Bible Encyclopedias
Satisfaction

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

sat - is - fak´shun : Occurs twice in the King James Version ( Numbers 35:31 , Numbers 35:32 ) as a rendering of the Hebrew kōpher (the Revised Version (British and American) "ransom"). It means a price paid as compensation for a life, and the passage cited is a prohibition against accepting such, in case of murder, or for the return of the manslayer. Such compensation was permitted in ancient justice among many peoples. Compare ποινή , poinḗ , which Liddell and Scott define as "properly quit-money for blood spilt, the fine paid by the slayer to the kinsman of the slain, as a ransom from all consequences." The same custom prevailed among Teutonic peoples, as seen in the German Wergeld and Old English wergild . The Hebrew lairs of the Old Testament permit it only in the case of a man or woman gored to death by an ox (Exodus 21:30-32 ).