Restitution
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. 2 If the thief is found breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt of bloodshed for him. 3 If the sun has risen on him, he is guilty of bloodshed. He shall make restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft. 4 If the stolen property is found in his hand alive, whether it is ox, donkey, or sheep, he shall pay double. 5 “If a man causes a field or vineyard to be eaten by letting his animal loose, and it grazes in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field, and from the best of his own vineyard. 6 “If fire breaks out, and catches in thorns so that the shocks of grain, or the standing grain, or the field are consumed; he who kindled the fire shall surely make restitution. 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. 8 If the thief isn’t found, then the master of the house shall come near to God, to find out whether or not he has put his hand on his neighbor’s goods. 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. 10 “If a man delivers to his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and it dies or is injured, or driven away, no man seeing it; 11 the oath of Yahweh shall be between them both, he has not put his hand on his neighbor’s goods; and its owner shall accept it, and he shall not make restitution. 12 But if it is stolen from him, the one who stole shall make restitution to its owner. 13 If it is torn in pieces, let him bring it for evidence. He shall not make good that which was torn. 14 “If a man borrows anything of his neighbor’s, and it is injured, or dies, its owner not being with it, he shall surely make restitution. 15 If its owner is with it, he shall not make it good. If it is a leased thing, it came for its lease.
Theft is answered by repayment to the victim rather than by punishment of the thief, and the sums are set to make it hurt.
“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.
The governing principle of this whole paragraph is that the remedy for theft is repayment to the person robbed. There is no imprisonment in the law of Israel, and no fine paid to the state. The wronged party is made more than whole, and the thief pays the difference out of his own labor.
The multiples are graded by what the theft destroyed. An ox is a working animal, so its loss costs its owner a year of plowing as well as the beast: fivefold. A sheep, threefold less useful, four. And if the animal is recovered alive, he shall pay double Exodus 22:4 — the loss was temporary, so the penalty falls.
If the sun has risen on him, he is guilty of bloodshed. He shall make restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
The thief who cannot pay works, which is where the six-year servitude of the previous chapter comes from. A modern reader sees slavery; the alternative on offer in the ancient world was a debtor's death.
2 If the thief is found breaking in, and is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt of bloodshed for him. 3 If the sun has risen on him, he is guilty of bloodshed. He shall make restitution. If he has nothing, then he shall be sold for his theft.
A distinction drawn by the hour. At night a householder cannot see who is in his house or what they intend, and killing an intruder is not held against him. In daylight it is, because he can see, and a thief's life is worth more than the property he is carrying. The line between self-defense and revenge is drawn at the point where the defender can tell what he is facing.
“If a man causes a field or vineyard to be eaten by letting his animal loose, and it grazes in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field, and from the best of his own vineyard.
The best of his own. Restitution is not settled by handing over inferior goods of the right quantity, which is the obvious way to comply with the letter of such a law. The same rule covers a fire that gets away from the man who lit it Exodus 22:6: carelessness with a neighbor's harvest is charged at full value, and no distinction is made between the animal that wandered and the flame that spread.
The remaining cases concern property left in someone else's keeping, and they turn on a problem no evidence can settle. Goods entrusted and then missing, with no witness Exodus 22:8–11. Where there is nothing to examine, the law brings both parties before God and requires an oath, and the oath is accepted. A legal system has to decide what to do when proof is impossible, and this one is willing to let a man's word before God close a case — which places a considerable weight on the third commandment.
One small clause makes the fairness visible. If a borrowed animal dies while its owner was present, nothing is owed Exodus 22:15. The owner saw what happened, and a man is not liable for what someone else watched him not cause.
settled What this mark means