Leviticus 24:18
in Leviticus 24Whoever kills an animal must make restitution—life for life.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he that smiteth a beast mortally shall make it good, life for life.
KJV
And he that killeth a beast shall make it good; beast for beast.
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This verse in Leviticus 24
Commentary
5 notes on this verseAnd he that killeth a beast shall make it good,.... Pay for it, give the value of it, or another as good as that instead of it, as follows: beast for beast; or "soul for soul"; life for life, that is, a living one for that the life of which is taken away, and one every way as good as that.
This site's exposition
if a man takes the life of anyone else
on Leviticus 24:17-18
Two sentences set a man's life beside an animal's and price only one. A dead animal is repaid, life for life, and no payment is named for a man. Genesis 9:6 grounds the difference in the image of God.
This site's exposition
Whoever kills an animal must make restitution
Life for life reads in Hebrew as soul for soul, and John Gill takes it as a living animal given for the one killed. A beast is paid for with a beast.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And, it should seem, this is it that brings in these laws here, to show how equitable it was that strangers as well as Israelites should be punished for blasphemy, because strangers as well as Israelites were punishable for other crimes.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death--These verses contain a repetition of some other laws, relating to offenses of a social nature, the penalties for which were to be inflicted, not by the hand of private parties, but through the medium of the judges before whom the cause was brought.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּמַכֵּ֥ה | umakeh | and [one who] strikes down | H5221 → | 499 times |
| נֶֽפֶשׁ־ | nefesh- | [the] life of | H5315 → | 754 times |
| בְּהֵמָ֖ה | behemah | an animal | H929 → | 190 times |
| יְשַׁלְּמֶ֑נָּה | yeshallemenah | he will repay it | H7999 → | 116 times |
| נֶ֖פֶשׁ | nefesh | a life | H5315 → | 754 times |
| תַּ֥חַת | tachat | for | H8478 → | 505 times |
| נָֽפֶשׁ׃ | nafesh | a life | H5315 → | 754 times |
וּמַכֵּ֥הand [one who] strikes down
umakehH5221 →499 times
נֶֽפֶשׁ־[the] life of
nefesh-H5315 →754 times
בְּהֵמָ֖הan animal
behemahH929 →190 times
יְשַׁלְּמֶ֑נָּהhe will repay it
yeshallemenahH7999 →116 times
נֶ֖פֶשׁa life
nefeshH5315 →754 times
תַּ֥חַתfor
tachatH8478 →505 times
נָֽפֶשׁ׃a life
nafeshH5315 →754 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
2 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
Leviticus 24:21Whoever kills an animal must make restitution, but whoever kills a man must be put to death.
it leads to
- Leviticus 24:17–18
And if a man takes the life of anyone else, he must surely be put to death.
- Exodus 21:33
If a man opens or digs a pit and fails to cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,
- Leviticus 24:17–18
Where this verse is studied
About Leviticus
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.