Exodus 22:15
in Exodus 22If the owner was present, no restitution is required. If the animal was rented, the fee covers the loss.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good: if it be a hired thing, it came for its hire.
KJV
But if the owner thereof be with it, he shall not make it good: if it be an hired thing, it came for his hire.
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This verse in Exodus 22
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
And if a man borrow ought of his neighbour
on Exodus 22:14-15
A borrower carries the whole loss, where a paid keeper in the verses above could clear himself by an oath. The reason is in the two exceptions, since the owner standing by can see what happened and a hired thing has already had the risk priced into its hire. The sons of the prophets at 2 Kings 6:5 cry out over an axe head precisely because it was borrowed, and Psalm 37:21 makes failure to repay a mark of the wicked.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
But if the owner thereof be with it,....
Let us learn hence to be very careful not to abuse any thing that is lent us; it is not only unjust, but base and disingenuous, inasmuch as it is rendering evil for good; we should much rather choose to lose ourselves than that any should sustain loss by their kindness to us.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
It came for his hire - The sum paid for hiring was regarded as covering the risk of accident.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
AND IF A MAN ‘Y’FATEH’ — “speaks to her emotions [until she submits to him]. And so did Onkelos render it arei y’shadeil, the term shidul in Aramaic being like pitui [persuasion, seduction], in the Sacred Language.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| בְּעָלָ֥יו | bealav | owner<s> its | H1167 → | 84 times |
| עִמּ֖וֹ | imo | [was] with it | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יְשַׁלֵּ֑ם | yeshalem | he will make restitution | H7999 → | 116 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| שָׂכִ֣יר | sakhir | [was] hired | H7916 → | |
| ה֔וּא | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| בָּ֖א | ba' | it came | H935 → | 2568 times |
| בִּשְׂכָרֽוֹ׃ ס | biskharo | for hire its | H7939 → |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
בְּעָלָ֥יוowner<s> its
bealavH1167 →84 times
עִמּ֖וֹ[was] with it
imoH5973 →1050 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יְשַׁלֵּ֑םhe will make restitution
yeshalemH7999 →116 times
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
שָׂכִ֣יר[was] hired
sakhirH7916 →
ה֔וּאit
hu'H1931 →1879 times
בָּ֖אit came
ba'H935 →2568 times
בִּשְׂכָרֽוֹ׃ סfor hire its
biskharoH7939 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Zechariah 8:10For before those days neither man nor beast received wages, nor was there safety from the enemy for anyone who came or went, for I had turned every man against his neighbor.
it leads to
- Haggai 1:6–11
You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into…
- Isaiah 19:2
“So I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian; brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
- Amos 9:4
Though they are driven by their enemies into captivity, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix My eyes upon them for harm and not for good.”
- Haggai 2:16–18
from that time, when one came expecting a heap of twenty ephahs of grain, there were but ten. When one came to the winepress to draw out fifty baths, there were but twenty.
- Amos 3:6
If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?
- Haggai 1:6–11
Where this verse is studied
About Exodus
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.