Numbers 5:7

They shall not continue in the denial of the fact, as such persons oft do, but shall give glory to God, and take shame to themselves, by acknowledging their sin with grief and remorse. See Leviticus 5:5, Leviticus 6:4. With the principal thereof; i.e. the thing he took away, or what is equivalent to it. The fifth part thereof is added both as a compensation to the injured person for the want of his goods so long, and for his trouble for the supposed utter loss of them, and as a penalty upon the injurious dealer to discourage others from such attempts. Quest. How doth this agree with that law, Exodus 22:1 ? Answer. That law was made against notorious and obstinate thieves, who were legally convicted of their crime, and this against more modest thieves, whose necessities might induce them to steal, and whose consciences are affected with their sin.