 8000 pence, which made two hundred shillings; but if he was the cause of a woman's miscarriage, by blows or otherwise, if the birth was animated, according to the civil law, he was to be punished with death c: but one would think, where this is only accidental and not intended, such a punishment is too rigid and severe: however, neither this nor what follows were left to the will of a private person to inflict at his pleasure, but to the civil magistrate; and therefore no ways encourages private revenge, in favour of which it was applied by the Pharisees in Christ's time, whose gloss he refutes, Matthew 5:38 nor are the words directed to the offender in this and the following cases, but to Moses, and so to all judges under him and in succession, who were to see these laws put in execution.

b Chobel Umazzik, c. 4. sect. 5. 6. c Vid L'Empereur in Misn. Bava Kama, c. 3. sect. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The rule would seem to refer to a case in which the wife of a man interfered in a quarrel. This law, “the jus talionis,” is elsewhere repeated in substance, compare the marginal references. and Genesis 9:6. It has its root in a simple conception of justice, and is found in the laws of many ancient nations. It serves in this place as a maxim for the magistrate in awarding the amount of compensation to be paid for the infliction of personal injury. The sum was to be as nearly as possible the worth in money of the power lost by the injured person. Our Lord quotes Exodus 21:24 as representing the form of the law, in order to illustrate the distinction between the letter and the spirit Matthew 5:38. The tendency of the teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees was to confound the obligations of the conscience with the external requirements of the law. The law, in its place, was still to be “holy and just and good,” Romans 7:12, but its direct purpose was to protect the community, not to guide the heart of the believer, who was not to exact eye for eye, tooth for tooth, but to love his enemies, and to forgive all injuries.