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The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

Exodus 22:2-3

EXODUS—NOTE ON Exodus 22:2 There is no penalty for killing an intruder who breaks in during the night, but if the sun has risen on him, the person who kills him is held responsible. The law protects both the one who is surprised by a thief at night and the thief himself, who could be identified during the day and brought to the judges for punishment.

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See also Exodus 22:2-3 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Exodus 22:2. _IF A THIEF BE FOUND_] If a thief was found breaking into a house in the night season, he might be killed; but not if the sun had risen, for then he might be known and taken, and t...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    If a thief, in breaking into a dwelling in the night, was slain, the person who slew him did not incur the guilt of blood; but if the same occurred in daylight, the slayer was guilty in accordance wit...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 22 FURTHER JUDGMENTS _ 1. Concerning theft (Exodus 22:1)_ 2. Concerning neglect in case of fire (Exodus 22:6) 3. Concerning dishonesty (Exodus 22:7) 4. Concerning immoralities and forbidde...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    EXODUS 22:1 E. THEFT AND DAMAGE. Fourfold restitution was due (Exodus 22:1), as in Roman law and Bedawin custom, for theft of a sheep (though fivefold for the doubly useful ox), reduced to twofold (Ex...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    FOUND: i, e. caught in the act of....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    2 3A. A thief caught breaking in by night may be killed without any guilt being incurred by his death, but not if the act take place by day. In the dark the householder would probably not be able to r...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Exodus 20:22 to Exodus 23:33 _The Book of the Covenant_ The -Book of the Covenant" (see Exodus 24:7 in explanation of the name) is the oldest piece of Hebrew legislation that we possess. The laws co...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    1 4. Theft of ox or sheep; and burglary....

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    IF A THIEF BE FOUND BREAKING UP— That is, if he were found in the very act of breaking into a house, then reason and self-defence justified the destroying such a person, and accordingly the Divine law...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    THE TEXT OF EXODUS TRANSLATION 22 If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep. (2) If the thief be found breaking in,...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _IF A THIEF BE FOUND BREAKING UP, AND BE SMITTEN THAT HE DIE, THERE SHALL NO BLOOD BE SHED FOR HIM._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT (CONTINUED) 1. Four sheep] The larger compensation required in the case of the ox is probably due to the fact that it is an animal used for labour, and of proportionately hig...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    BREAKING UP] RV 'breaking in.'...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    EXODUS: *ISRAEL BECOMES A NATION GOD’S INSTRUCTIONS TO MOSES EXODUS CHAPTER S 19 TO 40 _HILDA BRIGHT AND KITTY PRIDE_ CHAPTER 22 LAWS ABOUT PROPERTY – VERSES 1-15 V1 The *LORD continued to spe...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    XXII. (1-4) Theft is here treated of with great brevity, only three kinds being distinguished — (1) Housebreaking; (2) stealing without conversion of the property; (3) stealing with conversion. The ma...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    IF A THIEF BE FOUND BREAKING UP. — Rather, _breaking in: i.e.,_ making forcible entry into a dwelling-house. Most codes agree with the Mosaic in allowing the inmates of the house to resist such an att...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    _[Exodus 22:1]_ אִם ־בַּ † מַּחְתֶּ֛רֶת יִמָּצֵ֥א...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    PART III.--RIGHTS OF PROPERTY. Exodus 21:33 - Exodus 22:15. The vital and quickening principle in this section is the stress it lays upon man's responsibility for negligence, and the indirect conseq...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The laws of property follow. The section really begins with verse Exo 21:33 of the previous chapter. These laws also began by laying emphasis on the guilt of carelessness. The truth emphasized is that...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    If a thief be found (b) breaking up, and be smitten that he die, [there shall] no blood [be shed] for him. (b) Breaking a house to enter in, or undermining....

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    Blood. The reason is, because it could not easily be known whether the thief had not a design upon the life of the people in the house; and therefore, the law gave them authority to defend themselves....

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    Observe the difference between robbery in the day, and in the night....

