If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed.
Parallel Translations
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If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed.
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If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.
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If there be laid on him a ransom, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Exodus 21:30 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 21:22 “If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman’s husband demands and the judges allow.
- Exodus 30:12 “When you take a census of the children of Israel, according to those who are counted among them, then each man shall give a ransom for his soul to Yahweh, when you count them; that there be no plague among them when you count them.
- Numbers 35:31-33 “ ‘Moreover you shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death. He shall surely be put to death. “ ‘You shall take no ransom for him who has fled to his city of refuge, that he may come again to dwell in the land before the death of the priest. “ ‘So you shall not pollute the land where you live; for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him who shed it.
- Proverbs 13:8 The ransom of a man’s life is his riches, but the poor hear no threats.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain By the next of the kindred of him that…
By the next of the kindred of him that is so slain.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 21:30 If there be laid on him a…
Exo 21:30 If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.
Ver. 30. Sum of money.] Taxed upon him by the next of kin, or, if he be unreasonable, by the judge. {Exo 21:22}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain If there be laid on him; either by the…
If there be laid on him; either by the avenger of blood, the next akin to the party slain, who is willing to exchange the punishment; or by the judge, who may discern some circumstances which may much lessen the crime, as if an ox had broken his cords wherewith he was tied, or broke forth through the carelessness or wickedness of his servant to whose care he was committed.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain If there be laid on him a sum of…
If there be laid on him a sum of money,.... By the decree of the judges, as Aben Ezra, or which the sanhedrim of Israel have laid upon him; if his sentence of death is commuted for a fine, with the consent of the relations of the deceased, who in such a case are willing to show mercy, and take a fine instead of the person's death; supposing it was through carelessness and negligence, and not with any ill design that he did not keep up his ox from doing damage, after he had notice:
then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatever, is laid upon him; whatever mulct or fine he is amerced with by the court, instead of the sentence of death first pronounced. Of this ransom Maimonides (q) thus writes:"the ransom is according as the judges consider what is the price (or value) of him that is slain; (i.e. according to his rank, whether a noble or common man, a free man or a servant) all is according to the estimation of him that is slain.--To whom do they give the ransom? to the heirs of the slain; and if a woman is killed, the ransom is given to the heirs of her father's (family), and not to her husband.''
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(q) Hilchot Niske Mammon, c. 11. sect. 1, 2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 30. If there be laid on him a…
Verse 30. If there be laid on him a sum of money - the ransom of his life] So it appears that, though by the law he forfeited his life, yet this might be commuted for a pecuniary mulct, at which the life of the deceased might be valued by the magistrates.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Exo 21:30. If there be laid on him a…
Exo 21:30. If there be laid on him a sum of money — By the avenger of blood, the next akin to the party slain, who is willing to exchange the punishment, or by the judge.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain If there be laid on him a sum of…
If there be laid on him a sum of money, &c.--Blood fines are common among the Arabs as they were once general throughout the East. This is the only case where a money compensation, instead of capital punishment, was expressly allowed in the Mosaic law.
Next: Exodus Chapter 22
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 30. The owner of the ox may, however, escape…
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.
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a ransom] Heb. kôpher, the price of a life: see Exo_30:12, Psa_49:7, Pro_6:35; Pro_13:8; Pro_21:18, Isa_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 Num_35:31 f. (P), where the acceptance of a kôpher is forbidden.
redemption] The same word, in a similar connexion, Psa_49:8 (where ‘soul’ = ‘life’ here, lit. soul). For the corresponding verb, used of the redemption of a life that is forfeit, see on Exo_13:13.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (30) Whatsoever is laid upon him.—Primarily, by the aggrieved…
(30) Whatsoever is laid upon him.—Primarily, by the aggrieved relatives; but in the case of an exorbitant demand there was, no doubt, an appeal to the judges, who would then fix the amount.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain If there be a fine laid upon him. There…
If there be a fine laid upon him. There can scarcely have been any circumstances under which the penalty of death would have been enforced. No neglect could bring the crime into the category of murder. It is assumed, therefore, that practically the penalty would be a fine, proportioned no doubt to the value of the life taken.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.