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Exodus 21:36

in Exodus 21

But if it was known that the ox had a habit of goring, yet its owner failed to restrain it, he shall pay full compensation, ox for ox, and the dead animal will be his.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Or if it be known that the ox was wont to gore in time past, and its owner hath not kept it in; he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his own.

KJV

Or if it be known that the ox hath used to push in time past, and his owner hath not kept him in; he shall surely pay ox for ox; and the dead shall be his own.

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This verse in Exodus 21

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

then they shall sell the live ox

on Exodus 21:35-36

Where one ox kills another and neither owner knew of any danger, the live ox is sold and both the money and the dead animal are divided, so the loss falls evenly on two men who did nothing wrong. Verse 36 changes that the moment the ox was known to push in time past, and its owner pays ox for ox and keeps the carcase himself. Knowledge is what the chapter has been measuring throughout, at verse 14 with the man who lay in wait, at verse 29 with the owner who was warned, and here with a man who had watched his animal do it before.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

Or if it be known that the ox hath used to push in time past,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

These laws are called judgments, because they are framed in infinite wisdom and equity, and because their magistrates were to give judgment according to the people.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

That which we are taught by these laws is that we should be very careful to do no wrong, either directly or indirectly; and that, if we have done wrong, we must be very willing to make satisfaction, and desirous that nobody may lose by us.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die--For the purpose of sanctifying human blood, and representing all injuries affecting life in a serious light, an animal that occasioned death was to be killed or suffer punishment proportioned to the degree of damage it had caused.

The words behind it

19 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • א֣וֹor

    ʾoH176 →321 times

  • נוֹדַ֗עit is known

    noda'H3045 →945 times

  • כִּ֠יthat

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • שׁ֣וֹר[is] an ox

    shorH7794 →79 times

  • נַגָּ֥חprone to gore

    nagachH5056 →

  • הוּא֙it

    hu'H1931 →1879 times

  • מִתְּמ֣וֹלfrom yesterday

    mitemolH8543 →23 times

  • שִׁלְשֹׁ֔םthree days ago

    shilshomH8032 →24 times

  • וְלֹ֥אand not

    velo'H3808 →5168 times

  • יִשְׁמְרֶ֖נּוּhe guarded it

    yishmerenuH8104 →468 times

  • בְּעָלָ֑יוowner<s> its

    bealavH1167 →84 times

  • שַׁלֵּ֨םcertainly <make compensation>

    shalemH7999 →116 times

  • יְשַׁלֵּ֥םhe will make compensation

    yeshalemH7999 →116 times

  • שׁוֹר֙an ox

    shorH7794 →79 times

  • תַּ֣חַתin place of

    tachatH8478 →505 times

  • הַשּׁ֔וֹרthe ox

    hashorH7794 →79 times

  • וְהַמֵּ֖תand the dead [animal]

    vehametH4191 →839 times

  • יִֽהְיֶה־it will be[long]

    yihyeh-H1961 →3559 times

  • לּֽוֹ׃ סto <the> him

    lo

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

About Exodus

The Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Exodus: the study guide →Read Exodus 21 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Exodus 21 →