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Exodus 21:29

in Exodus 21

But if the ox has a habit of goring, and its owner has been warned yet does not restrain it, and it kills a man or woman, then the ox must be stoned and its owner must also be put to death.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

But if the ox was wont to gore in time past, and it hath been testified to its owner, and he hath not kept it in, but it hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.

KJV

But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.

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This verse in Exodus 21

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

This site's exposition

If an ox gore a man or a woman

on Exodus 21:28-29

The goring ox is stoned and its flesh may not be eaten, so the animal is put under a bloodguilt rather than slaughtered for meat. Genesis 9:5 had already said that at the hand of every beast the LORD would require the life of man. Verse 29 turns on notice, since an owner who was told his ox was wont to push with his horn and did not keep him in is put to death alongside the animal.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

But if the ox were wont to push with his horns in time past,....

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.

  • וְאִ֡םand if

    veimH518 →1069 times

  • שׁוֹר֩[will be] an ox

    shorH7794 →79 times

  • נַגָּ֨חprone to gore

    nagachH5056 →

  • ה֜וּאit

    hu'H1931 →1879 times

  • מִתְּמֹ֣לfrom yesterday

    mitemolH8543 →23 times

  • שִׁלְשֹׁ֗םthree days ago

    shilshomH8032 →24 times

  • וְהוּעַ֤דand it has been protested

    vehuadH5749 →44 times

  • בִּבְעָלָיו֙on owner<s> its

    bivalavH1167 →84 times

  • וְלֹ֣אand not

    velo'H3808 →5168 times

  • יִשְׁמְרֶ֔נּוּhe will guard it

    yishmerenuH8104 →468 times

  • וְהֵמִ֥יתand it will kill

    vehemitH4191 →839 times

  • אִ֖ישׁa man

    ʾishH376 →1663 times

  • א֣וֹor

    ʾoH176 →321 times

  • אִשָּׁ֑הa woman

    ʾishahH802 →781 times

  • הַשּׁוֹר֙the ox

    hashorH7794 →79 times

  • יִסָּקֵ֔לit will be stoned to death

    yisakelH5619 →22 times

  • וְגַם־and also

    vegam-H1571 →769 times

  • בְּעָלָ֖יוowner<s> its

    bealavH1167 →84 times

  • יוּמָֽת׃he will be put to death

    yumatH4191 →839 times

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

Related verses

2 in all, six open

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 Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch.

Read on in Exodus 21 →