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    "In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai." Up to this point all the dealings of God have been the...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    2._If a thief be found breaking up_. This clause is to be taken separately, and is inserted by way of parenthesis; for, after having decreed the punishment, God adds in connection, “he should make ful...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 19 THROUGH 23. But having thus terminated the course of grace, the scene changes entirely. They do not keep the feast on the mountain, whither God, as He had...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    IF A THIEF BE FOUND BREAKING UP,.... An house, in order to steal money, jewels, household goods, c. or breaking through any fence, hedge, or wall of any enclosure, where oxen, or sheep, or any other c...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, [there shall] no blood [be shed] for him. Ver. 2. _If a thief be found._] So, if an adulteress be taken, - as she was in John 8:4, - επαυτ...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _If a thief_ broke into a house in the night, and was killed in the doing it, his blood was upon his own head; but if it were in the day-time that the thief was killed, he that killed him was accounta...

  • KJV Original Language Details

    1 Of theft. 5 Of dammage. 7 Of trespasses. 14.Of borrowing. 16 Of fornication. 18 Of witchcraft. 19 Of bestialitie. 20 Of idolatrie. 21 Of strangers, widowes, and fatherlesse. 25 Of vsurie. 2...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    If a thief be found breaking up, breaking through a wall, breaking into a house, Matthew 6:20, AND BE SMITTEN THAT HE DIE, THERE SHALL NO BLOOD BE SHED FOR HIM, his death cannot demand the vengeance w...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    REGARDING PROPERTY...

  • Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures

    C. FIRST FORM OF THE LAW OF THE POLITICAL COMMONWEALTH Exodus 21:1 to Exodus 23:33 _a. Right of Personal Freedom (according to Bertheau, ten in number)_ 1Now these _are_ the judgments [ordinances] w...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    LAWS AS REGARDS PROPERTY (vs.1-15) While one rightly was control over his own property, yet he is also responsible as to how he uses it. If one were to dig a pit, even on his own property, and leave...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    Ver. 2: BREAKING UP, to wit, _an house_, which the Chaldee here adds, and _by night_, as appears from the next verse. FOR HIM, i.e. for the thief, though he be killed by a man in his own defence. Beca...

  • Notes on the Pentateuch by Charles Henry Mackintosh

    The study of this section of our book is eminently calculated to impress the heart with a sense d God's unsearchable wisdom and infinite goodness. It enables one to form some idea of the character of...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Exodus 22:2 thief H1590 found H4672 (H8735) in H4290 struck H5221 (H8717) dies H4191 (H8804) bloodshed...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    EXPANSION OF THE TEN WORDS OF THE COVENANT (EXODUS 20:22 TO EXODUS 23:33). In this section, which is composed of elements put together mainly in chiastic form (see later), Yahweh expands on the Ten W...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    REGULATIONS CONCERNING FARMING THEFT AND DAMAGE (EXODUS 22:1). Here we have five main paragraphs which begin with ‘if (ci) a man' or ‘if (ci) a fire' (English text (verses) Exodus 22:1; Exodus 22:5;...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Judgments on rights of property; crimes against humanity. CHARACTERS: God, Moses. CONCLUSION: Man's attitude to his fellow man will be based on his attitude to God and His law. KEY WORD:...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Exodus 22:2. _Breaking up,_ by forcible entrance into a house, _there shall no blood be shed for him,_ though he be killed by another in his own defence. In that case the thief might be presumed to ha...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _If a man steal._ THE LAW OF ROBBERY God made provision not only for the acquisition of property, but for its security. Hence this law, which respects-- 1. Theft. 2. Housebreaking. I. Theft (Exodu...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    CRITICAL NOTES.— Exodus 22:2. No blood be shed for him.] This is a free translation, which, however, fairly gives the purport of the original words. The Hebrew phrase reads literally: “There is of for...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION II. LAWS CONNECTED WITH RIGHTS OF PROPERTY (verses 33-36). From the consideration of injuries to the person, the legislator proceeds to treat of injuries to property, and, as he has been sp...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT, _continued_. _Laws connected with rights of property, continued_ (Exodus 22:1). The fret section—Exodus 22:1—is upon theft. The general principle laid down is, th...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    If a man shall steal an ox, and kill it, [The rustlers] and sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, four sheep for a sheep (Exodus 22:1). You see in those days they were interested in taking ca...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    breaking Job 24:14 Job 30:5 Hosea 7:1 Joel 2:9 Matthew 6:19...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    If a thief broke a house in the night, and was killed in the doing it, his blood was upon his own head. But if it were in the day — time that the thief was killed, he that killed him was accountable f...

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