If the stolen property is found in his hand alive, whether it is ox, donkey, or sheep, he shall pay double.
Parallel Translations
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If the stolen property is found in his hand alive, whether it is ox, donkey, or sheep, he shall pay double.
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If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.
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(22-3) If the theft be found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep, he shall pay double.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Commandments (1)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Exodus 22:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 22:1 “If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall pay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.
- Exodus 22:7 “If a man delivers to his neighbor money or stuff to keep, and it is stolen out of the man’s house, if the thief is found, he shall pay double.
- Exodus 21:16 “Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
- Exodus 22:9 For every matter of trespass, whether it is for ox, for donkey, for sheep, for clothing, or for any kind of lost thing, about which one says, ‘This is mine,’ the cause of both parties shall come before God. He whom God condemns shall pay double to his neighbor.
- Proverbs 6:31 but if he is found, he shall restore seven times. He shall give all the wealth of his house.
- Revelation 18:6 Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double.
- Jeremiah 16:18 First I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable things, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations.”
- Isaiah 40:2 “Speak comfortably to Jerusalem; and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of Yahweh’s hand double for all her sins.”
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 Hebrew, in his hand.
Hebrew, in his hand.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 22:4 If the theft be certainly found in…
Exo 22:4 If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep; he shall restore double.
Ver. 4. He shall restore double.] In Solomon’s time it was sevenfold. {Pro 6:31}
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 Alive; not killed, nor sold, as Exo 22:1.
Alive; not killed, nor sold, as Exo 22:1.
Double; not more,
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1. Because in that case it was presumed, either that he intended to restore it, or at least that he was but raw and unexercised in the trade of stealing, and so should be more gently punished.
2. Because the right owner recovered his goods with less charge and trouble. Or,
3. Because it was but a single crime, whereas the other, Exo 22:1, was an aggravated and complicated crime, where one sin and injury was added to another.
Object. It is said, he shall restore sevenfold, Pro 6:31.
Answ. 1.
Sevenfold is put for abundantly, as that word is oft used, as Gen 4:24; Psa 12:6; 79:12; and a learned man observes, it is never used for that definite number.
Answ. 2. This sevenfold, or seven times, may relate not to the proportion of his restitution, but to the number of his thefts, or rather of his detections; and the sense is this, Though he be found guilty of theft seven times, all his punishment is, that he shall restore as the law prescribes. Whereas adultery, of which he there speaks in the following verses, is a crime of that nature, that if a man be once found guilty of it, restitution cannot be made, nor will it serve his turn, but he falls into all the mischiefs there reckoned up.
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 the theft be certainly found in his hand…
If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive,.... Or, "in finding be found" (i), be plainly and evidently found upon him, before witnesses, as the Targum of Jonathan; so that there is no doubt of the theft; and it is a clear case that he had neither as yet killed nor sold the creature he had stolen, and to could be had again directly, and without any damage well as it would appear by this that he was not an old expert thief, and used to such practices, since he would soon have made away with this theft in some way or another:
whether it be ox, or ass, or sheep, or any other creature; and even, as Jarchi thinks, anything else, as raiment, goods, &c.
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he shall restore double; two oxen for an ox, two asses for an ass, and two sheep for a sheep: and, as the same commentator observes, two living ones, and not dead ones, or the price of two living ones: so Solon made theft, by his law, punishable with death, but with a double restitution (k); and the reason why here only a double restitution and not fourfold is insisted on, as in Exo 22:1 is, because there the theft is persisted in, here not; but either the thief being convicted in his own conscience of his evil, makes confession, or, however, the creatures are found with alive, and so more useful being restored, and, being had again sooner, the loss is not quite so great.
(i) "inveniendo inventum fuerit", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator. (k) A. Gell, l. 11. c. 18.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain In his hand alive - Not killed, nor sold,…
In his hand alive - Not killed, nor sold, as ver. 1, so that the owner recover it with less charge and trouble.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. He shall restore double.] In no case…
Verse 4. He shall restore double.] In no case of theft was the life of the offender taken away; the utmost that the law says on this point is, that, if when found breaking into a house, he should be smitten so as to die, no blood should be shed for him; Ex 22:2. If he had stolen and sold the property, then he was to restore four or fivefold, Ex 22:1; but if the animal was found alive in his possession, he was to restore double.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Double. This is an exception from the general law,…
Double. This is an exception from the general law, ver. 1, (Calmet) because he can more easily make restitution, as he has not sold or destroyed the thing. (Du Hamel)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. If the stolen animal be not killed, or…
4. If the stolen animal be not killed, or sold (v. 1), but still alive his possession, he only repays double, i.e. the stolen animal itself, and a second as a fine. The same principle of double restitution recurs vv. 7, 9; it was adopted also ‘in the laws of Manu (viii. 329), at least in the case of things of small value; by Solon, for theft; in Athenian law, in cases of damage (βλάβη) done intentionally (Dem. adv. Mid. § 43, p. 528: in unintentional βλάβη simple restitution was prescribed); by Plato, Legg. ix., p. 857 a, for theft; in both the XII. Tables (Gell. XI. 18. 15) and the later Roman law, for theft, when the thief was not caught in the act’ (Kn.); and by Hạmmurabi in various cases of fraudulent claim (§§ 101, 120, 124, 160, 161); cf. DB. v. 596b.
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 (4) If the theft be certainly found in his…
(4) If the theft be certainly found in his hand.—If he had not converted it, consumed it, or, if it were an animal, killed it, then, instead of the four-fold or five-fold restitution of Exo_22:1, a restoration of double was to suffice.
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 the theft be certainly found in his hand.…
If the theft be certainly found in his hand. If he be caught in flagrante delicto, with the thing stolen in his possession, "whether it be ox, or ass, or small cattle," he shall restore double. The law of theft in the Mosaic legislation is altogether of a mild character, as compared with the Roman, or even with the English law, until the present century. Double restitution was a sort of "retaliation it involved a man losing the exact amount which he had expected to gain
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.