Exodus 21:30

The owner of the ox may, however, escape the extreme penalty of the law, if the relatives of the man who had been killed are willing to accept a money-compensation for his life. The owner's negligence amounted to murder only in theory, so it was reasonable to allow him his merciful alternative.

be laid on him(cf. v.22)] viz. by the relatives of the man who has been killed.

a ransom Heb. kôpher, the price of a life: see Exodus 30:12; Psalms 49:7; Proverbs 6:35; Proverbs 13:8; Proverbs 21:18; Isaiah 43:3. This and v.32 are the only cases in which Heb. law allowed what was so common among many ancient nations, the ποινή, or -wergild," i.e. the money offered for the life of a murdered man to appease a kinsman's wrath: see Numbers 35:31 f. (P), where the acceptance of a kôpheris forbidden.

redemption The same word, in a similar connexion, Psalms 49:8 (where -soul" = -life" here, lit. soul). For the corresponding verb, used of the redemption of a life that is forfeit, see on Exodus 13:13.